new here

for now anyway. I saw Dr.Corrie yesterday for my three month followup and am currently good to go. This was the first cysto he had preformed on me and the most pleasant I have had, my first two with other Uros well painful hell for 2+ days but my new Uro was an entirely different test, not bad at all, never even had to stop for a bathroom on the long drive home.
He used an Olympus CYF-3 (two prior Uro's in TN had used a 1960's unit).

Best wishes to all,

John

I may be a little late now but I wanted to let you know that in order for my mother in law to go to sloan-kettering which was out of network, we had to have her current doctor write a letter to the insurance company stating that she felt sloan could give her the best care and possibly save her where if she stayed with her doctor, she could only prolong her life for 3-5 years. good luck!

Sorry about that John. Next time I will try to remember to include some good links in my message.

You may want to consider getting one of those little tape recorders to bring to your appointments with the doc since he talks fast. That way you can play it back a few times later and be sure you didn't miss anything. My uro told me that some studies showed that patient retention of conversations was something like 10-15%. I started writing down my questions prior to appointments and then took notes during the discussions to try to make sure I didn't miss anything.

Sounds like a good idea to ask your uro about the pain. If he isn't the right guy, I'm sure he could tell you who would be. I didn't have that type of pain. On my first occurence of bladder cancer (2006), I was having pain when I swung the golf club. I thought it was odd since you don't really use the bladder in a golf swing, but nevertheless, that is where it would hurt.

After my RC, no pain there but it didn't improve my golf game either.

Mike

Patrica, No FISH test but I will be asking about that now, many thanks! Those direct links are just the thing "I" need.

Mike,
Thank you also, all these turms are very hard for me to "google" w/dial-up and just no knowledge of the Internet or Cancer. One reason I did post my results was the hope someone would read them and comment, I have now loctaed and read a bit about "lamina propria" . I am fairly smart but slow (organic brain damage from head trama) and naturally my Dr is intelegent but darn sure dosnt speak slowly (he does try to take all the time he can with me).
I believe he said "sometimes" they just go with another TURB but he felt I should just go to his office for a "poke and peek" (not his words but I like that better than other turms, heck it sounds nearly fun) and if needed we will do a TURB again the following day.

One thing I have considered calling my Dr. about is the fact that for a few months before my surgery I started having rather severe pain (pardon me here)
I assoiated with my bladder on my left side if I had intestional gas. Two CT scans showed ,something, on/near the left wall of my bladder which is why I got my first referal. My Dr. said he couldnt tell if it was actually something on/in my bladder or a blockage of my inteston. It turns out the tumor was on the right side of my bladder and I still have said rather severe pain in the same spot as before if I have gas or a bowl movement.
I do not know if this is a Uro's field or if I need another Dr.? Or if this is a common side effect of the bladder cancer. I only bleed once after the surgery (5 days later and just pink) and a few clots there after.

Again, thank you all,

JOhn

John,

I noticed on your pathology report that it said "rare areas suspicious for lamina propia". On your follow up with your uro, you may want to ask him if he feels that a follow up TURBT is warranted. Since he was the one in there doing the TURBT, he'll know if it is warranted or not.

Keep us informed. Hopefully, everything is ALL CLEAR on your next visit!


Mike

John..you recieved an instillation of Mytomycin and it looks like your doctor is right on top of it..at the 3 month interval he will take another peek and determine whether a second TURB is necessary...this has kind of been the norm lately as sometimes initial tumors will seed if all margins are not gotten...or you may be a lucky one and just have to go for poke and peeks every 3 months. Did he also give you a FISH test? Thats a pretty good prognosticator of a higher grade tumor...just another tool in diagnosis.
Here's a paper you might want to read...
www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6X11-4T8H3D0-1&_user=10&_coverDate=10%2F31%2F2008&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=article&_cdi=7229&_sort=v&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=268&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=07ccc069fc4261dcc9823048460601d2
Pat