BCG Treatment

Thanks for sharing that Jay. Now I know there's at least one other besides myself who
thinks there's more than one way to do this with less pain.

ustabee: Your experience is so familiar to me. I had my 1st of 6 BCG treatments in my Urologists office last December. Had the procedure, sent home, 15 minute drive, told to roll around for 2 hours, etc. I thought this was normal. Burning pain for the next 4 days or so. Then there was a BCG shortage, January rolled around, I was able to "up" my insurance coverage and change my treatment to a Cancer Treatment Center. (don't know if we should name drop) The rest of my BCG treatments were staying at the center for 2 hours, rolling every 15 minutes, making sure you are okay before you leave and the pain afterwards urinating was about 1/2 of what I experienced at my first treatment. I think having the BCG sitting in the bottom of my bladder for the drive home was not a good thing? All BCG treatments are not created equal! Jay

I had my first BCG "wash" yesterday. I have to believe it was a disaster. It was in my urologists' office. I had been having trouble with my urine retention to start with but this was a whole new ballgame. After emptying my bladder and being injected with the BCG through a catheter I was sent home (a 10 minutes drive) and told to roll around every so often for two hours. After 15 minutes I had my first urge to urinate. After 30 minutes I was in pain. I don't know how I did it but I held out for another half hour. The strain was unbelievable. It left me weak and shaking. Not a good thing for a 78 year old male with heart problems. I don't want to do that again.

Searching the internet, I see that there are two ways to do this procedure and depending whether
it's a hospital or a private office seems to play a part in the instructions. Hospital: Clamp the catheter to hold in the wash and stay as an outpatient for two hours. Urologists: Take out the catheter after instilling the wash, have the patient go home immediately and cross their legs for two hours. I'm wondering if economics or geography dictate the choice.

If you have had trouble with the BCG treatment due to bladder incontinence I would
appreciate a reply and perhaps I can figure out the right solution to my problem. (No pun intended).