NOTE: When I use someone else’s situation in a post or an article, I will never reveal anything about the identity of the person involved. The Privacy of the individual and their family is of the utmost importance to me. So, please do not bother to ask because you will never get it.
I have been corresponding with a person who has a member of their family recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. The shock of the diagnosis of this disease has been devastating for the whole family.
The Urologist that was seeing this patient referred him/her to another urologist since the present Urologist felt that he had done all that he could for the patient. Good for this Urologist. At least he did not horse around trying this and that and wasting valuable time while his patient is getting sicker and sicker. It is nice to hear about Doctors who know their limitations and will immediately refer to another more qualified to handle a certain situation. I am fortunate to have a Family Physician who falls into this category. They are rare but they are out there.
Yesterday, this patient went to see the new Urologist. I feel that he/she received the best possible news under the circumstances.
Let me quote the Email. I have taken the liberty to change names to xxx for identity protection.
“Hi Neil,
Well here is the scoop from our trip to xxxx. We were first greeted by Dr. xxxx secretary. She had a 3 ring binder full of information that she gave to xxx along with a book that the doctor had written and published on the subject. She immediately went into the different options once the bladder is removed. I told her I felt she was jumping ahead a bit but she said that these were things she can go over with us without taking up valuable time with the doctor. She got all the tests and paperwork in order the way the doctor wanted them so he could read everything before he came in. It took 2 hours to finally have the doctor come into the room where we were waiting.
He started drawing on the paper that covers the examining table as we all sat around it. Giving us all the options and percentages. FYI: xxx told me a few weeks ago that if the doctor said to xxx “if it was me I would do this,” that he would follow that lead and feel comfortable with that. Half way through the consultation the doctor said, “If you were my xxx…..I would opt to have the surgery.” By the end of the visit xxx was going to have the radical surgery. Based on that decision the doctor told xxx, xxx could have an 85% chance of living a long and healthy life.
The doctor told xxx that xxx good health was defiantly a plus, that he had just turned a patient down for this surgery because of his health.
This is the steps we are going to take:
xxx is to go and have a pelvic MRI, and EKG and a check-up. Send all that to Dr. xxx. Then on the 12th of March, we are going down to meet with the anesthesiologist. On the 13th xxx is going to have another scope and scraping down at xxx with Dr. xxx as an outpatient. Without knowing what he will find, the next step is 3 months of pre-op chemo done somewhere near home. After the chemo. we will go back to xxx and xxx will have the surgery. He said it would take about 4 hours and xxx will have to stay in the hospital for about 7 days. After that, there will be therapy but no radiation treatments. Then the recovery period.
We will have time between each step to talk again with the doctor and he said we could email him anytime with any questions we might have.
So that’s where we stand, and xxx has a whole new outlook on xxx cancer. I know we are just beginning,
but we are doing it together and we are going to be alright.We will keep you in touch and please let us know what else we should or could be doing in the meantime.
Xxx”
Here is my interpretation of the above Email. I feel that I am qualified to give an opinion since I am a bladder cancer patient myself and have gone through all that is described in this Email.
This patient has gotten himself or herself a damn good Urologist. He is not going to fool around; he is going fix this problem the best way possible and NOW.
I am surprised that chemotherapy is going to be done, prior to surgery. This is perhaps something new. This option was not suggested in 2000, to me, when I had my surgery. I sure think that it is a great idea.
Get the Chemo. working NOW, just in case the cancer has breached the bladder wall. Looking back on my own situation, I realize that the worst news was not that I had cancer but that the cancer HAD breached the bladder wall. The time between my surgery and the beginning of my Chemotherapy was around five to six weeks. Not knowing when the breach took place meant that there could be million of cancer cells floating around in my body looking for a home to set up a secondary site. This was devastating news.
My first reaction was ‘will the Chemo. be able to kill off ALL the cells floating around’? Cancer cells are just like Jack Rabbits, give them a home and they will divide like hell. Luckily for me, the Chemo. worked. I will be seven years, cancer free, next month.
Had I been offered the opportunity of taking my Chemo. prior to my operation, knowing what I know today, I would have been on it like my dog on a bone.
The above is another case where early detection and early intervention gives a good prognosis.
This is what I have told my kids and anyone else that will listen.
‘If you are passing blood, either through the Urethra or the rectum, get your ass to a Doctor IMMEDIATELY. Your life could depend on it’.
Posted on February 25th, 2008 by Neil
Filed under: My Cancer, Share Your Story
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