I'm 'just' Another Bladder Cancer Survivor

Monday was even worse...
fever was hovering around 100.1 to 100.5 mid-morning,
spent the day in bed mainly...
after lunch... when it jumped to 102.2 ! :o

Immediatly started eating shaved ice the wife ran
through the blender, cold/ice cloths at top of head,
forehead, and throat...plus another on my chest with
dampness applied to the veins at my elbow joints.

Didn't take long to get it back to a 'safe 100.1... ;D

Tuesday was no problem, 99.0,
and I could feel the difference easily.

I wasn't trying to be hard headed so much...
knew there was a problem,
but body feeling fine and healing exceptionally well.

I had an appointment with my surgeon for Wednesday AM
( yesterday ), and I did fax him my blood pressure and
a temperature "chart" with an explanation of what was
happening, all of this Monday as the temp. began to decrease.

Fever or no, progress on urine retention
is even spectacular.

Yesterday was 18-days out of the hospital
and I only dribble a touch when I loose concentration...
I can go two-hours easy without a leak,
then pee a stream on command.

The doctors check-up was smooth, fever completely gone...
remember, I was on hard core anti-biotics...
for 16-days, yesterday evening the last one.

A new culture check in progress with yesterdays urine
sample, should know results tommorow ( Friday ),
and may need to take more anti-biotics,
but he doubts it...

Said most likely those were the two days my body put up
the big fight against the infection and most likely on
the road to beating it. Still, if more is required...so be it.

All else is looking good...

Thanks for the sharing of info again,
that's my purpose with these posts...
hoping others who experience simular events can use my/our
"problems" to make 'informed' decisions...

Although,
for most people...
high temperature is not something to ignore
and should be treated with perhaps a bit more caution...
especially if you are older, weaker, etc.

Like so many that spent time in southeast asia...
I have fought a small-grade case of malaria for 37-years,
each year or so it has lessened in intensity.
Never a chance of 'beating' it, just coping.

Point is, I suffered freezing chills one-minute,
and then would be soaking wet with sweat the next.
So, it 's not like I haven't been here before.
Like the absolute worst case of flu you've ever had,
but it seemed to skip a year or so in between bouts.

I'll update when the lab report comes in...

( and I await your chastization mother Patricia... :-* )

Hi D61,

I hope that fever goes down for you, but there are so many things that can go wrong to cause this that I'd suggest you contact your doc right away. Things like your neo could be leaking into your abdomen, you could be refluxing urine, you could have a blockage in one of your uretors...at least this is what they seemed to be looking for when I had to go back to the hospital for another three night stay about a week after I was discharged. As it turned out, they called it a kidney infection that "may" have been casued by reflux (urine backing up into the kidneys). They discovered the root of the problem through a urine culture. the day I went back in and the couple of days I tried to tough it out before then were some of the worst I've had with this. Right up there with day 2 after surgery and they couldn't figure out why I needed so much extra pain medication. The epidural they'd placed in me was too low and had no effect.

Get hold of your doc before it gets really serious and you don't think as well as you'd normally like to.

Dave S

Well thats a broad spectrum antibiotic...are you making sure you take it with 8oz of water and drinking lots of water during the day? I'd let your doctor know you're running a temperature....just stay on the cautious side. Pat

Speaking on the infection thing...

My doc warned, with all the intestines, etc. exposed for such a long procedure as the neo, this was 'in his opinion' one of the most vulnerable times to become infected.

A week ago,
six days out of the hospital he had me start taking ( 2 ) Sulfamethoxazole/tmp ds, anti-biotics per day... I have about a three-day supply left now and have only missed taking one...yesterday evening of course.

Not sure this has any bearing, but it was 24-hours in between doses.

This morning all vitals were fairly normal after coffee.

This afternoon, after a cath and shower, one-hour later Temp. had jumped to 101.8

Laid down, wet wash cloth on face and head, plus ( 6 )'baby' 81 mg aspirins, over a one-hour period.

Temp has varied down to 101.4, after the aspirins, and briefly was at 101.9.

SYS 138 DIA 71 Pulse 100 Temp 101.6 at 5:05 PM when I sat up again.


Blood Pressure and Temp at 5:50 PM was: ( after sitting up for 45-minutes ).

SYS 102 DIA 64 Pulse 92 Temp 100.9

Guess I'll survive... Temp down to 100.8 at 6 PM

SYS 106 DIA 63 PULSE 85 Temp 100.5 AT 6:15 pm

I'll shout real loud if it goes back up again... ;D

Dear Dave,

Nice to see you here on the forum, thanks for joining. I know you have been through the mill since we met in '98? 99? and have a lot to teach when it comes to going through it all, from intravesical treatments to the big RC.

I was sorry to read about the difficulties, that stinks. I think most complications develop shortly post op and get better from there. I'm glad you got free of that catheter.
Wishing you (and everyone who contributed to this thread) all the best,
Wendy

Hi,

Just having come home from the hospital myself not long ago, thought I'd share my cathing experience. I was sent home with a foley catheter (in there all the time)which was supposed to be pulled at 21 days post op. On the 21st day I was back in the hospital with a nasty infection, so they sent me to radiology where they performed a flouroscopy procedure. In this procedure they inject a dye into the catheter to ensure there is no leakage around the neo bladder. In my case, there was, so I had to go back to "leak check" again the following week. It still leaked, so I was once again sent home with the foley. Finally, yesterday, no leaks and the catheter came out. I am peeing some and leaking plenty too, however at this point there is no self catheterization, which I'm happy about. When I had the foley I was instructed to irrigate the neo a couple of times a day to clear mucous, however now that I'm six weeks out, they say do plenty of kagel exercises and visit the toilet every three hours.

As for the pain at this point, I on occasion take one Vicodin in the evening a couple of hours before bed. Otherwise, I find Tylenol Arthritis works quite well.

Dave S