So sorry to hear your news. I can understand that you have a LOT of questions. Just a hint....if you don't get an answer from the doc's office (any doc) in about 24 hours, call back!!
First, to try to answer some of your questions. A CT-urogram is simply
a CT scan of the urinary tract done twice....once without contrast medium and once with it. There should be no side effects whatsoever!
The "surgery" is called a TURB. This means "transurethral resection of the bladder." Basically, it is exactly like the cystoscopy that you have already had, except that it is done under general anesthesia because she will be taking out as much of the tumor tissue as she can and also taking samples of the tumor and other places in the bladder lining to send to the pathologist for analysis. After the TURB, the urologist may have a pretty good idea of what the diagnosis is, but it won't be for sure until the report comes back from the pathologist and this can take up to a week. The urologist may do a wash of the bladder after the TURB with mitomycin, a chemtherapeutic agent, but it is NOT chemotherapy and you should have no side effects from this at all.
As for side effects from the TURB, many of us have none. Sometimes, there may be bleeding afterward from the tumor or other biopsy sites as well as s some discomfort. Also, particularly in males, a catheter is sometimes necessary for about 24 hours. As I said, most of us do not have any side effects.
You will be seeing the urologist a LOT in the future, so if you do not feel comfortable with her, the time to make a change would probably be as soon as you have the results of the TURB. You might want to sit down with her and discuss your thoughts and feelings....she sees so many cases that she may forget that for most of us CANCER is a scary word.
What happens after the TURB results are in will, of course, depend on the diagnosis. IF it is a low grade tumor with no signs of extension beyond the bladder lining, the recommendation would most like be just cystoscopy exams every three months. IF it is high grade, the recommendation would probably be BCG therapy. IF the diagnosis is something other than these, the treatment will vary.
Please remember that, when caught early, bladder cancer is VERY treatable. It is scary, I know, but the more you know that less scary it becomes.
We will all be keeping our fingers crossed for you
Sara Anne
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