RC surgery on November 14th

Well hubby had surgery and they were successful in taking the bladder and prostate out and making a Neobladder. He was in the hospital for 5 days and came home. We got the pathology reports back on Tuesday Nov 20th and the tumor was a Stage 3B which meant it went through the wall and into the fatty tissue. It did spread to the prostate. The doctor took 15 lymph nodes out and 6 of them were cancerous, so now when we go back on Dec 4th for post op we also have to meet with the Onvologist.

Very sad that it is in the lymph nodes and don't know what to expect.

Thanks!

Tammy
I’m sure anxious that the colon is not involved but it will be easy for the Dr. to know when he does the surgery. We will be watching for updates along with you.

Hi George,

Thanks for the encouraging words. Dr. O'Donnell is planning to do a Neobladder at this point but we don't know if the kidney situation will cause problems with this. We will find out more on Tuesday as to if he is going to be able to have the Neobladder or not.

Tammy

I know this is very stressful and scary. Because it is.
But the skilled surgeon is going to use great care to get the bladder out.
Do you know the kind of diversion your husband is going to have. Is he going to have a neobladder?
Some new thinking is on the horizon. I just came back from my surgeon visit and he now does the bladder removal with the DiVinci robotic system and if he is constructing a neo bladder, he uses normal surgical procedure from there. The speed and blood loss is so much less with the robotics. So he says.

I wish you and your husband the VERY best! I know you BOTH are going through this. It is Very much OK to be scared and worried. Just don't let it overwhelm you to the point of disfunction. It will be OK. Any number of us have been in your shoes and we are sending our best good wishes and prayers your way. We want your surgery to be as successful as ours have been.

With Love

George

On October 16th my husband had his first CT scan following his chemo treatment and it was found that the tumor had actually grown and is now blocking his right kidney. The chemo did nothing for him so they cancelled his last treatment and scheduled surgery for November 14th. I had decided earlier in the month that he was going to have a second opinion and I made an appointment at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. We went on October 25th & 26th and the doctor there said he agreed with the care that University of Iowa Hospital & Clinics have given. He agrees with the chemo and agrees that the bladder needs to be removed. His only concern is that when he looks at the CT scan he believes the cancer may have spread into the colon but they really won't know until they do surgery.

We have decided that we will have Dr. O'Donnell at UIHC do the surgery since he is one of the best and also close to home. We go on November 6th for his pre-op exam and they are also going to do a bone scan.

As the day gets closer the more nervous we get, but I'm sure he will be in great hands.

Thank you for all the information that you provide, it has helped me to understand this more and prepare better.