Husband aged 70 with muscle invasive bladder cancer

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I am trying to support my husband who was diagnosed with muscle invasive cancer in November 2022. Due to the fact he has chronic heart failure having his bladder removed was not an option. He had both radiotherapy and chemo in March 2023 which seemed to go well.

However following his routine camera check up in November 2023 cancer was still there. He eventually had a TURBT in December and we were told results in February that cancer was deep in the muscle wall and he was referred for surgery to have bladder removed.

We saw Consultant  who said no to surgery and he was referred for a course of gemcitabine straight into bladder.

 After many phone calls we eventually were told which hospital could do this treatment which started on 23rd March . 

I am struggling to find out what happens after this as treatment stopped 3 weeks ago due to infection.

 It seems that because he isn't having his bladder removed there is little information on what next.

 So here we are!

  • Hi   and welcome to the group although sorry to hear what your husband has been through. Usually the next step following treatment would be a flexible cystoscopy to see how successful the gemcitabine has been. They would usually wait for up to six weeks for things to settle down before looking. Does your husband have a CNS he can call as these are usually the best source of information. Best wishes.

    Best wishes to All,   rily.

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  • Hi rily thank you so much for that information. We will get onto it and give our nurse a call. Thanks again