Hello all. As you may have guessed, my name is Greg and I live in IL. I am 65 yo, and retired. I have never been diagnosed with any type of cancer before. I have no clue what to expect. My brother was diagnosed with bladder cancer 4 years ago. He now wears a urostomy bag, and will for the rest of his life. He has also had throat cancer, and lung cancer. So far he has beaten all of these to a degree.
My bladder cancer was accidentally discovered because of an MRI (I think) I had due to an aneurysm. The aneurysm was successfully repaired and all is well in that regard.
I have done a little reading on this forum, but I must admit, I don't understand most of the terminology. I was diagnosed in October of 2019. I don't know the name of the procedure, but he went into my bladder, through the urethra and removed what he could. My Dr. recommended 6 immunotherapy treatments, over a period of 6 weeks, with the drug BCG. As we all know, there is a global shortage of this drug, and so far, I don't see that changing anytime soon. We have been in contact with my Dr. office and have been told, when he knows something, he will tell us. I was told that with early detection and treatment, bladder cancer has a very high cure rate. My question is, How long do I wait before seeking an alternative treatment? Possibly another Dr. altogether. Is 3 months a long time? 6 months? 1 year? I don't have a clue. Thanks for any help you can give me. Greg
