My mom

some questions...how many females has the doctor done cystectomy and reconstruction on?
What kind of diversion is he capable of doing? Did he have his pathology dept. examine the slides from the last TURB? Is the high grade invasive urothelial carcinoma a new event? What happened to the CIS?
Pat

Our visit to Duke went well. Dr. Robertson has done extensive things in prostate, but was extremely knowledgeable about females also. He wants mom to have 4 rounds of chemo three weeks apart and then have the bladder removed, sometime around mid October. Iquestioned him about her age as the local urologist was concerned about bladder removal in older folks, but he said he has removed bladders in women as old as 90. My mom will have a CAT scan Thursday and we will proceed to the oncology doc thereafter. I have to trust that we have made the right decision. Dr. Roberston said that with the invasion that she has if we do only chemo it will have a major chance of recurring. Right now we are taking his advice. I love this group and forum and I am learning so many things from you all. Please keep advising me as I post.
Rene in NC

In my years of research on bladder cancer i see a huge gap between treatment for women as opposed to the male population. Some institutions which are great for prostate cancers aren't so great for bladder cancer or certainly not as experienced as far as the female anatomy is concerned. And some of these highly regarded institutions which are on the NCI or NCCN list may be there because they are highly efficient in other cancers ..those that garner much more attention than bladder cancer.
I don't think there is anything comfortable or complacent about finding a facility to treat womens bladder cancer. Almost any uro knows how to do an ileal conduit and in the larger institutions they've certainly got the neobladder down...but the Indiana Pouch is just a tad harder to do and many of them can't or won't do them.
Insurance companies sometimes put a cramp into our going to a highly specialized facility or physician who specializes in blc and many of them will not allow much needed drugs to control pain in advanced cancers.
But ..just my personal opinion...I borrowed monies to put my 3 boys through college and managed to pay that off...i wouldn't hesitate to borrow if i had to to get the best care...which i actually did and paid off.
Pat

Rene,

I too am anxious to hear what you find out on the visit to Duke. Both os my daughter's in-laws were treated at Duke for different cancers and my son-in-law thinks there is nothing like Duke.
Several others have posted in the past that they prefer Chapel Hill for BC.

Bob goes to Forsyth which is a round trip of 47.4 miles for us and I have been pleased with his doctors but I never recommend them because I know that most people lean towards a teaching facility. Every situation is different and we need to go with what is most comfortable for us.

Good Luck
Clara

Rene...i gather that you have to have a referral...is that an insurance thing? Can you not call whomever you would like to see?
Even the 2 doctors who are in blc specialties seem to specialize in the Male population.
Pat

Welcome to the forum, After reading your post I think removal is on the horizen. Muscle invasive is the key word here. With a daughter like yourself caring for her I think she will be fine, we have lots of advice when its all written in stone and you know if it will be the case. Keep us informed so we can guide you thru...
Ginger