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I was just diagnosed with what they call superficial bladder cancer. I was wondering what other people have chosen as a follow up treatment after surgery.
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need info
- By newyorknewcomer
- Posted October 27, 2009 at 9:30 pm · 7 replies
- In Treatment choices
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- By Moonerj
- Posted October 27, 2009 at 10:01 pm
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Welcome NewYork
When I was 1st dx, I had 3 tumors of which 1 was large.
My tumors were all TA Low Grade, in other words superficial and low grade.
Normally my Uro with this stage and grade would just do a look inside my bladder every 3 months.
But we decided because of the size of the 1 tumor to go ahead with BCG treatments. I have had 2 early recurrences, since my initial dx, and 30 BCG treatments. I have now been cancer free nearly 2 years.
Bladder cancer has a high recurrence rate and must be monitored closely.
Their is a great booklet available from BCAN, Bladder Cancer Basics for the Newly Diagnosed.
Just click it on the right hand side of this page.
You need to learn as much as you can about bladder cancer. Coming to this site is a great start.
All the best,
Jack
- By EricAndre
- Posted October 28, 2009 at 12:58 am
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HI NY,
WElcome to this great site.
The choice is mostly a plan from your doctors . They call the shots. Most likely if it is low grade they may start with BCG and a combo of many other products.
If it is high grade and multi focal (More than one tumor)
Then they have to follow more closely. I had High Grade multi focal and 2 different types of cancer when first discovered in 2002. The strategy was to give me a BCG treatments for a fix period of time. If at that time thing do not improved dramatically then an operation was in the planning. Two years after I had the operation, but it was not all that bad. By then the cancer was 99% gone But I wanted to take no chances.
Best of luck and stay vigilant. Warrior don't rest.
EricAndre
EricAndre
- By nancynursez637
- Posted October 28, 2009 at 1:00 am
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The follow up treatment will be determined by the nature of your cancer, At the very least you will have cystos every 3 months for several years., After you reach a level of being cancer free they will go to every 6 months then annually after 5 yrs of being cancer free. However, you will need to ask about periodic checks of your kidneys and ureters as well.
If you are male do not ignore your prostate check ups. IF female then your annual pap and exam. You should also if you are over the age of 50, have a colonoscopy, Some of us because we have one kind of cancer, can also be more susceptible to other kinds, so early detection and prevention become important.
If your cancer has invaded the muscle, then I would strongly suggest a second opinion at one of hte cancer centers, such as MD Anderson, Dana Farber, Cleveland Clinic, Sloan Kettering, others here have gone to each of these. You need a second opinion because if cancer has crept into the bladder wall, then other treatments are dictated, and your local urologist may not be the best choice for some of the more advanced surgeries,
So that is an overview, you need to know what kind of cancer you have, whether or not it has invaded the wall, and what teh follow up treatment plan is, You may want to as i noted get a second opinion on the pathology once you know what it is
NancyN
- By joybob
- Posted October 28, 2009 at 1:44 am
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I agree with my fellow members. You may be in the large group that you just get it scrapped out every few months. My father had it for 30 years, somethings they just looked in, sometimes they scrapped. Unfortunately my husband was not so lucky. His was high grade and had to have a r/c. He is doing well at this point. You should be fine. There is a lot of help here for you. Joycee
- By lsh
- Posted October 28, 2009 at 6:37 am
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The grade and stage of your cancer will help determine the treatment. T1 and high grade(2 and over) are usually treated with BCG to try to stop more tumors from forming. Ta and low grade are sometimes just watched and sometimes treated with BCG immunotherapy depending on what you and your doc decide. All bladder cancer needs to be followed up with scopes and scans because of its high recurrence rate. Good luck with your treatment choices. Let us know if there is anything we can do to help you.
Lynda
- By silgal
- Posted October 28, 2009 at 8:50 am
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Hi, you've gotten a good start on info with the other answers. Just wanted to welcome you and let you know you are not alone! Great group of people here.
Wish you didn't have to have this diagnosis, but the fact that you do, you found a good place. :)
Write anytime with questions or comments.
Thinking of you
michelle
- By jj803
- Posted October 28, 2009 at 10:57 am
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Hi,
As everyone has said stage and to a lesser extent grade are all important in determining treatment and follow up. Since you said superficial, it is most likely not thought to be muscle invasive. If it is invasive into the lamina propria, then you need to at least know that muscle wall was present in the tissue submitted to have any chance at evaluation of muscle wall invasion. For non invasive tumors this is probably less important. Many also recommend a repeat, thorough TURBT for T1 (lamina propria invasive ) tumors as there is a fairly high chance of discovering muscle invasion in a repeat specimen. Best wishes,
JJ
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