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Newly diagnosed and awaiting referral at Mayo, any MD recommendations
I just had a biopsy of a 1 cm tumor in bladder with path showing high grade papillary, noninvasive. The Mayo Urologist I saw initially is not a cancer specialist and will refer me to a specialist for follow up care and treatment. Can anyone who has care at Mayo recommend which Urologist they see and would recommend. Mayo is a 3 and ½ hour drive from home and my other option is to have care locally at a well known cancer research hospital. I felt much more confident after my first Mayo visit and feel it would be worth continuing there if I have a good physician.
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Update: I had my 2nd TURBT surgery 2 days ago and it went well. The surgeon did a larger resection in the area of the first biopsy to remove the residual visible tumor and also removed the ureter orifice which is adjacent to the tumor. I am awaiting the path results, but he felt the stage would likely remain Ta, high grade and the treatment will be BCG, starting in 6 weeks. This time I have a Foley catheter for 3 days and a stent for 4 weeks (due to the ureter orifice being removed) and so far I am having less spasm pain. We'll see how that goes after I take the foley out tomorrow.
If my staging stays at Ta, I am trying to decide whether to do the BCG at Mayo (3 ½ hour drive) or locally at our University hospital (UW-Madison) which has a well known cancer center.
Since my bladder cancer was picked up by my Mayo Urologist and not by my UW Urologist who had followed me for a year (long story), I feel more comfortable staying at Mayo, but the driving time is significant. Everything has gone smoothly at Mayo so far and I feel confident in my care there. I could call and request one of the UW Urology Oncology specialists to put in the BCG orders, but I'm guessing they might need to see me beforehand. So TBD at this point until I get more information on whether that could be done before treatment needs to start.
Again, I'd prefer Mayo, but anyone have thoughts on the logistics of driving 3 ½ hours after BCG? Can I use a public restroom in the first 6 hours after BCG is placed? My surgeon said the rules have relaxed a bit now.
@earthly8007 Hi. My drive to Mayo is 5 hours each way. Well worth it. Not all hospitals get enough BCG to give full dosages to their patients, but Mayo does. My local urologist said nothing about half dosages until I asked if they do it the same way as Mayo. I contacted Mayo and Dr. Borjean did not advise this and invited me to Mayo (Rochester). My first round of BCG did not work. My second round of BCG did work. I’m a 73 year old male. Wishing you a successful outcome.
Do you need an oncologist for chemo, immuno or targeted treatments or a urology oncologist?