What were your initial bladder cancer symptoms?

Blood and clots were very intermittent. Nausea was intermittent. I am male.

I had symptoms of an uncomfortable UTI, but had no UTI when I went to my primary care doctor. I had microscopic blood though in my specimen. Looking back, it had been there for a few years. I was never one to have many UTIs though. I made an appointment at the urologist for a few months later (because it took that long to get in) and before making there, had pink showing at times but not always. I then passed a clot so I knew I was probably in trouble at that point. Within two weeks of seeing the urologist I had a turbt done and two weeks after that started chemo. Mine was muscle invasive. I have a neobladder now. I got it 6 months ago today!! Love it.

Blood in my urine, and extreme lower back pain.

@jowilliams1 Hello, my husband Dwight…who is 63 was diagnosed with muscle invasive stage 2 bladder cancer. The urine was blood tinged. It would go away …then come back. I pushed him into going for a cat scan with contrast. That was Jan 22 ….after that, the TURBT,,,then Cisplatin/Gemcitabine 4 rounds. May 29th will be his Radical Cystectomy….bladder, lymph nodes prostate… May I ask how was it when you woke up from surgery? Did you just want to rest or see people and talk? Were you in any major pain? I really don’t know what to expect when my husband comes out of surgery. Our daughter wants to be there…but I don’t want her to get overwhelmed or start crying …to see her dad the first night after surgery. Did you start walking in the hospital the next day? Was it 5 days you stayed or longer? I hope asking you these questions are okay. When did you start to feel better after you got home? My husband will get a stomach pouch. How is the neobladder working out for you? God bless you and may God cure and heal you🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

Thank you, Rose. I'm happy to help however I can. Feel free to ask me anything. I was in the hospital for six nights. I had a full hysterectomy along with the RC and neobladder (which is made from intestine). Mine was robotic and I had 7 incisions. Honestly I don't remember much about the first few days but everyone tells me that's a good thing. Lol. I didn't get up to walk until a couple of days later due to the pain. One of my sons was there to help me. He's a nurse though so he was a great help. I had visitors those first few days but only remember seeing them and not much else so I think I mostly slept from the pain medication. I wasn't great company but they were there to keep my son company.

It definitely took a while to feel better and the neobladder adds to the recovery time (with two catheters that they send you home with). Hopefully your husband's recovery will be easier and quicker. Today marks exactly 6 months since my surgery and I'm feeling great. I'm doing immunotherapy for a year but everything is looking good. I, like your husband, was Stage 2 Muscle invasive. I had one of thirteen nodes be positive but things are going very well and I feel very blessed.
I'm so thankful to feel good again and especially be done with chemo (mine were the same meds as his too!)

I will pray for your husband and for you. Do you know yet if he'll do immunotherapy afterwards?

@jowilliams1 hi again, thank you very much for your help. From what you wrote…I am also glad that you don’t remember the first few days. I hope my husband also sleeps the first few days. Maybe he won’t remember much. The neobladder is a great option. I’m glad you love it. My husband had a catheter after his Turbt and he hated it. So, he didn’t want the neobladder.
Congrats on 6 months out of surgery. Sounds like you’re doing very well 👍My husband hasn’t been told if he’ll have immunotherapy after surgery, yet. Tomorrow, he goes for the cat scan with contrast to see how the cis/gem chemo worked. Praying it worked fine. As you know,
Many cancer cells cloak themselves or want to and immunotherapy kills them.
What is the name of the immunotherapy that you are given? Is it every week? My husband has a port…is it given through there? Also, I’ve read on here with @moose that he recommends immunotherapy after surgery . I just hope it’s not given through a catheter.
Yes, Dwight was exactly the same…Stage 2 muscle invasive.
It’s a blessing that you are feeling great! I hope the same for my husband. He’s been working his bookkeeping/accounting job all through the chemo and he prays to God that he’ll be able to get back 4 weeks after surgery. Not sure if possible. My daughter works as his assistant bookkeeper…so, she’s been helping him.
You must be so happy the surgery is over! God bless you and may God put His healing hands on you and all to …cure and completely heal from all cancers. 🙏🙏🙏🙏IJN amen🙏

I was operated on a Wednesday. 12 hour operation. I walked the next day. But I fainted almost due to extremely low blood pressure. I had my first stool movement on Thursday also. I was dismissed on Monday.

Fiund out I had bladder tumir that had cancer in it.
Had flu for 6 weeks, went to urgent care, ekg showed blood pressure of 140, taken to hospital, fiund out heart rhythm problem.
Cardiologist ordered CT scan for heart which also showed tumor in bladder. Very thankful for CT scan!

I hope the CT scan goes well. Sometimes it seems they can't truly tell if the chemo worked until they see the actual tissue from surgery, but even if the tumor didn't grow that's a good sign. Let me know how it goes.

I'm on Opdivo (nivolumab). I go every other week for a treatment and it is given through my port. It's much easier than chemo and I've had very few side effects but I'm sure everyone is different. I was able to work through chemo as well (happy to have a desk job that made it easier). It's great your daughter can help with his work.

I hope he has an excellent scan tomorrow. This experience has helped me realize so much is out of my hands, and in God's. I
Look forward to hearing everything has gone well for Dwight. Thank you so much for your sweet words of encouragement.