Hi there, and welcome to our very “exclusive” club that you surely didn’t want to join!
With your diagnosis BCG is the current standard of care. It is very do-able and has a high success rate. Just to give you a brief idea, there are side effects and they do become annoying but they are nothing like the side effects from chemotherapy. At first probably the only issues will be the first few hours after administration. You will no doubt feel a lot of irritation and urinary urgency for about six hours or so. Probably you will pass clots in the urine. Perhaps a bit of fatigue the next day. The side effects are cumulative so they do increase as you have more Instillations and this is good news because it means that the immune system is kicking up, which is what you want to happen.
There is a LOT about BCG on this Forum. At the top of this page is a “search “ button and you can search for BCG. Just keep in mind that people with no problems are not as likely to post as those with complaints!
I had a diagnosis similar to yours about 12 years ago, had BCG induction and maintenance and have been cancer-free ever since .
Sara Anne
