Need help in Wayne's World

Wayne,
What are you up too. We are interested in what your decision is and if you have proceeded to make arrangements for surgery.? The good thing is you will be cancer free and that you have a choice for bladder replacement. Let us know your surgery date so we can be involved in your progress. Ginger

Ginger...i figured i had my bladder cancer about 3 yrs before diagnosis...there were some symptoms but not pain. My son was diagnosed with testicular cancer at that time and i was going through a lot of nausea for no particular reason...i went to see a social worker thinking i was having sympathy nausea and its entirely possible i was...but i also noticed that at times my urine was a very rust color...i thought that was a little odd but hey no pain so i didn't say anything about it...and my GYN on a urinalysis spotted microscopic blood in my urine..i told my internist..he said everyone has microscopic blood in their urine...ok i wanted to believe that...Denial is such a great thing isn't it?.....And at about the 3 yr mark the dam broke and gross hematura and T2 stage 2 into the muscle. So this little guy was just taking his time eating away at my bladder...very sneaky of him. And it was quite small but quite lethal. At the time of my cystectomy my pathology report came back ..bladder was cancer free BUT there were dysplasic cells roaming around just waiting to attach again. I do not regret having the bladder replaced. I do regret that i supposedly an intellegent person had no idea of the symptoms of bladder cancer...its not in the mainstream...noone has hardly heard of it and i'm so good at denial anyway!!! Pat

Hi Ginger

In march of 2005 i had what doctors thought was a kidney stone. They did a CT scan and thought i had passed a kidney stone and never actually saw any stones. No blood,no pain,No nothing until about Oct.2006 when i started having some burning at the end of urination that was not really terrible but noticable. Burning began to get worse and then blood in Janurary of this year and that is around the time they gave me antibotics for a short period.They prescribed cipro for a long time but i started bleeding worse and changed uro quick. Changed uro at that time and found tumor pretty quickly. I wasted some time getting second opinions and tring to decide if i wanted to take Chemo. I have wasted some time since chemo was completed tring to decide if i wanted to have surgery. All tests,scans,another biopsy at major university show no signs of cancer during august. Scheduled for surgery Oct.22

In March of 2005 i went to ER with pain in right side that would kind of work its way around to abdomen area. They did a CT scan and said the tube from kidney to bladder looked a little swollen as though i had passed a kidney stone and made me an appointment with a urologist for follow up. He did a CT with contrast and told me that everything looked good and there was nothing he could treat me for at this time. He also said that i was welcome to go get a second opinion if i like.(looking back i probably should have).For over a year and a half i never even thought about it after that. Never had no pain,bleeding,or anything. I just figured the doctor was right and i had passed a kidney stone(He might have been right and that is all it was) Guess if everyone living had a Cystoscopy every couple months there would be no invasive BC.

Wayne,
From your post it seems you have been at this for 2 years. Its very upsetting to read that you were passing blood as much as you were but still given just an antibiotic. Further testing, very important. How are you now, and what are you doing for treatment.? With bladder cancer time is so valuable!! Ginger

Hi Wayne,

People who respond to pre-op chemo and go on to have their bladders removed having no signs of cancer left have the highest survival rate...but this is a combination treatment and you can't skip the most important part---the surgery.

You've done well for yourself, please keep it up!
Wendy

Patricia

I guess what i posted didn't come out right. I meant that the doctor here in Cary did not have any patients that i could talk to. He is a well known uro in the area and seems to really care about me as a person. Says he could do the surgery with out any problems. He has said that he has done hundreds of Neo Bladders over his 25 years but really has no patients i could talk with. Cary is located between Raleigh and Durham and he works out of Wake Med hospital in Cary and has a office in Cary.