My Bladder Cancer Journey

In August of 2022, I found blood in my urine and went right in to see my doctor. He ran a urine test to look for cancer, and it came back positive.

Be your own best advocate

I received a referral and went in to see a urologist for a cystoscopy, and there it was; you could see it on the monitor. A little note: Urologists can be hard to get appointments with. I took the first appointment they had, which was two months out. I called the scheduling line twice weekly to look for cancellations and moved my appointment up by a few weeks. Be your own best advocate! She scheduled me for a CT Scan, which came back clean with no spread.

Early detection is key

I had an outpatient surgery to remove the tumor at the end of October and had it analyzed. It came back as Papillary Urothelial Carcinoma HGT1. Early detection and diagnosis is very important. In December, I had an outpatient restaging surgery, which took a little more tissue out. In my case, the additional tissue came back clean, with no residual or deep tissue cancer.

What treatment looked like for me

On January 24, 2023, I started immunotherapy treatments, BCG. I am ready to have my 4th of 6 initial treatments tomorrow. My side effects have been mild so far—just some slight burning during urination for about 4 to 6 hours after the initial bathroom visit. I hope for continued mild side effects, but I am not naive enough to think that will happen. My doctor tells me that I am on a 3-year plan with initial breaks of 3 months between follow-up treatments. After a year, they will be six months apart, with a few cystoscopies and a CT Scan or 2 if all goes well.

A look ahead

I am a lucky one, if you can believe it. I didn't ignore the first symptoms and found a wonderful urologist. I pray for a good outcome for myself and all of you as you travel through your journeys.