Dealing with severe invasive bladder cancer

After yesterday's euphoria on being told that radical bladder surgery is probably no more effective than radiotherapy, today I am beginning to take in the significance of all that lies ahead. Yesterday, I felt back to normal and full of energy; I thought my tiredness and general lethargy might have been psychological from the stress of knowing I have cancer. But today they are returning, and must in large part be the result of a vicious malignancy fighting within me, making me anaemic and run down.

Operation

Softly,
operate softly,
gently move
towards aged limbs,
move instruments
with tenderness,
reach soul
with loving touch
bring him back,
that we can hold him near
he is our world,
please hold him dear.

by Annie Elliott

Addenbrookes is a major treatment centre, and gave us a video to take home to help understand the road ahead. It is very lengthy, like the journey itself, but very thorough, so Ann and I are wading through the more relevant sections, such as the tests that are done, the choices to be made, and the pitfalls of each modality. At the moment I am skipping over the many sections on cystectomy in all its lurid variations, and concentrating on chemo and radiotherapy. They are enough to cope with at present.

A few famous people have bladder cancer, but mostly it is a disease of the poor and the unknown. The video gives pros and cons fairly, but the patients are survivors who seem to have had minimum problems and came through smiling. I am a cynic, always examining the other side of each lemma. Wearing my sceptical hat, I know those with fatal outcomes were not interviewed. I wonder – where are the patients who vomited violently and couldn't stomach chemo? Where are they who suffered irreversible radiation burns to the bladder? Yes - this is the worst side of pessimism. Partly it's my normal way of looking at the world, but perhaps too it reflects my deeper fear of what is to come and what can go wrong.

My blog posts are very subjective, and certainly no one should read them who wants an upbeat or optimistic view of bladder cancer. For anyone wanting facts, go to the official sites and read the positives, which are very real. Ann has certainly found some good sites online for advice. Fight bladder cancer and Macmillan Bladder Cancer Support pages are excellent, and I still have fondness for my original ones at Addenbrookes Urology Unit and The NHS Bladder Cancer Site.