Bladder cancer even spread a bit to liver.What is the best treatment for it?
Less than one minute read time.
FormerMember
Hello,
My dad has been diagnoised of colonal cancer 5 months back. But we wasted 3months in ayurvedic treatment. From last two months he is in hospital. He was on radiation treatment for bladder for one month.As he had a severe pain and in bad condition.He had colostomy surgery.He is recovering from that. But the cancer has spread a litlle bit to liver. Now doctors are suggesting to have chemotherapy. But i have heard bad stories about chemotherapy. Is it good to opt this treatment or do we have anything better?What aare the chances of people surviving from this type of cancer?
Salma
FormerMember
Try not to beat yourself up about the loss of time. Your father has had surgery and radiotherapy, and now it looks as though chemotherapy is the next thing. If you know what he is going to have, you can look it up on Cancer Backup and read at your leisure.
The concept behind this treatment is to poison the patient slightly in the hope of poisoning the cancer even more. This means that it is not comfortable, but the hospital will not give him chemotherapy unless he is strong enough to cope with it. They take a blood sample to see if the white blood cell count is up to scratch. (White blood cells are the ones that attack foreign bodies infections etc.). If he is not strong enough, they will postpone the treatment. The drugs used for this treatment are almost always chosen for their best chance of damaging the cancer cells. They should tell you what the drugs are, and how often he will have them. For bowel/colon cancer, it is usually Flourouracil (5FU) and/or Capecitabine/carboplatin. I had just the 5FU, four times per cycle for 7 cycles plus 2 treatments.
The best thing he can do is go for his chemo, rest a lot and drink a lot of fluids. It seems to go on for ever, but with any luck, it will diminish or remove any spots of cancer on the liver. Perhaps before, but certainly afterwards, he will have a scan, which will be able to show how much success the treatment has had. In my humble opinion, chemotherapy is a very good option. It works well for most people, and with the drugs I described above, he should not lose his hair. Unless that has already happened. Any hair he has should grow back after the treatment if he has one that causes hair loss. I can't give any guarantees, but this regime represents your father's best chance for a recovery. I have had similar surgery, and chemotherapy and I am apparently recovered. We call it remission until it has not come back and 5 years have elapsed,
As for the bag, it may not be permanent, but if it is, there are plenty of people here who can advise on how to manage with it, and still maintain outward dignity, if not inward.
Hello Salma, my husband has just been diagnosed with bladder cancer. He started his chemo treatment 3 weeks ago and so far he is doing very well. He is able to work from home and lead a fairly 'normal' life. I know that every person is different but I wanted you to hear that chemo treatment might not be as bad as you think and I send you and your dad all my warmest thoughts - stay positive!
