Oh, there was one other minor problem. A tumor was found in his bladder. Two kinds. One that grows like a carpet and one that grew upward. After a scraping of everything that didn't belong in there, the pathologist found that despite the fact of being malignant they were very superficial. That means they were just on the surface and hadn't grown into anything. Very low grade and very very slow growing. They are caused by smoking. My husband quit 15 years ago last month. You would think something like that would not show up after 15 years but the nasty little suckers certainly did show up. And what a fright they gave the both of us.
After they were scraped out, Mitomycin was introduced and left in the bladder for an hour to cook as the urologist told us with a smile on his face. It is supposed to help keep them from coming back and taking up residence to grow again. Husband goes back in three months for a follow-up and another test to make sure nothing is in there. That will happen, I assume, every three months or until the urologist deems it is no longer necessary.
Let me tell you...it has been one hell of a summer starting with the first severe abdominal pains at the end of May leading right up until yesterday's colonoscopy.
At least for now, we can breathe again. It's a glorious feeling.
7 comments:
Nothing is better than a boring colon, that's what my doctor said.
What an ordeal. I can't imagine how they find this stuff out - to put mitomycin in to cook....
How many tests and different procedures did people have to go through to get to this point?
I don't care what they say, modern medicine is some kind of wondrous thing.
What a relief! So glad that it was nothing more, though diverticulitis is bad enough. Does he have to go back in three months for another colonoscopy? Ugh.
MarkD60 ~ I hear ya Mark. Boring is the word you want to hear after a colonoscopy.
Peruby ~ Thank God for modern medicine. Otherwise I'd be a mess. I am so thankful that we have a young urologist as well as he is really on top of things.
Marti ~ No, not another colonoscopy. He has to have a cystoscopy every 3 months to make sure those cells don't come back and start growing again in his bladder. As far as a colonoscopy goes, if nothing is found then they don't do those for another ten years.
Bladder cancer is the second most cancer caused by smoking. You'd think after 15 years!!! sneaky little devils!!! So happy all is well and I know, he feels like he has a new lease on life!
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