- This topic has 3 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 9 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Good morning all.
I was diagnosed with bladder cancer 18 months ago. I have had 5 TURBT and 3 rounds of treatments. 1- 6 week induction, followed by 1 – 3 Week maintenance, followed by another 6 week induction in Sept. 2017. Prior to each treatment I had a TURBT. My most recent resection was on Dec 20 2017, and I have a follow up with my doctor at Toronto General on Jan 9th. I have access to my pathology, (see below). I wish they wouldn’t release this info until I have seen my doctors but UHN has a patient portal that make results posted as soon as the reports are available. If anyone can offer some advise on the finding I would greatly appreciate it. Anxiety is getting the better of me.
TUMOR
Tumor Type: Non-invasive (papillary) urothelial carcinoma
Non-invasive Histologic Type: Non-invasive urothelial (transitional cell) carcinoma
Histologic Grade: Urothelial carcinoma
High-grade
Sorry you are having recurrences. The Pathology report above does not state the depth of the tumor.(which is the stage ie TA or T1). The good news is it is not in the muscle of the bladder. The report should also state what was included in the sample sent to the lab. (the depth of the sample).
I could be more assistance to you if I saw the complete pathology report. Just private message me if you would like to speak me.
All the best,
JackHi Steve,
I read your post.
Sorry to hear that you have been going through so many TURBTs and the “ups and downs”. I can understand the anxietyAs you are probably aware, with NON-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer, (NMIBC) there are two aspects to BC that the Urologist(s) need to “stay on top of”: Recurrence and Progression
These two aspects are affected by: Number of Tumors, Grade of Tumor(s), Concomitant CIS, Stage of Tumor(s), Size of Tumor(s).
There are a number of things that were unclear to me from your note.
However, Recurrence with BC is common. BC is one cancer that has one of the highest recurrence rates. It is something that does cause regular anxiety as we live through the BC “Rollercoaster”. BUT Urologists stay on top of BC in order to keep the risk of Progression down. Many of us with NMIBC have had recurrences that have ultimately stopped.
What are you being treated with: BCG or Chemotherapy? – both may use a 6 week induction and some maintenance.
BTW, if the response to treatment to one or the other is sub-optimal, according to the Canadian Urological Association (CUA) White Paper, 2015, it is recommended to try the other. That is, if treatment is started with Chemo, then the Urologist may switch to BCG or vice-versa. Also, if started with BCG, and again if the response is sub-optimal, in due course, there can be a switch to BCG + Interferon. It was unclear to me whether there has been a change in your treatment regime.
There may be a number of options still open to you in order to deal with “Recurrence”.
So, stick with the treatment. Maybe, discuss with your medical team the type of treatment you are getting and whether they should consider something else to improve your response?
Recurrence with BC is common – and it is normally well managed.
God Bless
DDep
P.S. Just a point of clarity – sometimes posters on this forum confuse TURBT with Cystoscopy.
TURBT: Trans-Urethral Resection of Bladder Tumor, a day operation (usually in a operating room) to remove any bladder Tumors or “Growths” and is done under local or general anesthetic – it takes a number of hours. It usually takes up to a week for a patient to recover.
Cystoscopy: A visual examination of the bladder. Usually done in just a few minutes. Normally no real recovery time at all !
Hi Steve:
Welcome to Bladder Cancer Canada and sorry to learn that you’ve already had quite the journey with repeat TURBTs and BCG treatments.
Just to add a little bit of info –
Urothelial Carcinoma is the most common type of bladder cancer and is the one that looks like little pieces of coral or cauliflower when viewed during a cystoscopy exam.
The majority of bladder cancer is discovered at the non-invasive stage which yours was but as Jack mentioned you didn’t say whether it was Stage 0 or 1. Your urologist should be able to tell you that from the pathology report. Urologists vary somewhat on how they treat stage 1 and it could be dependant on whether you were originally stage 0 and are now a 1. This will be an important thing to find out. You may have been Stage 0 or Stage 1 from the beginning and are still at that stage.
High grade is the not so good news part of your diagnosis – it means that the cancer appears to be aggressive and could pose a risk for progression. Again, your urologist would be the best person to ask this. He will be able to explain what he sees as the risks for your situation.
FYI – my diagnosis was Stage 0 High grade both in 2008 and 2010. So it was a good news, not so good news diagnosis – good news was that it was very superficial but being high grade my uro told me I was at about 30% risk for progression so that was why I opted to do the BCG treatments that he recommended. I have had 2 TURBT surgeries and 21 BCG treatments (2 sets of 6 and 3 sets of 3 from 2008 to 2012) and have remained clear since 2010. The recurrence I experienced in 2010 was minor albeit still upsetting.
Sometimes people do have recurrences while undergoing BCG treatments and it eventually becomes effective. If you have been having BCG treatments your uro may want to discuss either continuing on with more BCG or possibly switching to something else or vice versa if you were not being treated with BCG to start with.
As mentioned this cancer journey is a real roller coaster of emotions. We are here for you. Good luck when you meet with your uro and let us know how it goes. (((((HUGS))))
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
