newely discovered huge bladder tumor growing very

17 years 1 month ago #4075 by Patricia
Bloody...can you get in contact with the ICA...Israels Cancer Association?....They may be able to supply you with more information.
I know many of our specialists here in the US travel abroad to teach this surgery. I will get in contact with my surgeon who routinely goes to Punjab India and see if he has any ideas.
I personally have not seen animosity between urologists and oncologists....ideally you are with a uro/oncologist here. Now the Surgeons...they are in a league of their own!!!
It sounds like they are doing all the right tests where you are. No matter what your age it is a grueling surgery...the younger you are i'm sure the easier to bounce back. I understand your husbands concern to allow him quality of life. Once they do the PET and stage the cancer you can make your decisions then.
By the way there are many second opinion sites available on the Web that cost a minimal amount...no more than an actual visit. When you gather all your information you might contact them. I know The Cleveland Clinic has one and i believe Memorial Sloan Kettering has one...WEndy can probably offer others. Its just a thought. Pat

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17 years 1 month ago #4070 by bloodypisher
Replied by bloodypisher on topic newely discovered huge bladder tumor growing very
Hi Wendy,
thanks for the compliments. Yes our medicine is good our research great, our population however is small compared to you so very experienced surgeons in specific fields where surgery is needed seldom makes getting IT impossible. The best one in Jerusalem - my home, is on Sabatical in the US he was good when he left and the added year of practice will make him even better, but we are left without him when we need him...
The Pet chloride imaging is one of the projects being researched here now so we can get into this program for this test.
Again as the country is small there is no hospital which is only a cancer center.
There are cancer centers within a hospital. My husband was however put into the urology department where no oncologists work, only if he decides to leave this department can he get into the cancer one, where no operations are done..
there seems to be a high wall of distrust or rivalry between the departments.
Is this specific to us? B.P.

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17 years 1 month ago #4069 by Mike
Well Bloody one thing when you use a forum we are from all different parts of the world. Also we all have different types of insurances and what's covered and what's not. What we can do is only share the experiences we ourselves have been thru or ask questions as you if we need to try and find something out. Wendy is right maybe talk with the Dr. about having chemo done first. Now I am male and I told you I was getting the chemo first then they will do the surgery. Also being a T2 I could of told you is is more likely G3 (grade) but I did not wanna play Dr. With this type of tumor bloody radiation is not going to do the trick your husband needs chemo and then if he is physically capable the surgery. I can not answer the surgery part because I have not had it done yet but there are other males here that have. Best Wishes To You, Joe

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17 years 1 month ago #4066 by wendy
Hi,

The tumor is showing itself to be aggressive and it's muscle invasive, that will always be a high grade tumor.

I wouldn't worry at all about the quality of care available in Israel as there is much good research and innovative treatments that originate there. I'm sure if you're at the national cancer center you will be seen by doctors qualified to perform any surgery or treatment your husband needs.

A PET scan could make the difference in approach. If there is no distant spread surgery maybe could be performed (bladder removal), if there's spread in the nodes or somewhere else then chemo is given first. If there's a good response to chemo, surgery might be done later. But your husband may not be a good candidate for surgery.

In a case like your husband's chemo is often recommended first. There's a new protocol using cisplatin or carboplatin and gemzar and it's supposed to be less toxic than most. Sometimes radiation is given at the same time, to improve response. If anything would give side effects it would be the chemo and not so much the radiation.

Even if there is not a chance for total cure, it could be worth getting treatment to sustain quality of life, to keep the symptoms of cancer to a minimum. The treatments are not always worse than the disease...although sometimes it does seem that way.

Please let us know how things go.
Wishing you and your husband all the best,
Wendy

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17 years 1 month ago #4065 by bloodypisher
Replied by bloodypisher on topic newely discovered huge bladder tumor growing very
Thanks for all the quick replies. No grade as no results from pathology- biopsy yet. now we await a special pet imaging which is to tell us more exactly how far
things have spread within a very few days and may help us decide.
My husbands logic at the moment- it keeps changing- is that he is not prepared for certain weeks or months of suferign after operation when his life span is in any case short- certain pain now in order to live another 6 month? at his age it does not make sense to him.
There is no surgeon in the country who does such 100 surgeries a year.
We would have to use one who does 10...We can but try and find the best one.available here.

My question to any of you whoi have gone through the radical operation is a blow by blow description of how you felt before, just after, when did you leave hospital when did you feel you could function normally? And how normally. if any of you are male i prefer male answers same re age the older the better. thanks

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17 years 1 month ago #4062 by bloodypisher
Replied by bloodypisher on topic newely discovered huge bladder tumor growing very
Sadly in this case i am not in your country but in a much smaller one- Israel.
Incidence of each type of cancer are fewer so although medical experts with very good post doc's find themselves with too little experience and budgets to coiver and specialize properly a narrow field.The places you write off are out of reach for us, i think. We do deal with the bext cancer centre in best medical school in the country and it's sadly lacking.in bedsd, in expensive medicines and mostly in detailed experience. of specific cancers ,

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