Hi Ginny,
Did the urologist get a biopsy during your cystoscopy?
I would definitely be sure to find a urologist who has lots of experience with bladder cancer... Preferably in an NCI institution.
Until you meet with the urologist look up bladder cancer online.the info can seem overwhelming, but it will become a great reference tool to have more knowledge moving forward.
There are several layers in the bladder and diagnosis is based on where the cells are located and what the appearance are.
Once you have had a biopsy, the pathology will be key in deciding your treatment.
So my initial questions would be:
What type of bladder cancer do I have?
How would you describe the abnormal cells appearance?
What stage and grade is it? ( info should be available after biopsy)
What are the least and most aggressive treatments?
Do you routinely evaluate the whole renal pelvis and what testing is done to rule out any spread.
I would advise getting any medical records too, from the former urologist or any other records to have for yourself to refer to. Quite often people encourage getting a second, even third opinion...especially if you feel that your questions aren't being answered clearly enough. Sometimes I think the urologist is hesitant to give you too much info if the biopsy hasn't been done etc.
Good Luck,
Keep us posted!
Patti
