Had cancer removed from my Bladder 2 weeks ago. Stage 1, High Grade.
Physician said he removed all the tumor. Told me we would have to keep a
close eye on this bladder. I had to stop smoking, said it would give me a 2 or
3 times higher chance of recurring cancer. Said i did not have to take treatments at this time. I was wondering what are the treatment options.
Can anyone out there give me any information on Treatments for Bladder
cancer after surgery. Thanks for any info.
(P.S.) I had no symptons until I started Bleeding. No Pain, I was walking about
8 miles per week. Had 1 cancer.
Treatment of stage I bladder cancer may include the following:
Surgical removal of the tumor.
Surgical removeal of the tumor followed by intravesical biologic therapy or chemotherapy. (Intravesical means that the therapy is introduced directly into the bladder.) Biological therapy drugs used to treat bladder cancer include an immune-stimulating bacterium, Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is a bacterium used in tuberculosis vaccines. BCG can cause bladder irritation and blood in your urine. Some people feel as if they have the flu after treatment with BCG.
Another biologic treatment, Interferon is a protein that your immune system makes to help your body fight infections. A synthetic version of interferon, called interferon alfa, may be used to treat bladder cancer. Interferon alfa is sometimes used in combination with BCG. Interferon alfa can cause flu-like symptoms
If chemotherapy is used, it is introduced the same way, directly into the bladder. There are a number of chemotherapy agents for this use.
Another method of treatment is removal of part or all of the bladder...rarely used for Stage 1.
Radiation implants, with or without extermal radiation - also not the first choice for Stage 1.
If you do smoke, quitting is one of the best things you could do for yourself. There's an extremely strong link between smoking and bladder cancer, not to mention saving your lungs and heart. But the link between it and bladder cancer is extremely strong.
I think that knowing the exact stage of your bladder cancer will make a difference. When I had surgery, the hospital graded mine as "high" (this was a major Boston teaching hospital, too.) When I had the slides read by another hospital (also a major Boston teaching hospital), they rated it as Grade 2. My tumor was only a Ta, but even at that, had it been truly high grade, I would have pushed for further treatment, as even at the T-a stage, high grade bladder CA is know to recur more often. So I think knowing the EXACT stage is key here.
And, by the way, I had no pain either, first symptom was bleeding. And, to give you some encouragement, I have had no recurrences, and it'll have been 6 years next month since I had the surgery. I'm down to once a year with the cystoscopies, but I had them every three months for the first year, then every six months for the second year.
Good luck with this, and don't be afraid to ask questions and get a second opinion on the slides.
Hi, I never smoked but had bladder cancer that did not go through the bladder wall which was a good thing. Then I got the BCG treatment which is a TB live bacteria in your bladder via a cathater and I held it in the bladder for two hours and then it caused the bladder to have spasms for a couple of days but they give you medicine for bladder urgency and then after the treatments I had a scope of the bladder and now I get it scoped once a year. The BCG is supposed to kill any cancer cells that might still be in the bladder after taking the tumor out. Early detection is the key. Best wishes.
I am lucky I was sent to a great doctor who was following the exact mosteffective treatments,. 1. After tumoris removed if it is a high grade of blad cancer it normal tohave 6 weeks of chemo 1 x a week for 2 hours., then the doc does a follow up scope to see results. If needed doc will set up 3 more chemo sessions, that is apply for a woman directly into the bladder for 2 hours 1 xa week, then after that if your still free of cancer at l fet folloor a year you should have a follow up test every 3 months, since You must know bladder cancer reoccurs usu. 50 % of the time in 2 years following first operation.
why only a 5 % good treatments? a study said it is usually patient not go 2 follow up visits,but some docs do not follow correct steps, hopefully your fine,but anyone gets aninvasive tumor removed should get check for 2 years,
I hope if cancer folks get a good follow up program. thank you.
Angel17
