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.
