Invasive Bladder Cancer - Non Cystectomy Treatments???

Hi Joe!
I appreciate that, I didn't really look at Penn but I've screwed around long enough. My Wife is a wreck over this and she was having a hard time waiting for me to make up my mind. It looks like I'll do surgery at Fox Chase, but the Chemo I will do at Crozier. It would be nice if I could do my Chemo at Christiana Hospital here. It's about 6 mins. from my home, it didn't sound like an option when I metioned it to Dr. Chen. I'm going to ask the Oncologist on the 13th just to be sure. Every little thing helps.

- Carmine -

I thought about Hopkins but being 40 mins from Penn The Abramson Cancer Center was super up there and a shorter ride with Dr's just as good as Hopkins in my opinion. Believe me Penn is a great hospitel and my wife took me for everything so as mentioned you have excellent Dr's not a long drive for your chemo weeks and the price of gas when I was going was up to 3 bucks a gallon and no hotels. It was enough for us at the time paying for parking and co-pays. Joe

penncancer.org/

The new Cancer Center they are building is right acrosss the street it really looks as though it is going to be state of the art not that Abramson is not it is just going to larger with more even technology. I always liked it up there and as I posted b4 my Dad was a Veternarian at the Veternarian Hospital for over 40 years up there at Penn.

Hi All!
Thanks for the info. Liz. Just a quick update, I have an appt. to see an oncologist at Fox Chase on Nov. 13th (day before my birthday) to set up my Chemo schedule. It looks like My RC surgery will be sometime in the spring. Dr. Chen says that I am a candidate for DaVInci with nerve sparing surgery and a neobladder. I know it may not end up that way, but that's the plan. I'll keep you informed from time to time.
- Carmine -

Carmine,
Hi, I am so sorry to hear of your resent dx. I was dx's in Sept and still feel like I am on some type of whirl wind ride, and I just want to get off!
The good news for you is that you are a male, that give you much better success rates regarding receiving the neobladder (85-90% success rate in men) where in women it's on about 35%. The neobladder work just like a normal bladder, it's made from your bowel as an internal pouch and it connects to the urethra and urinate just like you always did.
The Indiana Bladder is an internal pouch made from the intestines and then you evacuate by catherizing thru a stoma (which is a hole in your abdeman) usually put where your belly button is/was.
An ileal conduit is when they hook you up to an external bag.
Being a male you do need to talk to your doctor about nerve sparing measures to avoid impatacy. Don't meen to scare you......
These are all things I have learned over the last 30 days by reading this web site and information available on the hospitals web site; cms.clevelandclinic.org/cancer/body.cfm?id=521&oTopID=439

Good luck with your treatment, one doctor told me once, if you're gonna get cancer the best kind to get is 'bladder'.

Liz

hi joe - yes, i agree with you. dr. vaughn was great and if we lived downtown we would have gone to him. but we live in the jenkintown area and it's an hour in traffic door to door to penn. at abington hospital we park at the cancer center door, take the elevator up one floor, and walk 30 steps to the infusion room. can't beat that.

eileen

Eileen Dr. Vaughn was my Oncologist a very laid back quiet nice man. Their chemo center was great as were the nurses they all had a sense of humor which made my treatments under the circumstances a little more entertaining if you know what I mean. Joe