When I got the T1 G3 Pathology report (after 6 weeks earlier being diagnosed with Ta G1 disease), the first thing my good Dr. did was to swiftly make an appointment for me up the road to UNC in Chapel Hill to the Urological Surgeon, the question in his mind being, "Should she hold on to her bladder?"... and his reason for this being, "because of your age."
When I got to Chapel Hill and saw the good Dr. his words to me (after a short interview) was, "I think I know where Dr. P.... is going with this, it's because of your age."
Evidently, they were looking down the road for me....
...because if I can normally expect to live as long as my Mother, (30+ more years) then I have a long road of trying to stay on top of the risk of recurrance. After the good Chapel Hill Dr. performed a biopsy and CT scan, he became all smiles and seemed to think that the chances were real good of preserving the bladder.
So, I guess the point is this....30 more years of fear and risk and still the chance (however small) of recurrance.....
At the same time of my diagnosis, my co-worker's choir mate was diagnosed with invasive disease at about the age of 70. The thing is, she had been diagnosed with Superficial disease 10 years before and had thought it was all behind her.
Luckily, though after much depression and anxiety, she was timely enough to have her diseased bladder removed and replaced in Chapel Hill by my good Surgeon and then all became well. Now, two years later when I remember to ask my coworker about how her choir partner likes her new bladder, the answer is always the same....."She is very happy."
The point of all this is, "is this worth it??" And in my case, considering severe chronic reactions triggered by BCG's, "has it been worth it?"
Thanks for letting me blog a little here!!
Regards to all,
Rosemary