[Viva] Bladder Cancer - what to look for

[B V]

Denise,
Thank you for sharing this important information with all of us. I'm
sending good energy for your procedure and healing. I will definitely take
your advice.
Roberta.

On Tue., Sep. 29, 2020, 9:53 a.m. Denise Wozniak, <deniseswozniak at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dear Friends:
>
> About two weeks ago, I was diagnosed with a low grade bladder cancer. I
> have an operation on October 13 to remove it and the urologist says he
> would be shocked if it had spread.  I'm letting you know this so that you
> will know what to look for and what follow-up to take to catch it early:
>
> Around 3 months ago I had a urine test as part of my regular blood work. I
> had not had bloodwork for at least 8 months due to worries about being
> around any Covid.
>
> There were a few differences from the usual results:  Here is what was
> different:
>
> Protein ATrace
> Leukocytes APositive
>
> My cd4 was 1080 and my ratio was 45%, both really good considering I have
> had HIV since 1989.
>
> A month later I started to notice a lot of blood in my urine and no pain,
> my skin was incredibly itchy (related?). I also had blood in urine in 2017
> and it was due to a UTI or a kidney stone. At that time I had pain too.
> This time the bleeding lasted over a week.  During that time my GP sent me
> for another urine test:
>
> Protein A1
> Hemoglobin A>=10
> Leukocytes A75
>
> The Leukocytes had really changed.
>
> A cytology was ordered from another urine test and sent to the BC Cancer
> Agency - Negative for Cancer.
>
> At that point I almost cancelled a Urologist appointment but I thought I
> would tell him what had happened so far. He said he wanted to do a
> cystoscopy (camera up into my bladder) because sometimes a cytology doesn't
> catch it. He also changed by GP's ultrasound appointment to a CT scan. The
> cystoscopy found the cancer. Lesson learned:  do not cancel a urologist
> appointment.  I told him I'd had worse news in the past (haven't we all!)
> and so this was something I would just wait to see what happens.
>
> The urologist set up an appointment for me to have an operation to get the
> tumour removed on October 13. Tumours are just a collection of cancer cells
> and often we think of tumours as something much more sinister but they can
> be small. I will have the results about 10 days after the operation and
> will know if the cancer cells are just on the surface or have gone deeper
> into the wall of the bladder.
>
> I'm letting you know all of this because I learned that I shouldn't
> take blood in the urine too lightly and don't settle for Cytology results.
>
> I don't need sympathy, I just want to bring about awareness and I will
> keep you informed as to next steps because it's always good to have
> knowledge.
>
> Virtual hugs to all of you,
>
> Denise Wozniak
>
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