Hello am new v active person.

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to the forum. As you will probably have seen we're all very friendly here.

I never had BCG so can't answer those questions  but people who have will be along soon.

Re Flu & Covid jabs better ask your medics. I expect you will have had some paperwork re the Turbt etc. Look for the name of your CNS (Cancer Nurse Specialist) and they'll be able to tell you.

All the best,

Latestart

I think I've read that you shouldn't have flu jab while having BCG. If you can get it done now, that would probably be wise. I didn't have BCG, but experiences seem to vary concerning side effects. May be a wait & see scenario - certainly wait until you've had the biopsy results & consult re treatment options. Hope all goes well for you.

Hi Jamie,

Welcome to this friendly group, but sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

It's very common to have two TURBTS, so don't be alarmed on that front.

With regards to working whilst on BCG, it's a bit of a tough question to answer as many people suffer from different side affects.

On the day of the BCG instillation, I would say it's going to be a non working day in most cases. You need access to a toilet which ideally only you can use for 6 hours after the first void.

You will need to bleach the toilet after each wee and have a wash to ensure the BCG is cleaned off. The BCG is a live bacteria so needs to be washed off and not come in contact with anyone else.

On my BCG instillations I stay in the hospital for the two hours after, but not all hospital's do this.

The actual installation only takes a few minutes, but I spend at least an hour before instillation waiting for the doctor to instal.the catheter, which can be frustrating. Plus you will have a urine test and BP test.

The urgency after voiding the BCG means I need to be near a loo for at least 24 hours. Plus you need to drink 2 plus litres of water to flush it out, so there will be plenty of loo trips.

So I would say working on the day of the instillation will be quite tough.

Fortunately I work from home, so have that luxury of being able to log on when I get back from the hospital and working the next day.

So to summarise as I do tend to waffle, is that working on the same day might be very tough (unless you WFH) and maybe the 2nd day also.

The BCG course kicks off with the induction course. This is one instillation a week for 6 weeks. You will then have a 3 month break, before the maintenance instillations start, which are one a week for three weeks. After the 12th instillation the break goes to 6 months.

The amount of BCGs depends on the trust but can be up to 27 in total.

Wishing you all the best.

Trevor