1. < Bladder Cancer

Any other females here with bladder cancer in their 50s?

Posted by talltxlady @talltxlady, Apr 25, 2023

Saying hello as a new member. Sometimes it's difficult to find info for females with bladder cancer, and sometimes it would be nice to have others to connect with.
Start BCG again in May. Have been off of it since December. It has been so nice not to have to think about any of that for a while. Starting to get nervous though, with bcg beginning again very soon. Praying the cancer stays away.
I think I'm the youngest one where I'm being treated. Any other females here with bladder cancer in their 50's?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Bladder Cancer Support Group.

hmmm | @hmmm | Jan 8 8:20pm
In reply to @colleenyoung "@hmmm, I can imagine that it was hard to maintain a brave face over the holidays...." + (show)
@colleenyoung

@hmmm, I can imagine that it was hard to maintain a brave face over the holidays. Have you met with your team in the meantime to discuss the pathology results and next steps for treatment? How are you doing?

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I haven't met with anyone yet. Am still waiting for the pathology results but do have an appointment with the urologist on the 22nd where I expect to hear the results and discuss what's next. I did have an appointment with my family doctor but he wasn't able to tell me much without having pathology results. Thank you

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hmmm | @hmmm | 17 hours ago
In reply to @jowilliams1 "Stay strong. I was 54 yo in June when I found out I had muscle invasive..." + (show)
@jowilliams1

Stay strong. I was 54 yo in June when I found out I had muscle invasive bladder cancer. I did three months of chemo and my bladder was replaced with a neobladder in early November. I just started immunotherapy today. If you are otherwise healthy, I would suggest educating yourself about a neobladder to see if it is an option for you. I had never even heard of it!

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Can I ask why the chemo first? I only ask because the tumor that remains is 5cm in my bladder wall and they were not able to remove it with the other 3 tumors on the 20th of December, so I am just curious why the chemo before removing the bladder as to just something after it is out to make sure it is all gone and nothing is left to spread elsewhere. I don't mean to sound rude, I am just curious why they may not just remove my bladder first.

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jowilliams1 | @jowilliams1 | 1 hour ago

Good question! My understanding is that's the normal protocol at least for my situation. They like to see that the chemo (cisplatin and gem for me) will shrink the tumor. I believe that helps them confirm that the chemo has worked and would have hopefully reduced any other cancer floating around. They "thought" that it worked from looking at ct scans, but weren't positive. Once I had my surgery they were able to confirm that the chemo did have an effect on the cancer from the tissue they removed. Thank goodness!

I had one lymph node (out of 13) taken out during surgery that was positive but couldn't be seen on the ct scan. Unfortunately I'm not in the clear just yet.

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