Good News!

Well, I had my 16 month post cancer checkup on Wednesday and got great news. No signs if reoccurrence. The Dr told me that my bladder looked PERFECT. ( I don't know how it's supposed to look, but it was gross when I saw it!) You don't know how nervous I get driving to the appointments. Once you have heard the word...CANCER, it's not easy to forget that feeling. When I was first diagnosed in September of 2007, one of my step daughter's friends had just lost her mom to the same kind of cancer I was just told I had. I was terrified. During the week between the diagnosis and the surgery, I cried constantly. I told everyone I loved them. I made sure that Rob knew my last wishes. I got my insurance papers out to read over. You think alot about how you want to split things up between family and friends when you get that diagnosis. I tried to stay positive, but the cloud of doom hovered over everything. For so many, the diagnosis of cancer is a life sentence. I was lucky. I AM lucky. I had bladder cancer. I had never heard of it before Nat's mom died. I had no outward symptonms. One afternoon, I noticed a little blood in my urine. I had a hysterectomy 4 years earlier, so I knew this was abnormal bleeding. I made an appointment with my OB/GYN. After the exam, he took me into his office and explained to me that he could not find where it was coming from. He ordered an ultrasound. I went directly over to the hospital and had it done. They found nothing. The next day I went back to the GYN, and he told me that he was stumped, he didn't know what was causing it. BUT, he was referring me to a urologist because it might be coming from my bladder. This was a Thursday, on Monday, I saw the urologist. He told me that it sounded like bladder cancer, and he wanted me in ambulatory surgery on Wednesday to have a cystoscopy. That's when they insert a scope into your bladder and look around. I was awake during the procedure and as soon as the scope entered my bladder, the Dr said...oh yes, there's a tumor. Then he looked around, and said... there's another one. I held it together pretty well.... until we got in the car to go home. Then, I fell apart. CANCER. Oh my God. The following Wednesday I was back at the hospital. This time, I was knocked out and when I woke up, the tumors were gone and I was in recovery, waiting with chemo drugs in my bladder. After about 30 minutes, they drained my bladder through a catheter, and allowed me to go home. The next few months were AWFUL. Because of the surgery, AND the chemo drugs, I had no control over my bladder. I couldn't go anywhere there wasn't a bathroom, and when I felt the urge, I couldn't hold it. When I did make it to the bathroom, the pain and burning was more than I could describe. A month after the tumors were removed, I started spotting again. I was brought back into surgery and my bladder was scraped again. I was put on some real strong drugs to help the tissue rebuild itself. It took 3 months for these drugs to begin to work. And to top it all off...my urologist up and moved to New York City, and I was left without a Dr. I found Dr Leib in Saranac Lake. And Bless this man's heart... with his help, I finally started to heal. It seems that the chemo drugs that were inserted into my bladder after the first surgery, had literally burned the whole inside of my bladder. I saw it, and it looked like white hamburger, with all the burnt tissue. Dr. Leib put me on some strong antibiotics, and continued me on the Elmiron to rebuild the tissue. At my 6 month checkup, everything was finally getting back to normal in there. I had full control of my bladder again, and there were no more symptoms. Now at 16 months, I am cancer free and with a healthy bladder. Now here's the part that shocked me. I got bladder cancer because I smoked for a long time. You never hear about how smoking can cause anything but lung cancer, but it's the major cause of bladder cancer. Another factor was the use of permanent hair dye over an extended period. I had smoked from 1971 to 2001 and had colored my hair from about 1973 until I had the diagnosis in 2007. So, be careful. Be aware of changes in your body, and when you noticed something different, go have it checked out. Because I went immediately to the Dr when I noticed the blood, The tumors were found early. They were non invasive, and easily removed. Thank God I had an OB/GYN who had the sense to admit he didn't know what was causing it and sent me to someone who did. He saved my life.