Any women out there that can provide Advice when having Chemotherapy / Chemoradation/Radiototherapy. for Invasive Bladder Cancer

Hi Das . Not a lady answering sorry, but I could give you a general overview of the schedule of this treatment if that is any help. Best wishes.

That would be helpful thank you.

Good Morning Das . The Gem/Cis regimen is usually two or three cycles. A cycle is a long day the first week with Gemcitabine and Cisplatin. The following week a half day with just Cisplatin. I had 3 cycles over 6 weeks and tolerated it well with no real nasty effects. As well as working on the bladder, the chemo is designed to mop up any potential rogue cells elsewhere in the system. Several weeks break to allow the chemo to do its job. Some scans to see how effective it has been. Then daily radiotherapy for up to six weeks. The sessions only take about 15 minutes and it is painless. The chemo alongside the radio is administered via a PICC line and chemo pump on weeks 1 and 4. (MMC/5FU). The chemo bottle is worn for a week and the drug is administered very slowly. This helps the radio to be more effective. It can become very tiring towards the end. Fatigue and loose bowels can set in for several weeks after treatment finishes. After a few weeks a, cystoscopy under GA to see how things have worked. I hope all goes well whichever route you choose. Best wishes.

Hi Das, 

I just wanted to share my experience of gem/cis chemo, my cancer was in the upper urotract so I lost my left kidney and ureter, this is classed as bladder cancer still. I had three cycles of chemo over nine weeks, I was told I would lose my hair and thought about cutting my hair short before it started, but although I did lose a fair bit it just thinned a lot, so I am glad I didn’t have it cut short. This continued for a few weeks after chemo finished, but one year on it is back to full thickness again. I did suffer with nausea and a metallic taste and was advised to keep frozen pineapple in the freezer as it was one thing that still tasted as it should. I found ensure drinks were the best for me to replenish some nutrients as I didn’t like fortisip, but everyone is different.

I wish you well with your treatment and hope this gives you some comfort and puts your mind at rest.

take care 

Annie x

Thanks Annie for the info very much appreciated.

Rily apologies for not replying earlier. I read the info but it has been so hard to focus. It is all so overwhelming. Thank you for the detail very much appreciated. May I check from an earlier post your Tumour/cancer was it classified as aggressive and Invasive? Also am I right that you had a second TURBT?  Mine is T2 Tumour G3 so they are reviewing about the bladder preservation piece and nothing has been mentioned for a 2nd TURBT at this stage.

Hi Das . Yes, mine was muscle invasive and aggressive T3/G3. A follow up TURBT is common in most cases, just to mop up and give them a more accurate diagnosis. Best wishes.

Ok many thanks