I am not a doctor and I have no medical qualifications. I had a TURBT for bladder cancer about 18 months ago, and I've had two clear cystoscopies since.
I'm not even close to being an expert on this, but I think it's going to depend on the grade, size, and number of tumours. Do you have this information?
TURBT is the usual first line for the treatment of bladder cancer. Do you know if any further treatments were planned?
That would be 3 cm - the medical profession don't use inches! Is there a ‹ (less than) or › (greater than) symbol before the size?
I remind you I'm not an expert, but I've just checked the NHS website on bladder cancer. Since you've been offered a TURBT I think you'd be put in the low risk category. For intermediate risk, the first line treatment appears to be 6 chemotherapy treatments.
From what I can tell, bladder wall thickening on a CT scan could indicate bladder cancer so it's something that gets noted, but once you've got a cancer diagnosis, I don't think it makes any real difference to the outcome. I recall it being mentioned on my own CT scan report and none of the doctors mentioned it in any discussions.
I waited 6 weeks from diagnosis to getting my TURBT, and that was pre-COVID. During that time I had a pre-op assessment and then I was called in to a group information session about the operation, how it's done, how quick is the recovery, etc.
I know from personal experience that cancer is a frightening word. But this was my second brush with cancer, having had surgery for prostate cancer 10 years ago. It did make it a little easier to bear. Rather than dwelling on what might happen in the future, I find it best to simply concentrate on what's going to happen next, and then cross the next bridge when you get to it.
