Squamous Cell Carcinema

Lucky,
My husband goes to Forsyth Cancer Center and so far we are satisfied with his oncologist and radiologist. We were not as happy with the urologist.
Bob has had chemo and radiation but is off for two months now. The only surgery he had was the cystoscopy. He is Stage IV which has metasized to several places.

Sounds like Karen's husband is being treated good at Baptist and his dr.'s credentials look good.

My daughter's in-laws are both being treated at Duke now and so far she and her husband are pleased. The Father-in-Law just had surgery on his pancreas and will have chemo and radiation. The Mother-in-Law previously had lung cancer and then an unknown mass in her sternum, was supposed to be having more radiation but put it off probably because of her husband getting sick. Her cancer has gone to the brain and she is having radiation treatments at Duke now.
They live in Virginia but chose Duke Hospital.
Both are living in an assisted living place near the hospital at this time until they can be go back home.

I have always heard some bad stories about Duke but also some good stories. We had been encouraged by a friend to take Bob to Duke but so far we have stayed with Forsyth. We can be at home and commute to Forsyth and we do not have any complaints.

Wishing you the best.
Clara

Lucky...thankfully you were an excellent advocate for your husband. Unfortunately in any hospital setting no matter how high up in the ladder they are mistakes are made and you need an advocate thats up on everything thats supposed to be happening. Duke Univ. Med Center ranks somewhere up in the top in Urology but if they won't let you have an advocate to spend the night you have plenty of other excellent choices. Dr. Pruthi is one that Rosemary mentioned at UNC.
It seems to me your initial TURB might not have been complete...I would definately seek a second or third opinion and a re-TURB. I had a similar incident happen to me where i live. My first uro did not get enough of the tissue and left the margins..not a good thing. Within 9 days i was scheduled for a second TURB at Memorial Sloan and one of the best got the residual margins and a better speciman. It gave me time to decide on the diversion i wanted as i was at that point cancer free but the nature of a T2 Grade 2 tumor is that it will be back.
There are excellent surgeons in N.C. ..REALLY....and you don't need to put more stress in your life because of overzealous interns. I didn't have a choice but to travel as there is noone in my city who does anything but an ileal conduit and we're not known for our urologists either.
Did you get my email by the way? Pat

Well Lucky teaching hospitals are some of the best in the country see that's why they have doors to come in or go out. One bad experience and I sympathize with yours if the residents were doing this on their own without permission which I doubt. But whatever you have to get over that it is in the pass and now you have cancer so you have to go to some hospital hopefully a good one and one you like.
Now I had a left blocked kidney and that was from the cancer growing in the ureter which they discovered during the TUR. Now I don't understand if you got both the Cysto and TUR done and they are not sure if you got stones or cysts they should know this by now seems to me. They put a double-j stent in my ureter and this opened up my ureter and got my left kidney functioning again.
I had a T2 G3 invassive tumor about 3 inches. I had all my work done at the Univ of Penn. The Tur, the pre-op chemo, and my surgery and after a long 6 months I did what I was told ,stayed focused as positive as I could and thanks to my team at Penn as of today I am cancer free.
Rosemary and momof4 have mentioned some great hospitals down there you definitely need a second opinion Lucky and I personally don't recommend the Cancer Ctrs of America. And the other thing there is no getting part of your bladder out you either do it or you don't and since you have cancer in the muscle wall your bladder needs to come out. Alot of folks try to save their bladders and in the long run end up doing more damage because now they end up letting the cancer spread instead of just facing the facts when they had their chance.
I mentioned the Cancer Ctrs of America I spoke with them a younger guy after I was already set up at Penn but just wanted to hear what they had to say. This guy is telling me what a bad hospital that Penn was and yet it is one of the best hospitals around in this area and also the country. This is cancer and they may be ok but you don't tell me about a hospital that has an excellent record that they are no good just to get business I wanted the best treatment I could get and to me I found it. I'll just throw in my links at Penn.

pennhealth.com/WagForm/MainPage.aspx?config=provider&P=PP&ID=1852

Uro/Oncologist

pennhealth.com/Wagform/MainPage.aspx?config=provider&P=PP&ID=1398

Surgeon

Lucky all I can say now is you need to choose a hospital down there that you are satisfied with and speak with a good Uro/Oncologist or Surgeon and see what they have to say. Right now you are wasting time and at this point that is something you don't wanna do waste time.
The Dr's help heal us but we also heal ourselves and that is choosing a good hospital and next in line choosing a good team of Dr's to care for you. Lucky we all got but one life so you want to choose the best Dr's to take care of you. I wish you the best and once you have chosen your hospital everything will be fine, Joe

Hi Lucky,

I don't know where you are in NC, but my husband goes to Wake Forest, and there seem to be many fantastic reknowned doctors there, and someone else on the board goes to Forsyth also here in Winston-Salem.

Good Luck to you,
Karen

Lucky,

I had a second opinion and biopsy for superficial BC at UNC Medical Center and was very happy with my treatment there.

Dr. Raj Pruthi has a very good reputation for Urological surgery and is very thorough in talking things over with you. His surgery takes about 4 and one half hours according to what I have read on the Internet.

My co-worker has a choir partner, a lady about 15 years older than you, who had her surgery with Dr. Pruthi (almost 2 years ago) and she has been very happy with her new bladder.

Let me know if you want more information, or if I can help. I live here in NC also.

Your BC bud,
Rosemary

I would not advocate a partial cystectomy for your case, there is too much risk of recurrence. But do seek out the best uro-onc you can find. I understand how you feel about going back to a place you've had a bad experience with. I hope you find the right doctor and institution quickly.
Wendy