Newly diagonosed

Hi Tizzy and welcome. I would just say my experience is similar to Tinas. I have had 3 turbt and 1 biopsy and have not had any problems , a little stinging for a day ( drink plenty) and felt tired. Wishing you luck, the waiting is really hard and the anxiety can take hold. Try to keep busy , it will soon be here .

Hi Tizzy, Good luck with your journey and I hope the time passes quickly for you. This forum is such a friendly and helpful place.

One thing I have realised since joining this forum is that we patients are all different in how we deal with cancer, our bladder cancers have developed differently, need different treatments and all hospitals have their own way of doing things. For example, I was sent for a 1 stop shop review with detailed questions on my health and relatives' ditto, given a CT scan and cystoscopy (where I was shown on screen something that looked very like Dennis the Menace - lots of black 'hair'), and told the diagnosis would be given 'after the TURBT'. So you are already ahead of some of us.

In fact my diagnosis took 3 weeks before the TURBT and 4 weeks after it. The TURBT lasted an hour. (They say you need a month to recover from 1 hour of anaesthetic so I took it easy but actually had no problems at all.) They had to get the histology results plus the CT scan feedback as well as have a meeting amongst the specialists to discuss the way forward.

From the start, I decided to be as normal as possible throughout, so as not to unduly worry my family, and can honestly say that has worked fairly well for us. Temperamentally, I deal with problems with humour not tears. I know this may not be typical. However, it has got us through chemo and bladder removal plus some extra health problems which delayed my treatment and I try to keep calm during my quarterly reviews after the surgery too.

Having cancer, and the subsequent 18 months, has taught me and my family a great deal including that worrying doesn't cure cancer and nor does being upset. Laughter can make things a bit more bearable sometimes though. If that doesn't work for you I hope you find something else that does.

All the best, 

Latestart

Hi TizzyP, 

 I was 53 when diagnosed 6 months ago and your '4 week wait is the longest ever' comment is exactly how I felt during the 4 weeks after diagnosis and before the turbt. I remember counting down the days, I felt frightened a lot of the time.  The not knowing was horrible. I wish you all the best for the turbt, it's not long to wait now.