I was diagnosed with bladder cancer 41 years ago when I was 23 years old. I was hiking in the Grand Canyon in Arizona and when I woke up one morning I had a drip of blood come out of my urine. It happened two mornings in a row. I called my parents in NYC and they told me to come home immediately. I was checked into a hospital and they ran tests. Last thing they did was give me a cystoscope. No one saw anything except a young intern. I had a microscopic cyst which they took out through special instruments without being cut up. It was a malignant cyst. I was cystoscoped every 3 months for 3 years, then every 4 months for the next 2 years. Year 5-10 I was cystoscoped every 6 months. Year 10 to year 15 I was cystoscoped once a year. After year 15, I was cystoscoped once every 2 years. After 35 years, I asked my Urologist why was I still being cystoscoped, and he said, " he didn't know why either." After that comment, I stopped being cystoscoped. It's been 6 years since I have been cystoscoped. I figured after 35 years of being checked with no recurrence, I was as safe as could be. They never gave me any medication, chemo or radiation. I was told at the age of 23 that my chances of non-recurrence we're less than one tenth of one percent. I was to young and to stupid at the time to worry. I lived my life carefree but dreaded the day I got cystoscoped. Deep down I wonder if I did the right thing after 35 years of not getting cystoscoped. Only G-d knows, I suppose. Wishing all of you a recovery like me. I didn't suffer because I was in the hospital one day and out the next making love to my girlfriend, who is now my wife.
