Survival rates

Hear hear! Ditto. What George said!

Mike

Warren. I have to thank you for bringing up the survival question. I remember finding THIS very website looking for answers to my question........... "How long do I have to live?" Even now it still haunts me at night.

I remember Mike's answer. "You will probably die of something else" And I plan on doing just that.
By now, most of my family, and friends, no longer look at me as a cancer patient. They now look at me as that lunatic 56 year old guy that is "the energizer bunny" I am happy to be alive, and because I found good Dr's. and they were as aggressive about the treatment...... I plan on living a long time.

So now, let's talk about YOU. We plan on having you around for a LONG time too! I believe everyone on this site wants you to get past this "bump in the road" Some of us take a conservative approach...... Some take aggressive action. Both can be appropriate. But the main goal is Life.

Good luck this week.

George

I guess I'm with George on this one, as much as I want to live a "normal" life, at the end of the day I want to live...I will do what ever I need to do to try and make that happen. Even if chemo only gives an extra 5% I will put up with it to get that little bit; and as for the bladder, take it. What got me going was the survival rates even after a RC, but like others have posted and I am holding on to, those include the numbers from those that waited too long. I would have had the 2nd TURBT a lot sooner but I still needed to go to work to pay for it first, that's the part that upsets me. It's a hard choice, pay the bills and hold off a little longer and maybe give the cancer a chance to move into a nother part, or just go into a big hole that is hard to climb out of later. It's been keeping me up every night!

Any how I am glad that it's only four days away and then a few days to get the next pathology report. That should help make the choices a lot easier. Thanks,to everyone chimiing in, Warren

And there you have it. Both sides of the cancer coin.

1) Get that bastard cancer out of me while it is still contained inside.

2) I'll go to any lengths to keep my bladder.

While we all have different opinions about what we want..... Each of us is ultimatly in control of our own body. You need to be comfortable with your decision. There are many of us here with DEFINATE opinions.... as you can see.

But this is an irrefutable statistic; If the cancer goes through the bladder wall and into other parts of your body (metasticises) ...... The statistics of living go way down. This bladder cancer is a very aggressive bugger indeed. That is why I am so happy to have had 3 years of chest x rays, cat scans, blood tests, urine tests, and cystoscopes. I have seen too many people on this site who waited too long to seek aggressive treatment..... disappear from this site.

From the time I was diagnosed with blood in my urine.... To the time of my Radical Cystectomy.......... 2 months and 6 days.

Time cancer free.......... 3 years, 5 months. And I intend to keep adding to that until I get my name on Willard Scott's morning weather report.

George

I would get a second opinion before an RC. After my original emergency TURS in September, my new urologist did a secon one last week. His plan is chemo soon and monitoring ongoing and never removing my bladder. Yeah the cancer may come back. He will be waiting fo it with his scope. He did a bunch of X-Rays on me to check for other cancers.