1st Experience with BCG

14 years 5 months ago #28331 by Moonerj
Replied by Moonerj on topic 1st Experience with BCG
Fatigue is a common side effect of BCG with a lot of people me included. I have had 30 treatments, and the fatigue got worse as the number of treatments increased.
Well worth the side effects in my case, now nearly 2 years cancer free :)
Jack

TA Grade 1
3 Turbts
30 BCG Treatments
Cancer Free since Nov 2007

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14 years 5 months ago #28327 by lhpdogs
Replied by lhpdogs on topic 1st Experience with BCG
Well, I've had 4 BCG treatments so far... and I am just starting to feel a constant bladder 'soreness' and am very tired. The actual pain upon urination only lasts about 36 hours, and I think alot of that is just the process of catheterization. I have a great nurse who is doing the procedures, and we sit and talk about places in Europe she has visited (and I have on my "wish list")...

Is fatigue a common side effect? I do think about how hard my body is working to send white blood cells in an immune-attack on my bladder lining, and can see how that could affect how I feel overall. It doesn't help that my days are 12 hours (commute included), and I can't get more than 7 hours of sleep a night...:side:

TaG1 12/05
3 recurrences
BCG started 9/09

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14 years 5 months ago #28074 by mmc
Replied by mmc on topic 1st Experience with BCG
You may want to tell your uro about your plan and see if he/she suggests you take antibiotics with you as a "just in case" measure in case there is any issue.

Since everything has been fine for you so far, no reason to believe it won't continue that way. However, "better safe than sorry" makes some sense as well.

Only saying that because I got a very high fever the night that I had the BCG and antibiotics were required. If you're in a tent somewhere in the boondocks, it would be good to have a thermometer and antibiotics. Having the stuff you need is one way to pretty much guarantee that you won't need it.
You only wind up needing stuff when you don't have it. :D

Mike

Age 54
10/31/06 dx CIS (TisG3) non-invasive (at 47)
9/19/08 TURB/TUIP dx Invasive T2G3
10/8/08 RC neobladder(at 49)
2/15/13 T4G3N3M1 distant metastases(at 53)
9/2013 finished chemo -cancer free again
1/2014 ct scan results....distant mets
2/2014 ct result...spread to liver, kidneys, and lymph...

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14 years 5 months ago #28072 by lhpdogs
Replied by lhpdogs on topic 1st Experience with BCG
Oh yes.. i had jars of bleach in my bag for my travel stops!!!My sister laughed and figured no one else ever bleached the toilets at a turnpike rest stop but me:laugh:

This week, I have to take my dog to the vet for x-rays after my treatment 2 hours are up, then I'm doing a civil war reenactment for the weekend, camping out in the cold.... but once my tent is up, I can sit around the fire or nap in my tent all I want - I portray a southern refugee widow who is following the army for safe passage to my aunt's home, after the damn Yankees destroyed my home....:side: I don't want to give up my fun just because of cancer. However, for all the rest, I'll be going home and working at my computer at my dining room table afterwards...

TaG1 12/05
3 recurrences
BCG started 9/09

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14 years 5 months ago #28067 by mmc
Replied by mmc on topic 1st Experience with BCG
I thought about BCG and then mitomycin the same way. Getting intravesical treatment is WAY better the chemo in the vein!!!

I never needed "chemo" and hope it stays that way since I've gotten mine removed.

It's good that it worked out for you and I hope you used the bleach in the toilet at those places you stopped so nobody else got exposed to the live TB vaccine. :huh:

The BCG has worked well for many, many folks without getting to be a major problem and I hope you remain to be one of them.

It is advisable to take it easy and stay home the day of "the treatment" though, just in case.....

Best,
Mike

Age 54
10/31/06 dx CIS (TisG3) non-invasive (at 47)
9/19/08 TURB/TUIP dx Invasive T2G3
10/8/08 RC neobladder(at 49)
2/15/13 T4G3N3M1 distant metastases(at 53)
9/2013 finished chemo -cancer free again
1/2014 ct scan results....distant mets
2/2014 ct result...spread to liver, kidneys, and lymph...

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14 years 5 months ago #28064 by lhpdogs
Replied by lhpdogs on topic 1st Experience with BCG
I thought about that, Mike.. but I figured driving was better than flying, cuz I could stop and get out and walk around and find more bathrooms along the turnpike! I could not miss the wedding (it was in the RainForest at the zoo, and was a blast, dining in front of pythons and pirahnas, and having cocktails with orangutans)!

I asked my nurse who does the instillations how ANY woman could catheterize herself, and she said it was not easy, you couldn't be too chubby, and needed a big mirror...:P

So it's possible by the sixth treatment, these won't go so easy, eh? I have very slight pain and "spasms", not enough to really bother me right now. Then again, I don't have an interfering prostate either... I still have not considered myself having "cancer treatments".. I just look at it as a medical procedure, like the many others I've had. I know I should slow down a bit so I'm not surprised if it hits me harder one of these days...

TaG1 12/05
3 recurrences
BCG started 9/09

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