diagnosed bladder cancer

[cscotting50]

My husband was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. The tumor invaded the muscle wall but still considered at a T1 stage. Dr.'s suggested 4 months of chemo, followed by removal of the bladder. Urologist did not believe the type of chemo shot directly into the bladder would take care of it. This is a huge surgery! Need to know if something else can be done?

[gwyn53]

My husband had the bcg treatment.

He did just fine.

He had six bcg it made him tired. His had not invaded the wall.

Hope you gavd a really good soecialist nurse. Theg are truly worth it. If good.

We gad a wonderful nyrse.

[Hidden]

I have stage 1, Ta however, I got talking to a woman who's husband was set to have whole bladder removed at local hospital then when the doctors discussed his case and thought if it was their Dad what would they do they agreed they would send him to Guys Hospital. Not sure what hospital you are at, but after 2 bad experiences for different reasons with my local hospital I have now myself transferred to Guys and not only after talking to this lady and the better level of care I have already received, I go in for op 6th June (3rd one) I am positive I made the best decision and I should have done it first time around. Needless to say the outcome for this woman's husband was he didn't have to have all of the bladder removed, just part of it. I also am under Guys Hospital for a rare blood cancer, again after I found out the expert was located there and my local hospital didn't support me the way I believed was correct.. best decision I ever made. Remember you have the right to choose your care and you have the right to a second opinion and personally I believe this is my body, my life and I should get some say in how and what is done to it. Good luck to your husband xxx

[cscotting50 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much for your reply! Good luck to you also. . .

[brimas in reply to Hidden]

my husband had bladder and prostate removed in oct 2014 they used the new robot and as it was the new machine here in Bradford the staff from guys hospital came to bfd and was told this after his operation all went well go for check up every year now and he copes well with bag on just looking for insurance but finding it deer will shop around good look to all new friends and fight it lots of help now for cancer

[westseajoe]

i am now 70 but in 2012 i was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Much cancer was found but had not gone thru wall- had first surgery, then a second look surgery. Then 6 bcg infusions, a week apart. Have a great surgeon here in Seattle. Seems they determine how many of the bcg series based on the size/amount of cancer they remove. After the initial 6, i must have a total of 7 rounds of the bcg- in between is a 3 month period followed by bladder inspection. If you are in doubt, and can afford to, you might consider a second opinion.

[Hidden in reply to westseajoe]

In the UK we are lucky second opinions are also free

[westseajoe in reply to Hidden]

yes much of the world is way ahead of us in healthcare! for sure!

[Gareth_G]

Hi, I was diagnosed with highly aggressive, muscle invasive bladder cancer back in Sept 15. I started Chemo in January last year, I had 4 sessions, then had a heart attack, i was 56 at the time, but the heart attack was an underlying problem waiting to happen. So it was then decided to remove my bladder, and reconstruct a Neobladder. That was done in May last year. 11 months on and i'm back to normal, and having a CT scan on May 10th, where its highly likely i'm cancer free. So, i now have a Neobladder, which is working well. Im back in work, out cycling, and going to the gym...... Hope all goes well

[cscotting50 in reply to Gareth_G]

Thank you for your response.

[Hidden in reply to Gareth_G]

I have not heard of a neo bladder, this sounds like it offers hope to those who may lose their bladder. Sorry to hear of all your issues but happy you are in a better place and good now!

[Gareth_G in reply to Hidden]

Yes it does offer hope. When they remove the bladder, at the same time, they take a small part of the bowel, and construct that into a new bladder (neobladder). I am well now, and got my fitness back.

[djjames]

Hi. Sorry to hear about your husband but my own experience my help and put things in perspective. In 1996 at the age of 53 I was diagnosed with multifocal cancer of the bladder with invasion of the bladder wall. I was first treated by resection of the bladder at Bart's in London in Jan 1997 to remove as much of the cancer as possible. It was a high grade aggressive tumour labelled ‘Transitional cell carcinoma Grade III T1 Tumour’. My Maidstone urologist at the time recommended cystectomy which at the age of 53 was a shock. I was offered radiotherapy as an alternative bladder sparing option. However I then took other advice from three other consultants, two of whom were urologists and the other was an eminent oncologist at the Royal Hammersmith. One of the urologists was at the Royal London Hospital and the other at a local private hospital. All three were unanimous that the bladder salvage option should be taken; their reason being that since the bladder wall had already been invaded there was little point in removing it. I agreed with their conclusion and then was handed over to the Oncology Department at Maidstone. My oncologist consultant then advised, what at the time, was an innovative treatment. This consisted of a course of several weeks chemotherapy followed by six weeks of radiotherapy the whole episode lasting from January to early June 1997 at Maidstone Oncology Centre. During this time I only felt unwell once or twice and carried on working full time and was active skiing and playing golf whenever possible. I was weaker during the chemotherapy sessions but not enough to stop me being active on a daily basis. During this period and afterwards for a year or so I had several CT scans and cystoscopies. I had been told such was the severity of the case that I would need to be screened for the rest of my life. This has (more or less) happened to the present day.

Obviously I have been living successfully with an intact (albeit radiation damaged) bladder for all those years. A few months ago I had blood in my urine for the first time in 20 years but was probably caused by an infection -my first one ever. I also had a cystoscopy after a gap of 6 years. This revealed a small malignancy less then 1 cm across. This was removed in Jan 2017 and the histology showed it to be of limited malignant potential. I was checked again only a week ago and was clear. I will now be checked again in a few months time.

Obviously everyone is different and no doubt some urologists would say I was lucky so I don't want to raise false hopes since obviously I am not a doctor and cannot, and would not advise - my case just shows what can and did happen - but I was glad I hung on to my bladder. Whether I will eventually lose it I dont know but so far so good. I do hope your husband can look at alternative opinions - they say for any life threatening diagnoses always get three opinions (if you can afford it!). It was noticeable the oncologists were much more optimistic than the urologists who said removal was necessary to reduce the mass but as the oncologists maintained if it metastasized (escaped) through the bladder wall removing the bladder would make no difference to the presence of the malignancy - it would still be there!

Please get in touch if you need any more info and best wishes to your husband for a successful outcome.

David J

[Paulin1012]

I had no chemo bladder removed as I wS told it would not respond to chemo .