A long road to a diagnosis.

In July 2021, I went to my doctor with UTI symptoms (burning when peeing) and for the next 6 months I had many urine tests done, ultra sounds, X-rays & antibiotics. All tests came back clear. No blood in urine. No infections. A friend of mine who had had bladder cancer, told me to push harder with the doctor.

My friend was right. It was cancer

I did and eventually, I was sent to a Urologist who did a Cystoscopy and found spots on my bladder. They booked a biopsy for me, which then got canceled due to Covid & lack of staffing at the hospital. (This was in Canada). We immediately called a urologist I knew in Florida and asked for advice. He said to come and he would follow through. So on my 70th Birthday, Jan 13th. 2020 I had another cystoscopy with him, he found several spots and booked a biopsy for me 6 days later.

The cancer progressed....

Then on Jan 25th, he called me to say I had bladder cancer but it had not gone into the muscle. So BCG treatments were scheduled for 2 weeks later. We booked an extended stay hotel near to the doctor's office & prepared to be here for the next 5 weeks.

First BCG completed. Not easy

I have now done my first. I had no side effects until the following day when I had a horrible headache & felt extremely tired. The burning & now some bleeding (from biopsy) continues (I haven't had one day for relief since July), but I have medication to help when it gets really bad.