Recovery Time

It will be three weeks in two days since my surgery and the surgery went very well. I would be in excellent condition except that I cannot sleep due to extreme pain in my left leg. I have no idea what caused it since I never had it before. Has anyone suffered from this after an operation and what did you do for it. I use a warming blanket and a family member massages the knee. It helps but the pain comes back. The pathologist report came back and indicated a trace of the cancer on tissue outside of the bladder. We will return to Sloan for a consultation. I assume the options will be to start chemo in December or monitor the area with a cat scan every three months. I believe we will opt for the later. Any suggestions ?
nanaca

Fantastic news that your home and doing so well.
Dont forget to take it easy and rest lots though.
Take care and will keep my fingers crossed for your path results
Love clur x

Welcome home! You're up and around very quick, that's fantastic.

Glad to hear surgery went well. How about the path report?

Take care,
Wendy

How wonderful to hear you are home and doing so well in such a short time. If I do half as well as you I will be happy. My very best wishes for your continued good and speedy recovery.
Jean

Greetings to all: Surgery completed five days ago and I have been dischared and at home. I am walking and learning to use and clean the external pouch The operation went very well and there does not appear to be any external growth but the test results in two weeks will tell us. Memorial
Sloan in NYC was excellent. Two surgeons performed the operation over a five hour period. It was worth the expense and traffic to find the right surgeons for your specific needs. Thanks to Wendy and your support and prayers we have been blessed. Also, for your information there is a web site :
www.caringbridge.org which is a great way for family and friends to communicate with you and thereby eliminate a lot of phone calls. I used it and had over 200 contacts and it is very easy to set up and use. Will keep you posted on my progress .
nanaca

Yes, I"m positive it has to do with age, and the fact that most of the people who get online to find answers and communicate are under 70, while the reality is that the bladder cancer population is dominated by those 70 yrs old and over.

However, I've read in more than one retrospective study that age should not be an excuse against getting an internal pouch/reservoir or neobladder, nor chemo or cystectomy. That in fact, the elderly can handle all of those options and treatments just fine in the majority of cases.

It just makes me wonder! I do think life with an external pouch isn't the end of the world, having heard this so often from those who've been there .

Maybe there are some alternatives for those allergic to tape. I've read of 'stoma covers' of natural fibers. There are some links on the ostomy resource pages, blcwebcafe.org/ostomyresources.asp

Whatever procedure gets used, I wish you both all the best with surgery and recovery.
Wendy