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Prostate cancer AND bladder cancer - any others with both?

Posted by mselby1847 @mselby1847, Apr 7, 2023

My husband has high grade bladder cancer in a diverticulum and also prostate cancer with Gleason score of 4+3 plus. TURBT surgery 3/14/23. Urologist has recommended radical Cystectomy and removal of prostate,etc with a conduit and bag. He’s 59. Our daughter is a PA and all of her research and mine agrees with this approach. He is scheduled at Mayo for 4/24/23 for the surgery so I’m assuming that the surgeons agree with this radical approach as well because of the dual cancers. Does this sound reasonable? It just seems so fast to go from a CT scan in Feb to radical surgery two months later. My husband is ok with all of this and wants the cancer gone so he can get on with his life. He doesn’t want to keep doing cystoscopies and prostate biopsies every three months and radiation etc. just one and done. And he doesn’t want to have recurrence scares.

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sbassmeister | @sbassmeister | Mar 7 8:16am
In reply to @heavyphil "@sbassmeister My bladder cancer was discovered during RARP. The surgeon removed it and it was Grade..." + (show)
Profile picture for heavyphil @heavyphil

@sbassmeister My bladder cancer was discovered during RARP. The surgeon removed it and it was Grade 0 (malignant, but low grade)
However, it recurred and was again removed and still Grade 0. It recurred yet again, was removed and I was treated with 6 bladder infusions of BCG - live TB - which elicited a strong immune response.
So far, I have been tumor free 4 yrs and I get scoped every 6 months.
I did receive 25 sessions of SRT after my bladder cancer and my Uro said that sometimes radiation can cause latent cancer to grow, which is why I am still getting screened.
It’s very possible your cancer was minute and the radiation made it grow or it could have had nothing to do with it.
But the biopsy will determine how it should be treated. I read recently that BCG combined with Aktiva(?) is showing promising results in more invasive cases. Best,
Phil

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@heavyphil thanks for your response. I had a cystoscopy with TURBT yesterday. Urologist said it is definitely cancer but biopsy won't be completed until sometime Monday or Tuesday. He told my wife while I was still in recovery that he will likely order chemo therapy intravesical but I'm not sure how often and how long. I keep checking my app for his post TURBT notes but they haven't been posted yet. Maybe he is waiting for the biopsy results. I thought prostate cancer was more than enough. Now bladder cancer as well!

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daveandoneita | @daveandoneita | Mar 7 8:34am
In reply to @heavyphil "@sbassmeister My bladder cancer was discovered during RARP. The surgeon removed it and it was Grade..." + (show)
Profile picture for heavyphil @heavyphil

@sbassmeister My bladder cancer was discovered during RARP. The surgeon removed it and it was Grade 0 (malignant, but low grade)
However, it recurred and was again removed and still Grade 0. It recurred yet again, was removed and I was treated with 6 bladder infusions of BCG - live TB - which elicited a strong immune response.
So far, I have been tumor free 4 yrs and I get scoped every 6 months.
I did receive 25 sessions of SRT after my bladder cancer and my Uro said that sometimes radiation can cause latent cancer to grow, which is why I am still getting screened.
It’s very possible your cancer was minute and the radiation made it grow or it could have had nothing to do with it.
But the biopsy will determine how it should be treated. I read recently that BCG combined with Aktiva(?) is showing promising results in more invasive cases. Best,
Phil

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@heavyphil

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heavyphil | @heavyphil | Mar 7 9:11am
In reply to @sbassmeister "@heavyphil thanks for your response. I had a cystoscopy with TURBT yesterday. Urologist said it is..." + (show)
Profile picture for sbassmeister @sbassmeister

@heavyphil thanks for your response. I had a cystoscopy with TURBT yesterday. Urologist said it is definitely cancer but biopsy won't be completed until sometime Monday or Tuesday. He told my wife while I was still in recovery that he will likely order chemo therapy intravesical but I'm not sure how often and how long. I keep checking my app for his post TURBT notes but they haven't been posted yet. Maybe he is waiting for the biopsy results. I thought prostate cancer was more than enough. Now bladder cancer as well!

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@sbassmeister Yeah, another freskin hill to climb, right? The docs know many times by sight what is advanced cancer and what isn’t.
The fact that he has already ordered some bladder infusions bodes well🤞.
It’s hard to relax when you’re waiting for something like this so…maybe fish?🎣

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sbassmeister | @sbassmeister | Apr 10 2:05pm
In reply to @sbassmeister "I have been dealing with prostate cancer since 2023. I had an RARP in 2023. The..." + (show)
Profile picture for sbassmeister @sbassmeister

I have been dealing with prostate cancer since 2023. I had an RARP in 2023. The cancer returned in 2024 and I had 39 radiation sessions. Two months after the end of radiation I began having blood in my urine. My Radiation Oncologist said that it was likely due to the radiation and we would keep an eye on it. That was June, 2025. Yesterday I had a cystoscopy and learned I now have bladder cancer. I go in for a biopsy in March. I'm wondering if this cancer is either related to the prostate cancer or if it was caused by the radiation.

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I learned that I had a fast growing type of bladder cancer that is unrelated to my prostate cancer or my radiation. Luckily for me, it has not invaded my bladder muscle which means I can do chemo and not have to deal with bladder removal. I will have 6 sessions of chemo, one a week for six weeks. I'm not sure what type I'm getting as they said the BCG version is very difficult to obtain.

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heavyphil | @heavyphil | Apr 11 7:11am
In reply to @sbassmeister "I learned that I had a fast growing type of bladder cancer that is unrelated to..." + (show)
Profile picture for sbassmeister @sbassmeister

I learned that I had a fast growing type of bladder cancer that is unrelated to my prostate cancer or my radiation. Luckily for me, it has not invaded my bladder muscle which means I can do chemo and not have to deal with bladder removal. I will have 6 sessions of chemo, one a week for six weeks. I'm not sure what type I'm getting as they said the BCG version is very difficult to obtain.

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@sbassmeister Wow - still in short supply? That was the case for me during Covid.
So my urologist mixed it with Interferon; he said the antiviral boosted the effect of BCG.
I think they are using Anktiva and Keytruda now, but those are more for the invasive types.
They tried Gemcitabine first and it did not work at all. Good Luck,
Phil

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