My Dad's Story

16 years 1 month ago #13635 by driscolls
Replied by driscolls on topic My Dad's Story
Heenan,

I know exactly how you are feeling - went through the exact same thing with my dad.
He also had leakage problems at first with the ileal conduit, but it didn't take long at all for him to master it.

Your dad is very lucky to have you with him on this journey and feel free to ask as many questions as you need to!

Debi

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16 years 1 month ago #13632 by julieann
Replied by julieann on topic My Dad's Story
I'm so sorry to hear that 2008 got off to a bad start for you and your Dad. My mom has a similar story as do so many others here. Please do post your questions on the other board. I assure you that you will get much wonderful advice and support.

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16 years 1 month ago #13607 by Heenan
My Dad's Story was created by Heenan
Well, we did not wait for March - we decided that January would be a great month to come in like a lion!
Dad's story begins on January 4, 2008. We had decided to celebrate Christmas after the new year, so he was planning on driving to our house (4 1/2 hrs south of his home) on Friday, January 4 to spend the weekend. When I called him at 8:30am to see if he had began his drive yet, he told me that they were on their way to the hospital instead. He said that when he had urinated twice that morning that he had really red blood in his urine and he thought he should get it checked out before travelling so far. He went to the local medical center and saw a G.P. there. They tested his urine and it showed blood - no surprise there. Unbeknownst to me (dad did not tell me this until recently), but the G.P. at that time told dad that he suspected bladder cancer. He scheduled an appt. for dad with a urologist for Jan.16 (which was the earliest he could get dad in.)
On Wednesday, Jan. 16 dad went to the urologist. He did a physical exam, urinalysis and an abdominal CAT scan.
On Thursday, Jan 17 he saw the urologist again and had the results of the CAT scan -which showed a sessible bladder tumor from about 7'o'clock to 11'o'clock.
On Friday, Jan 18 dad had TUR of the tumor.
On Wednesday, Jan 23 dad was diagnosed with very high grade invasive transitional cell cancer of the bladder which is also starting to involve the bladder neck and perhaps a proximal protatic urethra.
On Monday, Jan 28 he had a bone scan and chest x-ray - which showed no evidence of metastic disease.
On Thursday, Jan 31 dad had a radical cystoprostatectomy and an extended lymphadenectomy. They created an ileal conduit. The results of the lymphadenectomy showed that 29 of the 39 lymph nodes tested were positive, however I do not know the specifics at this time as to the grade of the nodes. The urologist had also wanted to do a urethrectomy as well, but said that dad could come back in after healing from this surgery and have that done on an outpatient basis. Dad's surgery was about 6 hours, so he did not perform the urethrectomy at that time and I am not sure if he will need to go back in to have this done in the near future?
Well - that is the lion...

Now...dad is recovering at home after 10 days in the hospital. He is doing very well with the exception of the urostomy bag - which has had to be changed every 2 days due to leakage - which is taking a toll on his skin around the stoma. The home health care nurse came out yesterday and helped him get a really good seal, so we hope to get the 5-7 days out of this wearing.

Due to the results of the lymphadenectomy, dad will now need to do chemo treatments. We are just beginning to explore this option. I live in a much bigger city, so dad will most likely be coming to live with me and see an oncologist in my city.

As of the writing, we will see the urologist again on Feb 21 and we have an appt scheduled with an oncologist on Feb 28. The urologist has been on vacation since Feb 3-so this will be dad's first visit seeing him for a couple weeks. Before he left he had told us that dad would need a few weeks to recover prior to beginning chemo.

I have many questions and I am sure I will have many in the future - which I will post in the invasive cancer forum - but wanted to let you know dad's story so you have a little background. It has been a whirlwind of a year so far...

"Live a good life...and in the end it is not the years in a life, but the life in the years."
*Abraham Lincoln

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