My Bladder Cancer Fight

Do I Really Have Cancer - YES, I Do!

To learn about me as a person, go to ABOUT Me.

I am going to tell you a little about my Medical History and about what direction I want this Blog to take.

I am a 68, soon to be 69, year old male who has gone through the following Medical problems.

1988 - mild heart attack - “a warning they said“.
1995 - a quadruple Bi-pass. I got so bad that I had to take Nitro spay if I walked 100 yards or had to get up to the bathroom during the night. Finally, my Doctor put me on the Nitro Patch while I was waiting for surgery. I was lucky that they were able to use my left Mamilary arteries. They turned the arteries around and put them into my heart. If the arteries are long enough, they work much better than taking veins from the leg or arm. It does leave you with an enlarged breast because of the missing arteries, but I do not care. Most men my age have floppy breast and arteries feed their breasts.
2000 - After going to the washroom and urinating what appeared to be pure blood, I got very concerned. Luckily, my Family Physician was able to see me the next day. He immediately made an emergency appointment with an Urologist. Within 10 days, I had my first Bladder scope. No, I was not put out. Very unpleasant. He collected some bladder urine and took a sample of tissue. I could tell by they way that he was talking to his Nurse that things were not too good. During the consultation afterwards, he told me, that in his expert opinion from many years of practicing; my bladder was full of Cancer. He scheduled a scraping of the bladder for later in the week. He felt that there might be a chance that with a few scrapings, he could remove or slow down the cancer to allow some type of chemotherapy to work. Thank goodness for the scrapings, they put me to sleep. This would be around mid to late August 2000.

The results came back that I my bladder was full of cancer tumor and it was a very aggressive cancer.

Another scope was done in late September. The Urologist stated that the tumours, that he had removed earlier, had grown back. He scraped once more in early to mid October. By mid November, after another scope, my Urologist said that the Cancer was growing too fast and that the bladder had to come out. He was very concerned that the Cancer would eat through the outer bladder wall and start to spread throughout my body. So far, he could see no evidence that the outer bladder wall was breached. Being an older man, he felt that he could not stand through my operation so he turned me over to his much younger partner.
January 2001 - I was operated on for Bladder Cancer. Everything, including the kitchen sink, was removed below my stomach. A stoma was created using my small bowl and brought to the outside just below and to the right of my belly button. I woke up wearing a Urostomy Pouch. A week to ten days after the surgery, my surgeon informed me that, YES, a few Cancer cell were found in one of the Lymph nodes that was removed from my groin. Chemotherapy.
February 2001 - I began an eight month, once a week, Chemotherapy Program. That was hell. I was sick 24/7 for eight months. No anti-nausea medication worked. You have to eat. Sit down to eat but half way through a meal barf it up. Sit down, eat a little more, and hope that it would stay down. I lost 45 lbs. during my Chemotherapy program. When it was all over, it took me close to a year to get fully back on my feet. I said that never again was I going to go through any more Chemotherapy. Because of having a class 4 Cancer, very powerful drugs were administrated.

Eight years later, do I feel the same? NO. THE CHEMOTHERAPY PROGRAM IS WHY I AM STILL ALIVE TODAY. Seeing what the first round did, I would go for round two in a heartbeat providing the Cancer had not spread too far.
Since 2001, I have had Medical checkups, blood work and cat scans every six months. NOTE: If you have Cancer anywhere in your body and are getting scans on regular bases, make sure they scan your HEAD. Most Doctors are reluctant but INSIST on it. I will explain why later. It is a story itself.
Fall of 2007 - My Oncologist does not want to see me anymore since I am doing so well. “Come back if anything goes wrong”. My Surgeon is the only ones looking after my Cancer. Beginning this past September, he only wants to see me ONCE a year for blood work and a scan.

Yes, someone up there is looking after me.

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