96 yr old w/muscle invasive bladder cancer

3 years 1 month ago - 3 years 1 month ago #60552 by Alan
A second opinion is simply good medicine when warranted. This certainly appears to be a good idea. It will give peace of mind and fresh eyes. At the same time, many times it will simply reaffirm the original diagnosis.

DX 5/6/2008 TAG3 papillary tumor .5 CM in size. 2 TURBS followed by 6 instillations of BCG weekly with a second round of 6 after a 6 week wait.
The following user(s) said Thank You: MomsCaregiver

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3 years 1 month ago #60551 by MomsCaregiver
Replied by MomsCaregiver on topic 96 yr old w/muscle invasive bladder cancer
That is very interesting. My Mom's Urologist said there were too many tumors and they were too large to remove during one procedure. I am thinking that a second opinion must provide a different diagnosis.

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3 years 1 month ago #60550 by MomsCaregiver
Replied by MomsCaregiver on topic 96 yr old w/muscle invasive bladder cancer
Hi Sara,

The Urologist said he would not use a robot but I have to ask him why. Actually, I thought this was strange since Robotic surgery is listed as his area of expertise. The Doctor said he would make a small incision and would not have to go through the muscle, which is why he said she would be up and walking the next day.

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3 years 1 month ago #60549 by readabook
Replied by readabook on topic 96 yr old w/muscle invasive bladder cancer
so is your mom having bladder removed then? I am right here with you. My dad saw new doc today who was appalled by his situation. Going to remove rest of tumor and see how things look. Please keep us posted.

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3 years 1 month ago #60548 by sara.anne
Replied by sara.anne on topic 96 yr old w/muscle invasive bladder cancer
Your mom's situation is extremely unusual/unique. I don't think any of us have run into this type of problem before! Would he be removing the bladder robotically? This would also reduce the possibility of complications. The urologist may be correct in that the surgery would not be as major for her as for those that require a diversion to be constructed for the removal of urine. You may want to discuss this with him.

Sara Anne

Diagnosis 2-08 Small papillary TCC; CIS
BCG; BCG maintenance
Vice-President, American Bladder Cancer Society
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3 years 1 month ago #60547 by MomsCaregiver
Replied by MomsCaregiver on topic 96 yr old w/muscle invasive bladder cancer
Thank you for responding. My Mom is on dialysis because she was diagnosed with High Blood pressure years ago and decided to take the natural path. Obviously, this did not work out for her. We had a consult with the Urologist last week and he said my Mom would do fine after the surgery. Although I read the recover time is 3-6 weeks he claimed my Mom would be up and walking the next day. My concern is without the surgery she would continue to bleed and would constantly require blood transfusions. My Mom's concern is that she would become an invalid after the surgery.

The Urologist said that the kidneys are not working so he thinks it is better to remove them. He also said that my Mom would not need a pouch because the fluid would be handled by Dialysis.

I apologize for the rambling but this is hard.

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