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BCG For Bladder Cancer: Anyone got experience to share?

Posted by Parus @parus, Aug 6, 2019

Has anyone undergone this treatment?? Trying to find out what others have experienced with this treatment. Seems what I have read the outcome doesn't sound encouraging. I am just not wanting/ready to start having body parts removed. It is disconcerting enough when they start relocating.

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Martin Jensen, Volunteer Mentor | @predictable | Feb 8, 2021
In reply to @sue225 "My husband has had bladder cancer for fourteen years and has had 8 TURBS. Along the..." + (show)
@sue225

My husband has had bladder cancer for fourteen years and has had 8 TURBS. Along the way, he had one successful treatment with BCG, a treatment in 2014 which he did not complete due to intolerable side effects and a treatment with mitomycin and more recently a treatment with gemcitabine which he also could not tolerate.
He is now giving BCG another try after 2 TURBS in 2020. Two treatments are over. The 2nd treatment caused some discomfort which resolved after a day or two. (Irritable bladder symptoms, minimal bleeding on the day of). He really does not want to deal with bladder removal and at the same time is anxious about cumulative side effects and what treatment #3 will be like.
CAT scan coming up this month as well. Everything backlogged here in Canada. The CAT scan really should have been done prior to starting BCG.
Thanks so much Colleen.

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Hi @sue225. Don't know whether I can be helpful to your husband, but I wanted you to know that I'll do whatever I can if you think so. I had bladder cancer surgery (TURB twice) in 2009. About a dozen papillary tumors were snipped off the epithelium (lining) of my bladder, followed by six BCG treatments to kill off any remaining tumor seeds. None have turned up in 12 years of cystoscopies examining my bladder lining periodically since the BCG treatments.

My father was another matter. He had prostate BPH that was belatedly treated -- too late actually -- because the surgery wrecked his urethra, making it impossible to urinate. The solution was to leave the bladder in place and connect it to an external pouch with a catheter through a "stoma" in his lower abdomen. He lived and thrived with that for a dozen years before he passed in 2007 at the age of 95. He never said he regretted the catheter, although the stoma became inflamed just before he died, and doctors said the infection may have been a factor.

I'll be glad to further explain our experiences if you have any questions. For clinical information that I valued, check https://www.medicinenet.com/bladder_cancer/article.htm. Martin

REPLY
1 reply
sue225 | @sue225 | Feb 8, 2021
In reply to @predictable "Hi @sue225. Don't know whether I can be helpful to your husband, but I wanted you..." + (show)
@predictable

Hi @sue225. Don't know whether I can be helpful to your husband, but I wanted you to know that I'll do whatever I can if you think so. I had bladder cancer surgery (TURB twice) in 2009. About a dozen papillary tumors were snipped off the epithelium (lining) of my bladder, followed by six BCG treatments to kill off any remaining tumor seeds. None have turned up in 12 years of cystoscopies examining my bladder lining periodically since the BCG treatments.

My father was another matter. He had prostate BPH that was belatedly treated -- too late actually -- because the surgery wrecked his urethra, making it impossible to urinate. The solution was to leave the bladder in place and connect it to an external pouch with a catheter through a "stoma" in his lower abdomen. He lived and thrived with that for a dozen years before he passed in 2007 at the age of 95. He never said he regretted the catheter, although the stoma became inflamed just before he died, and doctors said the infection may have been a factor.

I'll be glad to further explain our experiences if you have any questions. For clinical information that I valued, check https://www.medicinenet.com/bladder_cancer/article.htm. Martin

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Thanks so much for your reply Martin. You have had good luck: amazing to be free and clear after 12 years! Also thankyou for the info about your father.
We will also check out the link to the medical website. Very kind of you. Wishing you continued good health.

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Parus | @parus | Feb 8, 2021

@sue225 I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in July of 2019. It was an aggressive type. Since it not gone through the wall of my bladder I opted to go with the BCG after the tumor was removed and so far so good. I am female and 69.

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1 reply
sue225 | @sue225 | Feb 8, 2021
In reply to @parus "@sue225 I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in July of 2019. It was an aggressive type...." + (show)
@parus

@sue225 I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in July of 2019. It was an aggressive type. Since it not gone through the wall of my bladder I opted to go with the BCG after the tumor was removed and so far so good. I am female and 69.

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That's so good to hear. My husband (79),also has ,up until now,( after 14 years of dealing with this), non-invasive bladder cancer (high grade cells) He will be having BCG treatment no.3 this week and I hope it will be okay for him. CAT-scan next week, always a worry waiting for results .
Stay well and thank you for sharing.

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