lots of questions just diagnosed with BC

Hello Bryanmac. My husband was diagnosed with bladder cancer in late July of 2001. He had his bladder removed in August, 2001 and went with the ileal conduit. He was 55 years old at the time. He was a strong, healthy 220 pound man at 6'1" tall. He had no choice after the Urologist diagnosed that the cancer had spread to a couple of lymph nodes which she discovered during the removal of his bladder.
She also found out during the surgery that it had affected his prostate and so removed that as well along with his appendix. Thus, his sex life was gone.
He came through the surgery fine. Recovery took some time. He ended up with a very high fevor from a kidney infection but, all in all, he came through it fine.
He started chemotherapy about 1 month after his surgery. He went through it weekly for about 4 - 5 months. He lost weight. He lost his hair and he didn't feel very well. But he fought against the negative and eventually came back to his old self....except he had the ostemy and all that goes with that.

About 6 months after this he had a CAT Scan and it was discoverered that he had other lymph nodes that were suspect. This led us to the Lehey Clinic in Boston. There they decided that it was a recurrance of Bladder Cancer and suggested that Joe go into an intensive chemotherapy with the highest dose of Taxol that had ever been used in Maine. It was a 6 month regime. Joe went through it and weathered it pretty well. At the end of all this it was decided that Joe should have a combination of Radiation and Chemo to ensure that the area of reoccurance would not arise again. That was an additional 5 1/2 weeks of radiation and chemotherapy. It was most difficult.

What I can tell you is that Joe now weighs about 214 pounds....not bad from the 220 he started from and his spirits are good. We are hoping that Joe will be one of the ones with a long term remission. He has been through a lot. Make sure you have doctors that you like and trust.....if you don't......find others.

I don't know if it is a good choice for you or not. You have to decide that. If sexual activity is important to you...talk about how you can save the nerves to your prostate. 52 is young. Protect whatever natural functions you can.

hey folk,s.. i,m larry.i,m a surviver of 22 years, i had bladder cancer in 1981. had the bladder removed and the left kidney and almost all the uninory tract removed. had radation before the surgery and after .., then the kemo treatment,s . a lot of them., lost all my hair several times. but., it all came back.i now have a full head of hair ,, starting to grey., but it,s all there., hee hee.. now i,m still cancer free, not in good health ,,but i,m still going strong., hey kid,s .., you hang in there., a made up mind is the best medicine you can get.. ok ., larry