What are the conditions where you receive bladder chemo installation?

Hi Honey, yes I had 9 maintenance treatments. The treatments are hard on your body and I did have a lot of burning and irritation although I never had a UTI. They would do a urinalysis before each treatment. The chemo can be very harsh on your body. I was very fatigued. I’ve been off the treatments for 5 months and I’m beginning to feel better now. I developed pelvic prolapse and it seems to be healing now that I’m not on treatments. I also found that special soap and gels for women helped to ease the burning & dryness. It helped soothe the pain. I hope you can see your gynecologist soon and can help you with your situation. I’m praying for you!

I completed my 6 gem/doc treatments last week. Each time the gem was infused i was sent to the waiting room for an hour. No lying down having to twist about. On two occasions the nurse left the catheter in so there was no need to recath for the docx . Once the gem was drained and the dock administered I would go home. I experienced no pain, no spasms, no blood in my urine, no unusual fatigue or any other symptoms. The day before treatment I drank plenty of water and ate scrambled eggs. On the morning of I drank coffee and plenty of water. I did not eat a meal until after my treatment. I did not change my routine on days before or after treatments. I even played golf the day before treatment #6. Im 77 years old and I know everything's gonna be alright and I wish ya'll the same. God bless.

I am going for my first treatment soon of same.
I am a little apprehensive
But hopefully I will be in good hands. Any tips appreciated. I hope I get kind nurses.

This is a long update. I had the six GEMDOCE treatments (on the exam table...) and I was so relieved to be done. The side effects of tiredness and some shakiness seem to subside slowly.

The process is then to have another cystoscopy to see how things went with the GEMDOCE installations. I am all clear! The oncologist announced that the treatment is working.

That's nice to hear, but then he explained that I will now have monthly installments for a year, once a month. Actually, the sixth month is "just" a cystoscopy.

What annoys me is that my energy is ridiculously low, even though the last of the six weekly treatments ended in late May. I've done some reading and see that tiredness can continue for months. Now, with monthly treatments ahead of me for a year, I am changing the way that I see my year in terms of other activities. I am disappointed about the treatments and their side-effects, but very happy that the treatment has not allowed any new growth.

One bit of really good news regarding the pain of the catheter during treatment - exaggerated by doing the "rotisserie" to wrangle my body from side to side on top of an exam table - without aid from the nurse (end of whine) - I asked my oncologist if turning was necessary. It was the nurse who suggested it (and I had read about it so was open to the idea). He said there is no solid evidence that it helps. Well, I am OK with evidence from those who experienced it, HOWEVER, I found an article (no I didn't save the medical site) about why/when to rotate.

The article stated that it is done to make certain that enough chemo is in contact with the sides and dome of the bladder, for cancers which are found in either of those locations. Mine was all in the neck of the bladder, and my doctor says it is getting plenty of contact without turning. He also said that when the chemo is "sprayed" into the bladder, it gets good coverage.

My nurse finally ordered a smaller size of catheter (probably for kids), because I need that. She used one size smaller than normal and it helped with the pain, but she got an even smaller one to try going forward.

I cannot say I am looking forward to another year of treatments, but perhaps without having to move around, and having a thinner catheter, I will be better able to tolerate the 90 minutes of gemcitibine. They remove the catheter after taking out the gemcitibine and putting in the docetaxel. At that point, I am released to finish up at home.

I have found that after releasing the chemotherapy, "WaterWipes" are a great help in keeping my skin clear of the chemicals that can otherwise irritate it. I am sensitive to almost everything that can come into contact with the skin, but water wipes are fine.

So for now, I am delighted that the treatment is working, that I will not have to rotate, and that the catheter might be more comfortable in a smaller size. Here is hoping that I can find a way to recoup some energy. Changing my diet is next - to clean it up and remove the comfort food that crept in during all of this.

I completed my 6 gem/doc treatments last week. Each time the gem was infused i was sent to the waiting room for an hour. No lying down having to twist about. On two occasions the nurse left the catheter in so there was no need to recath for the docx . Once the gem was drained and the dock administered I would go home. I experienced no pain, no spasms, no blood in my urine, no unusual fatigue or any other symptoms. The day before treatment I drank plenty of water and ate scrambled eggs. On the morning of I drank coffee and plenty of water. I did not eat a meal until after my treatment. I did not change my routine on days before or after treatments. I even played golf the day before treatment #6. Im 77 years old and I know everything's gonna be alright and I wish ya'll the same. God bless.

@donchaz2u I am starting my 6week gem/doc treatments next week. have already had a few. have been experiencing more hair loss than usual. how has it been for your treatments?

Hi Laura,
I haven't had any hair loss from the gemdox treatments. So far everything has been fine with no side effects.
Chaz