Recent radical cystecomy

Tim,

You will be one of those people doing fine as well. We need you here posting to the others.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I am going to be very careful on lifting as much of what I lift is close to 100lbs. Also with the surgery and liquid diets I have lost strength so it will take time to get my full strength back. I won't see an oncologist for a few more weeks so just waiting to see a Dr. is tough. I look forward to the next treatment and discussing the options with those on this site that has had the chemo!I like your comment that others on this site and are now doing fine.

Tim

Tim,

Welcome to the site. Sorry to hear about the lymph nodes. You have the right attitude based on your "it is what it is" statement.

Lymph nodes means chemo. Chemo sucks!
I didn't need chemo so I can't comment much on what that is going to be like.
Glad to hear you know about not lifting. I have had two different surgeries to repair multiple hernias (4 the first time and they stopped counting at 5 the second time when they put some mesh thing in there).

I'm a business consultant and mine came from putting my bag in the overhead bins of airplanes (and helping others with theirs). It does not take much to cause some nasty hernias. From a prone position on my back if I lifted my feet off the ground it looked like that scene from alien! Kind of gross. However, it was what it was. Not as bad now (two years later).

Be really careful and check into one of the belt things or something when you do get to start lifting things again.

Hope the chemo goes well. Others here have been through chemo due to lymph node involvement and are now doing fine. You are going to need to stick to your follow up schedule for monitoring even after the chemo because the risk of micro-mets (metastasis that is too small to see right now) is much higher once it gets into the lymph system.

Keep in touch and let us know how it all goes. Your experiences will be here for the next person in your shoes with lymph involvement.

Good luck with the chemo!

Mike

Thanks Catherine. I am following the doctors orders very closely. I would have been very happy for them to have found nothing but it is what it is and as I told Dr. Cookson it could have been worst. Dr. Cookson has made it clear about not lifting especially as I am self employed selling and installing commercial doors and door hardware. I am only doing paper work. All those yearly tax stuff. So it appears I have the holidays off again this year. Last year I had hernia operations. One in June and the other I scheduled for a couple days after Christmas.

Tim

I was diagnosed with bladder cancer at the end of August. I am 54yr old healthy male. I had been having the urge to urinate for a couple of months and then in July saw blood in my urine. My urologist sent me to Vanderbilt to see Dr. Michael Cookson and the radical cystecomy was scheduled for 10/11/12. I was able to go home on 10/17/12. I now have a neobladder. The path results showed cancer cells in 7 of the 34 lymph nodes removed. I will have the staples and cath removed on 10/30/12 and will go back to Dr. Cookson in about 6 weeks. I will discuss the chemo options with my urologist on the 30th and Dr. Cookson is setting up an appointment for me with a oncologist at Vanderbilt on my visit back.

So it has been a little over a week since surgery but what can I expect going forward.

Tim