I recently joined this forum for moral support and have found it has helped me and others a lot. While I recognise that our treatments for bladder cancer will vary considerably depending on each case history, my personal experience may give some comfort to fellow sufferers and be less alarming than just studying straight statistics. I had for many years had kidney stones. They became troublesome from around 2010 onwards, giving pain and blood in my pee once or twice a year. Ultrasound confirmed that I had stones, as did the sound of a ping in the WC when one passed. I lived with the problem until the blood in pee became a concern in July 2017, prompting me to see my GP. I tended not to rush into the medical environment very willingly because I had a fairly extreme medical phobia (white coat syndrome). My GP wondered whether my kidney stone symptoms were masking something else e.g. bladder cancer. That's how the current saga started. BUT I'm still here and will I suppose have to begin stamp licking for yet another Christmas. Incidentally, one of my coping mechanisms is to keep a diary of my symptoms of the bladder cancer. When they reappear, the fact that similar symptoms have come and gone over the last 5 years without much drama actually helps me to put them in perspective and reduce the mental stress. Thank you. This evening's rosé seems to have stopped whilst writing this as well! Merry Christmas everyone and good luck! Note: 24/07/24 edited to shorten. Treatment in 2017-18 included radiotherapy and two TURBTs. Urology signed me off in early 2019. Palliative care. Living quite a normal, independent life, albeit with a urethral catheter. I've transferred much of the original main text to my profile - which was blank until I discovered it a few minutes ago! More details there.
My son had his failing natural hip joint replaced just three days ago. He's in his mid 40s, strongly built and has big bones according to the surgeon. Initially the post op morphine masked pain very well and he made such good progress in physio that he was discharged only 24hrs after the op. The hospital strength painkillers soon wore off and by late evening he was in agony despite maxing out on the prescribed painkillers. A 111 call followed, then an ambulance ride to the NHS hospital next to the private one which was contracted by the NHS for his surgery. He was re-admitted and checked over, returning home at midday today with stronger painkillers. He was not in anywhere near the same amount of pain pre-op with his bone on bone worn out hip and is at the moment regretting his decision. I'm hoping that the post op pain will ease a lot in the next few weeks. In the meantime, I've realised how much my stamina has evaporated as a result of age and cancer. I do not usually go upstairs more than, say, 5 times a day. With him being based upstairs for his bed and the bathroom, I've been going up and down stairs at least 3x as often. My concern for him is making me feel very 'down' at times and he is feeling depressed because of the pain, lack of mobility and worries about the effect it is having on me physically. I'm trying not to show my self pity to him but will put it on the wonderful internet 
. Apologies for another essay!
