Cancer Recurrence After Cystectomy

The first two years are very important after cystectomy and that's why such a close watch is kept. It's very unfortunate that your father's cancer returned, but as Tim said his youth is on his side. I know more than one person that has got years further after bladder cancer returned post-op (making someone stage IV). Statistics are odds and odds get beat all the time.

As far as good or bad cancer, it's all about whether it responds to treatment. Luckily there are treatments that actually help, it's just too bad we aren't able to predict it more accurately, so it still remains a gamble.

Where is the new tumor(s)? This plays a part in prognosis, with tissue invasion being less aggressive than if a major organ is invaded. Still, even liver mets can respond to chemo and allow someone to go on to get years of disease free survival, see
blcforum.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1139501952 , and Diane's husband as one example.

It's a tough situation no matter how you look at it. I hope things go well for your father.
Wendy

Wendy

Benbos

After a cystectomy with neobladder it is possible for the cancer to return in the ureters or urethra. It's also possible that the original cancer can spread after a cystectomy as microscopic tumour can appear later in other areas that was not present in the original diagnosis. My understanding is that tumour has to be millions of cells big before it can be picked up on scans but I guess it's dependent on scan type. I'd certainly be getting them to be very much more specific about "in the same area". When I had my neobladder in October, a man in the next bed had had one "installed" 4 years earlier and was back in for recurrence in a ureter. It can happen. He had the section of ureter removed and left hospital shortly after me. To have a recuurrence so quickly is very tough for your dad.

I'm not sure about "very common with bladder cancer" either. I guess it depends on the stage and grade of the disease at cystectomy and other factors. I wouldn't have gone through mine if it was "very common" for it to come back (although I do accept it as a possibility). It's a big committment and you'd want to go into it being pretty confident that you were doing the best thing at the right time. I'm sure your dad, acting on the information he was given, did exactly that.

I'm not a big fan of words like "bad" or "naughty" to describe tumours. its all a bit emotive really; what i'd want is some hard facts about grade, stage , location etc. if you are not sure what they are talking about, definitely post things here and people will give you the benefit of their knowledge and experience in plain terms. Additionally, have a good read around this site for inspirational stories.

The good news is that your dad is quite young and is therefore strong enough to deal with additional treatment. And there's plenty of stories around here and elsewhere to tell you that not giving up hope is not only important but actually makes total sense.

All the best

Tim

New to the board I do not know all the terms so pardon me in advance if I miss something, my dad has Bladder Cancer. Between multiple doctor visits, hospitals stays etc...I am getting an education about cancer, something I had hoped I never would get.  

My Dad (54 year old/white/smoker  :-/ ) was diagnosed with bladder cancer in January 2006, he had a radical cystectomy in March 2006 at Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston. They removed his Bladder and Prostate which from what I understand is standard. He spent about a week or so in the hospital came home and seemed to be progressing OK, some bumps, a few set backs but nothing alarming.   In July the follow up MRI and CAT scan didn't show anything bad.  In late October he started feeling a pain in his right leg, thinking it was just the weather (Boston-Fall-cooler nights) he didn't think much about it, the pain was getting worse and worse so he went to Dr then to the Urologist an MRI and CAT scan was done and it showed something was there that should be.  This is were I am going to get a little hazy with the facts but he (the Urologist, his local Urologist not the same one who did the surgery) said it looked like something bad had returned, he thought it was bad (cancer) because it wasn't there in July and only bad things grow that fast and the area where this "badness" is touches a nerve/muscle that extends down to the leg which is/could be the reason for the pain in his leg.  He said it was in the same area as the last cancer but to know for sure they would have to do a biopsy but he was fairly sure it was cancer and it wasn't good. He threw out 10-15% numbers and other things but said don't give up.  The biopsy was scheduled for 1/10/07.  Last week my dad's leg started to swell, he went to the ER and they did a ultra sound which showed a clot so he was admitted and put on Heparin he has been in the local hospital (not Boston) since 12/29/2006, the swelling has gone down and he can leave as soon as they can get his blood regulated.  While there they decided to do the biopsy and we got the results today, it is cancer and the DR said it is not good. My mom spoke to the DR who is his primary care doctor so i didn't get to ask questions but from what she told me the cancer is back in the same area, the biopsy showed 2 spots of it.  The Dr told her this is very common with bladder cancer.  My question is how can it be in the same spot if the bladder was removed?  He never did chemo or radiation so that would seem to be the next step. on 1/11/2007 he is going for a second opinion at the Mass General Cancer Center where he will see a specialist in that area.  

Has anyone had a neobladder then had cancer return to the same area so quick.   Anyone else have a similar experience.