Scared. Gross hematuria, urethral stricture and bladder thickening

Hello everyone. I found this group as I was researching all the possibilities of my symptoms. First and foremost I'm seeing a urologist and have a procedure scheduled in a month to clear my stricture. It's likely been an issue for a very long time. But I'm taking action hopefully not too late.

Backstory… I'm a 57 year old male. I had a cystoscopy at 7. It traumatized me... So even as I entered my 40s with a less then awesome urine stream, I began routine prostate exams with my physicals praying never to have a cystoscopy again… I do have BPH that runs in the family. I have had several UTIs over the past decade. Up until late September 2023 I just lived with it... then came the blood.

So it was one and done with the blood. I was scheduled to meet with a urologist and also get a CT done. The CT revealed a known cyst on one of my kidneys ( found several years back with a UTI) and bladder thickening. It also found a small kidney stone... yeah prone to those too thanks to genetics. So I was thinking the straining to urinate over time a bit may have led to the thickening.

Fast forward to last month when I finally had my cystoscopy, or sort of. That's when my stricture was discovered. Dr. Said he got just 2 or so inches in when he hit it. And that hurt… then of course I peed razors for a few days... But 2 weeks later the blood re-presented itself as a rosey tint at the start of my stream. So I went in to leave a slightly rosey urine sample for testing. The tested for cystapathalogic which had negative results for urothelial carcinoma. I guess that's good. No UTI. So here I am waiting for my cystoscopy and dilatation so they can get a look at my bladder... Trying to stay positive which is hard.

I'm hoping that the stricture was the cause of the thickening and the blood but Dr. Google is not on my side... So I'd love to hear your thoughts and stories. Meanwhile I flood myself with water and cringe every time I go to pee… looking for something…

I'll do my best to share play by play. We're all different but the systems are the same.

Hugs to all.