Possible bladder cancer now?

Hey Mississippi - I agree with NoTime.

Even if it isn't cancer (and it most likely isn't), it is good to get an answer to why you are having the infections and pain. It is hard not to jump directly to a cancer diagnosis once we have cancer. Every pain seems to make us go there.  Try to do things to get your mind off of this. I'm glad you are seeing a specialist and will get some answers soon.

Please come back and let us know how you are doing.

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

My sister-in-law and her daughter both get interstitial cystitis, something that causes UTI symptoms, but from what I gather, isn't a UTI.  It tends to be seasonal.  You might ask your doctor if it could be that.  I forget what she said she takes for it, but I know it isn't an antibiotic.

I had a co-worker who had lung cancer surgery.  She kept getting blood in her urine after surgery and blamed it on the urinary catheter she'd had in her during surgery.  It went on for a whole year.  She kept testing herself with test strips at work (we worked in an ER) but didn't mention it to her doctor for a long time, if I remember correctly.  It turned out to be bladder cancer.  She was a long term smoker.  The cancer eventually killed her, so you're doing the right thing getting this checked out.  It does seem to me like you aren't likely to have cancer there since it would have had to grow extremely fast, but my cancer did that (got huge in just 3 mos., which my GYN/onc. said was highly unusual).

Did you go thru chemo?  I feel like I have a UTI very frequently, and have a history of frequent UTI's, which have been worse during chemo.  Sometimes when I'm tested I have one now, and sometimes I don't.  I asked my urologist if I might have bladder irritation from chemo, and he said "yes" to that, but he also added that I could have vaginal atrophy which would also cause the same symptoms.  He recommended I take an over-the-counter drug called D-Mannose.  It's made out of fruit sugar ( from fruits such as cranberries) or vegetables and the bacteria in the bladder attaches to the sugar and is carried out of the body thru the urethra.  It was tested on a group of 300 women who have frequent UTI's.  100 were given a placebo, 100 were given an antibiotic as a preventative, and 100 were given the D-Mannose.  60% of those given the placebo got UTI's, 40% of those given the antibiotic got UTI's, and 20% of the women given D-Mannose got UTI's.  The dose he recommended was 2 grams a day.  You can buy these online, but watch how the ads are worded.  Most of the pills are 500 mg., which means you'll need 4 a day.  A few are 1,000 mg.  The ads sometimes refer to a serving, but the serving may be as many as three pills, so make sure you get what you need.  The stuff comes in a powder, capsules filled with powder, or a gel cap.  Most of the manufacturers are ones that aren't well-known.  Every Tom, ****, and Harry seems to manufacture it.  I picked one that had a mention of the FDA on the label the second time after buying one that said it was 1,000 mgs. on the label and in the ad, then when I got it home found it had a serving size of 3 pills adding up to 1,500 mg. on it.  The company had actually pasted a second label over the original, so it was misleading.

I hope your urologist can figure this out for you.  He may want to do a cystoscopy to take a look around. I found that a bit painful. He was looking to see if there was a communication (basically, a hole) between my vagina or rectum and my urethra that caused my urinary tract to get contaminated, but he didn't find one.  I do have a cystocele, a dropping of my bladder, that can contribute to UTI's. The older you get, the more likely you are to have one of those.  Gravity takes its toll on the organs over time. 

Another think to think about is if something could have happened during surgery, like if the bladder got nicked accidentally or if something was left in there that has since moved around and might be cutting into your urinary tract.  I worked with a woman many years ago who had pain for 18 years after a surgery and finally discovered a needle had been left in her during the surgery.  I don't know if you had a CT or PET scan before your surgery, but the possibility of a radiologist misreading the scan results is something else that could happen. He may have missed something in the bladder.  Hopefully not, but doctors make mistakes just like the rest of us.  All kind of strange things happen, so keep investigating what's wrong, and hope for the best.  I'll be praying for you.