The Saudi German Hospital phoned me at 9:30 am this morning, to inform me that Dr. Hossam had a large number of operations to perform today, so they had to cancel my appointment at 2:20 pm today.
At 1:15 pm, the hospital phoned me again, asking me to be there at 1:30 pm. I had to explain that because we live 95 kms away from the hospital, I need at least 1,5 hours notice, so the soonest that I could be there today was 3:00 pm.
On my arrival, Dr. Hossam pumped my bladder full of a clear liquid, then removed the catheter and asked me to pass urine. I had no feeling that I needed to go to the toilet, and even when I pushed hard, no urine came out .... it seems that the bladder muscle wall is now so weak or has been replaced by the tumor, so I no longer have any control over it ....hence I had to receive a new catheter and colostomy bag.
The results from the tumor samples (6cm x 4cm x 2cm) cut out of my bladder on Monday were back from the Pathology laboratory. It confirmed that I have bladder cancer, with a mixed tumor that is the same size as my bladder (and only half of the tumor was removed with the resectoscopy).
Dr. Hossam explained that the next steps are a CT scan (once authorisation for this has been granted by my health insurance) to establish whether the cancer has exited through the bladder walls and spread any further in my body, and to inject the chemotherapy drugs into my bladder (starting on Tuesday 8th March, then each Tuesday for the next 2 weeks, then miss a week, then another three sessions of chemo over the next three weeks), then do another (but more invasive) resectomy operation to try and remove the remains of the tumor. If that is not successful, he will have to consider removing the bladder.
THOUGHTS
If the tumor has embedded itself so deep into the muscle of the bladder wall that it could not be removed last Monday for fear of perforating the bladder wall .... and if this tumor then expands slightly further into the muscle wall and breaches it, I will have cancer cells traveling freely around in my bloodstream, looking for any other organ or location to attach themselves and start growing again. Why isn't the only known source and location of the cancer cells removed immediately ? I appreciate that bladder removal is a long and complicated operation with a typical recovery period of at least 3 months, but surely that is better than having to return to the hospital every 3 months for further cystology investigations to establish if the tumor is still growing, or has breached the bladder wall and spread elsewhere in my body ?
If the petrol tank on your car was wafer thin in several places and could break at any moment, pouring petrol onto a hot exhaust pipe and potentially causing a fatal explosion, would you try to guess where the weak spots in the petrol tank are and cover these up with sellotape ? or would you remove the dangerous petrol tank immediately and connect a few pipes from bottles full of petrol to feed into the engine, so that you could keep driving without risk of a fatal explosion ?
I have asked for a meeting with a Consultant Oncologist on my next visit to the Saudi German Hospital on Tuesday 8th March, preferably before the CT scan and chemotherapy, for a second opinion as to whether the bladder should be removed (and hopefully all cancer cells with it).
At 1:15 pm, the hospital phoned me again, asking me to be there at 1:30 pm. I had to explain that because we live 95 kms away from the hospital, I need at least 1,5 hours notice, so the soonest that I could be there today was 3:00 pm.
On my arrival, Dr. Hossam pumped my bladder full of a clear liquid, then removed the catheter and asked me to pass urine. I had no feeling that I needed to go to the toilet, and even when I pushed hard, no urine came out .... it seems that the bladder muscle wall is now so weak or has been replaced by the tumor, so I no longer have any control over it ....hence I had to receive a new catheter and colostomy bag.
The results from the tumor samples (6cm x 4cm x 2cm) cut out of my bladder on Monday were back from the Pathology laboratory. It confirmed that I have bladder cancer, with a mixed tumor that is the same size as my bladder (and only half of the tumor was removed with the resectoscopy).
Dr. Hossam explained that the next steps are a CT scan (once authorisation for this has been granted by my health insurance) to establish whether the cancer has exited through the bladder walls and spread any further in my body, and to inject the chemotherapy drugs into my bladder (starting on Tuesday 8th March, then each Tuesday for the next 2 weeks, then miss a week, then another three sessions of chemo over the next three weeks), then do another (but more invasive) resectomy operation to try and remove the remains of the tumor. If that is not successful, he will have to consider removing the bladder.
THOUGHTS
If the tumor has embedded itself so deep into the muscle of the bladder wall that it could not be removed last Monday for fear of perforating the bladder wall .... and if this tumor then expands slightly further into the muscle wall and breaches it, I will have cancer cells traveling freely around in my bloodstream, looking for any other organ or location to attach themselves and start growing again. Why isn't the only known source and location of the cancer cells removed immediately ? I appreciate that bladder removal is a long and complicated operation with a typical recovery period of at least 3 months, but surely that is better than having to return to the hospital every 3 months for further cystology investigations to establish if the tumor is still growing, or has breached the bladder wall and spread elsewhere in my body ?
If the petrol tank on your car was wafer thin in several places and could break at any moment, pouring petrol onto a hot exhaust pipe and potentially causing a fatal explosion, would you try to guess where the weak spots in the petrol tank are and cover these up with sellotape ? or would you remove the dangerous petrol tank immediately and connect a few pipes from bottles full of petrol to feed into the engine, so that you could keep driving without risk of a fatal explosion ?
I have asked for a meeting with a Consultant Oncologist on my next visit to the Saudi German Hospital on Tuesday 8th March, preferably before the CT scan and chemotherapy, for a second opinion as to whether the bladder should be removed (and hopefully all cancer cells with it).
No comments:
Post a Comment