Question about testing

when my husband was diagnoised we did ask the doctor about testing to see if there was cancer anywhere else,he said it wasn't needed because the cancer was superficial and contained to the bladder. it made sense to us at the time. unfortunately 3yrs later the bladder cancer is spread thoughout his bones, and his chances of long term survival are slim (he is 45) so we went from something that is cureable to this in a matter of 3 yrs (yes he did go ever 3 months from the cysto),i just wish we would have done more when he was first diagnoised,and i am recommending that you talk with your doctors about more testing.. we live in the U.S.

Hi,

could I ask people for some help here to make it easier - would you mind including a signature outlining who and where you are [as per mine below].

All too often we are not comparing like with like - medicine varies from Country to Country and as we all know it varies dependent on which medical plan people are on.

With BC or for that matter ANY Cancer the need is the same but the options are predicated by location and medical plans.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that Western World medicine offers more option so location matters - also many people across the USA do not have Health Cover - what of them. In Britain we have the NHS but it is starting to collapse because there are more votes in Boob inplants and Politically Correct medicine - rectal repair for perverts, gender reasignment, in vitro etc. etc. than in keeping hospitals clean and practicing health giving medicine.

A signature would help us raise the standards everywhere because in discussion we would have a whip to use against failing areas of some of the failing systems.

With my track record! I have not had a full scan and after 7 years had my first chest XRay 10 days ago - seems clear so I am now pushing for a scan but it is an uphill battle.

Lets all compare like with like where possible and learn how we can make our sytems better.

Jean, what was your pathology report, if I could ask? Did you have superficial? Did they do the tests before they knew the aggressiveness, etc.? I was just wondering. I was lucky and just had a low grade tumor and did not have those tests. elaine

When I was diagnosed that was the first thing they did. Cat Scan, Bone Scan, Chest X-Ray and special blood tests. Fortunately they were all negative. From what I read I think it's pretty standard practice and if I had a doctor that didn't order those tests I would ask for them to be done. You have to be your own advocate sometimes.
Jean

I'm just wondering what you all think of this.. when someone is diagnoised with bladder cancer (any kinda cancer really) regardless of how minor the doctors "think" it is,,,don't you think it would be wise to get your whole body checked (MRI,Cat Scan,Bone Scan) to be ABSOLUTELY sure the cancer hasn't spread elsewhere?