John sets a new record

John reading the paper - 28 September 2014

This was quite a week.  Nothing very astonishing, just the mundane ways in which illness changes everything.  On Monday we were expected for an afternoon appointment at Massachusetts General Hospital but that morning John woke up with alarming symptoms that nearly made us panic until we finally reread the literature and learned that this was all to be expected and not to worry.  So off we drove to Boston with the usual misadventures of missed exit, wrong turns, blocked streets and spirited discussions of who was to blame.  Eventually we arrived in the controlled chaos of a system which doesn't really care if you are a few minutes late because you will sit around and wait in any case.

I had pictured a nice conference room with physicians around a big table but in fact five physicians crowded into a small exam room where John and I were in the only two chairs available.  We were introduced to each (two urologists, a radiologist, an oncologist and a mystery doctor).  Based on our Northampton physician's suggestion that John would need need several chemo treatments and eventual surgery, we hoped to get a time frame for all that.  In fact, we learned that they planned to redo the same procedure John had on September 3rd in Northampton, and only after that will they discuss treatment options.  This new TURBT is scheduled for October 6th.

On Tuesday morning the symptoms about which we were not to worry had turned into a full scale urinary blockage that had us rushing to the Emergency Room at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.  Here John was given morphine and a new catheter and sent home with cheery assurances that all would be well.  All was not well and on Wednesday John returned to the ER, this time with a blocked catheter.  On Thursday he was back at CDH, this time for a chest CT scan ordered by the doc at MGH.  On Friday we returned to Boston for an afternoon of pre-operative discussions and procedures-- EKG, blood test, and urine test that was complicated by the catheter.  The catheter, about which the nurse at MGH did not know, flummoxed her a bit and gave us a rueful laugh-- but a rueful laugh is better than no laugh at all!

Thus we had a week in which John went to one hospital or another on each of five consecutive days.  Proving again the old adage that one can get used to anything, John seems far less concerned about the second surgery-- and since the first one was much worse than expected, it is reasonable to expect that the second one will be much better.

That was fast!

Just got a call from the scheduler at Urology Associates.  They have set us up for an appointment at Mass General on the 22nd of September and an appointment with an oncologist here in Northampton on 8 October.

Background on the Diagnosis

Before I decided that we were in for the long haul, I planned to send periodic updates about John's situation.  This was the first one, giving some of the background and describing his TURBT procedure.  Now that we see that BC is going to be our main preoccupation for some time, I decided that a blog makes more sense.  Below is the text from the initial email I wrote on 4 September.  

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Some of you already know and some do not that on 8 August John was diagnosed with bladder cancer.  He had initial concerns in June while we were still living in Maine and things came to a crisis the day the moving truck was being loaded.  Because of that he had an appointment with a urologist here in Northampton immediately after we arrived.  Various tests and procedures ensued until the diagnosis was made.  Yesterday he had a surgical procedure at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton.  The procedure is called TURBT (Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor). 

Needless to say, we were hoping that the progress of the cancer was minimal and that the doc would send us off with a cheery farewell and a promise to "keep and eye on it".  This was not to be. 

On the other hand, things are not as dire as they might be.  Although extensive, the cancer does not appear to have gone through the bladder wall-- we are sure of nothing until we get the pathology report at the end of next week.  Bladder cancer is highly treatable and John's doctor, in whom he has great confidence, has already suggested that we may need to move on to Boston or Hartford for the next step.  

The surgery took about three hours and John was under general anesthesia for the duration.  He was pretty miserable when I finally saw him in recovery and remained uncomfortable for some hours.  He is reasonably cheerful this morning.  We take great comfort in the fact that our recent move to Massachusetts has brought us closer to family-- talk about timing!  Also, while our planned 27 day bicycle trip went out the window the minute the initial diagnosis was made, we are grateful that we can now attend Celia's wedding later this month.  

In light of the fact that we do not yet know the stage of the cancer, I might have waited to write this note.  On the other hand many people did know that a procedure was scheduled and were interested in an update.  So here it is and I will write again next week after the pathology report.  

Pathology Report

Hatfield 9 September 2014

This morning John and I went to Urology Associates to have his catheter and stent removed.  We were not expecting to get the pathology report until later in the week but it had arrived.  Dr. Tran removed the catheter and etc. while I sat in the waiting room but asked me to come in to hear what turned out to be reasonably bad news.

John's bladder cancer is staged as T2a, meaning that the cancer has infiltrated the muscle wall of the bladder.  This means that the bladder cannot be saved and the option of treatment with BCG* is not available to him.

Dr. Tran is affiliated with Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts and CDH has recently become an affiliate of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.  Dr. Tran has suggested that John's further treatment be managed by a team at MGH and an initial meeting is being scheduled.  This meeting will be informative only and should take place within the next couple weeks.  Following that meeting we will also meet with an oncologist here in Northampton.

When a month has passed, allowing for recovery from the TURBT procedure John had last Wednesday, he will undergo several chemotherapy treatments, probably locally.  When that phase is complete, we will go to Boston for surgery to remove and reconstruct the bladder.  There are several options for bladder replacement and that is one of the things that we will discuss when we go to MGH.

Dr. Tran used these words  "It is big surgery but good surgery".  We need to plan for John to be in the hospital for about a week and the recovery is difficult but the outcomes are very good.

*BCG stands for Bacillus Calmette-Guerin.  It is used to treat bladder cancer in cases where the cancer has not infiltrated the muscle wall.

The good news?  Dr. Tran says that he can drink beer!