I have suspected bladder cancer and worried sick

Hey Sue,

It is natural to be worried, but until you know what you have then try not to worry too much.(Easier said than done).

Have you been booked in for a cystoscopy yet?

Is there anything specific that you are worried about or is it the fact it could be cancer that is causing you the worry?

I have a catheter and am bleeding in my urine

 Doctor gas sent urine culture test but not heard back yet. If it's not an infection I will have to see urologist and I'm convinced it's bladder cancer

Just worried about everything right now

I know, its the unknown what is worse than the actual diagnoses, bleeding doesn't mean you have bladder cancer,he catheter could be causing it, as you may have a reaction to it. I know how worrying it can be and it must be worrying seeing blood in your urine. I would chase your doctor for the results if you haven't heard after 5 days, seeing a urologist is definitely worth it, they are very understanding and will be able to see what the cause is and take it from there. If it is cancer, then it is very treatable in most cases,

I am still here after 12 years and still going strong, most treatments mean the initial procedure will mean you stay in the hospital for a couple of days and after that you are treated as an out-patient, when my cancer has come back I go in for day surgery and out the same day.

But honestly I know it is very worrying and nothing anyone will say will really help, but this whole community is here to listen and offer some sort of advice, but no advice is as good as those coming from a medical professional who is knows all the facts, so I would wait for the urologist appointment and take it from there.

But I am hear if you need to speak to someone or just need to vent.

I hope it all goes well and let  know how you get on with the urologist, just don't Google anything, as it will make you even more worried and everyone is different and Google can give very wrong advice, trust me, I did it and it was totally wrong.

Last thing I will say is that we have a family friend who also had bladder cancer 13 years ago, they operated on her, and it has never come back.

Hi - I have just come back from my cytoscopy and have been informed that I have a polyp or a lesion (I saw it on the screen) The mood in the room changed dramatically when they saw it. 
Im waiting for my pre-op before I have a transurethral telescopic resection within the next 6 weeks when we’ll know how serious it is.  

I have had lower back pains and abdominal pains on and off for a few months now. Pink tinged loo paper mid December took me to my GP high number of white cells in urine and the pains took me to a urologist and today’s discovery. 

. I don’t really know what Im asking. I’m just terrified. 

Hey Nikolak,

I am sorry to hear that they found a polyp / lesion in your bladder.

I know how terrifying it can be, but the resection of your bladder will give a better idea if it is cancerous, as not all polyps / lesions come back a cancer, and if it is cancer that they will be able to decide what treatment plan they will do.

Every hospital is different so I can only go on my experience, but they may give you an injection of mitomycin after they have removed the polyp / lesion as a precautionary measure, it had no side effects on me , and I had a course of it over 12 weeks.

The operation is normally done under general anesthetic and you may be given a catheter, but again this depends on your urologist, but they don't hurt they are more of a discomfort and they only put them in to give your bladder a rest and time to recover, I have had 3 occasions when I needed a catheter , but after that I have never had one and had 4 operations since then.

Just remember what you saw on the screen is heavily magnified and can look large, but in reality it isn't. My biggest polyp, that looked like fingers growing from my bladder was 3cm long, and that was nearly 13 years ago, and due to the amazing work Cancer Research does I have seen huge advances in my treatment.

Some people have their cancer removed and it never comes back, others like me have regular check ups and when it does come back they just burn the cells off and I am home the same day and back at work a few days later.

The unknown is the hardest thing to deal with, I think once people know what they are dealing with it is easy to understand it.

But look at it this way once you have had it removed then it is no longer in your body, which is a good thing.

I do appreciate that it is easy for me to say this, but I have been where you are now and I am still here and I won't lie, I had some bad times as well as good times, and my good times far out weigh the bad times, just talk to people, have a cry as there is no shame in crying and remember that we are all here for you, and Macmillan has a great helpline who can help answer any questions in relation to having cancer 0808 808 00 00.

Please let me know how you get on, I am definitely here if you need to talk, vent or need a virtual shoulder to cry on and the community here is amazing.

Thank you so much. I haven’t told anyone and don’t really want to. I’ll tell my husband when he gets home from work but I don’t think I’ll tell anyone else yet. I need to come to terms with it. Yes!  it looked like a weird white tree like thing. I was just shocked and stunned into silence so I didn’t ask any questions I couldn’t really comprehend what I was being told. I did ask if it was likely not cancer as I’d had benign polyps in my bowel removed and I was told unfortunately not. That it is definitely cancer. Im devastated.  It’s so good to hear your positivity and about your wonderful treatment. I hope you go from strength to strength and to continue to hear how you’re doing. Thank you for welcoming me here. 

Ho Chris just had result back from urine test and it was completely normal so doctor said to stay on antibiotics and I'm on the right treatment. I didn't realise according to cancer research they can identify bladder cancer from urine test

CONGRATULATIONS!!

I am so happy for you, you must be relieved

Yes they can check for cancer cells in your urine, t it never use to be like that, only recently they have started using urine samples to screen for bladder cancer but my consultant still prefers using flexible cystoscopy as well as urine test, but the advancements are happening so quickly that i think testing urine will be the way to stop so many flexible cystoscopy for people who have never had bladder cancer before.