I have the feeling that there is a lot of confusion out there, about ‘bladder cancer spread’.
If patient’s diagnoses is stage 3 bladder cancer, this means that the cancer has been around for a while and has invaded the bladder wall. If it is stage 4 bladder cancer, this means that the cancer has breached the bladder wall and is infecting other organs in the body.
Once the invasion of the bladder wall occurs, stage 3, there is a high risk that the cancer has or will get completely through the wall and begin to set up secondary sites elsewhere in the body. I have mentioned this in another post but did not go into any detail.
This must be prevented, at all cost. The prognosis for the patient drops dramatically once other tissue and organs are invaded with cancer cells. Instead of the chemotherapy having to battle against a few thousand cancer cells, it has to battle against billions and trillions. This volume of cancer cells might just be too much for the chemotherapy to cope with. Remember that the body can only tolerate so much chemotherapy at one session.
Chemotherapy chemicals are poisons to our bodies. Besides killing off the cancer cells, it does kill some healthy cells. It plays hell with our blood picture and our immune system. This is the main reason that chemotherapy cannot be carried on indefinitely. The body must be allowed to rejuvenate itself between rounds of chemotherapy. In my case, I could not receive my last chemotherapy treatment, spread over four months, because my platelets were far too low. I can remember patient who were receiving their chemotherapy at the same time being refused their weekly treatment in the second or third month because their blood counts were too low. They had to give their bodies time to rejuvenate. Remember while the body is rejuvenating itself, the cancer cells that are still alive are GROWING AND MULTIPLYING. When a person takes chemotherapy treatment, their blood work MUST be checked the day before the treatment appointment. If there is no day before blood report, treatment is cancelled. At my chemotherapy center, if someone came in without having their blood work done the day before, the staff did take a blood sample and sent it to the laboratory for analysis. This took time and could mean that you were at the chemotherapy center for six hours instead of four.
An early diagnosis of bladder cancer is essential. If you notice any change in your Urinary tract, you must seek Medical attention immediately AND insist on a thorough investigation. In my case, I saw blood in my urine approximately one year prior to my diagnosis. It only lasted for about a day. On my next visit to my Family Physician, I mentioned seeing bright red blood in my urine. He felt that I had probably strained myself and there was nothing to ‘worry about’. I should mention here that I always showed a few red blood cells in my urine since I had nephritis in my 20’s. My doctor knew all about my Nephritis. I SHOULD HAVE INSISTED ON FURTHER INVESTIGATION. When it happened a second time, about a year later, I immediately went to my Family Doctor. After a quick Urinalysis, he could see that I was still bleeding heavily. He immediately made an appointment for me with an Urologist.
Blood in your urine, get your ass to your Doctor IMMEDIATELY. Any change in you Urinary system, get to your Doctor IMMEDIATELY. I know that men are much worse than women when it comes to dealing with our ‘private parts’ but for Gods sake suck it up and GO.
YOUR LIFE COULD DEPEND ON IT.
AS A BLADDER CANCER PATIENT, I CANNOT EMPHASIS THIS POINT ENOUGH.
Posted on March 13th, 2008 by Neil
Filed under: Bladder Cancer - Background, My Cancer
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