Mr Loo has got my back
I'll come back to this post later when I've got Paddy in bed, but the upshot is that they need to take my bladder out ASAP. It's covered and the tumours are high grade, but I'm lucky in that they haven't spread beyond the bladder wall. Having the MRI to confirm this and my op should be happening next month.
There is a possibility that they'll be able to construct an artificial bladder out of part of the colon. It's major work and it depends on the connecting parts being salvageable but I prefer it to the other option, which is having an external piss bag. I'll explain more later.
LATER
Piss bag = urostomy. I should use the lingo really.
They usually just offer the urostomy but most people are a good deal older than me. Mr Loo hasn't treated anyone with this of my age, only those wth benign tumours. I'm some kind of anomaly. Well, he had a 50 year old who considered the neobladder but ended up going with the easy option. I'm not giving him the easy option. Ha.
(It wouldn't actually be Mr Loo. He has a colleague in mind who trained in Switzerland and has da skillz - but this neobladder surgery has never even been performed in Stoke! Stoke's first proto-bladder, I'm going to be famous.)
But it all depends whether the urethra is damaged. If it is, there's still the possibility of neobladder with the stoma (outlet) going through the tummy. Imagine doing a wee through your tummy. I hope my urethra is in good shape.
So providing they're right, the bladder will come out with all the badness contained and that will be the end of it - minimal chance of recurrence, though I'll have to be monitored for life. If they find any evidence that even a trace has gone beyond, I may need chemo, which will make me infertile. As it stands, he expects to be able to preserve my fertility. However, any future babies will have to be delivered by C-section with someone like him present, especially if there's a neobladder with its own blood supply in the way of the womb.
It's major surgery and I'm going to be out of action for a good few months. They can do it laparoscopically, which is pretty cool, but it's still a big deal. It's akin to a hysterectomy with about three months' recuperation. In addition, getting the neobladder right and learning to use it is a big slog, especially in the early days. You have to get up in the night and irrigate it and allsorts. But once you've cracked it, it sounds like a pretty good approximation of the real thing so I'm willing to put the hours in.
Next step is the MRI scan and getting ready for the op. I want this badness out, and to start getting on with things. I'm going to be ok :)
There is a possibility that they'll be able to construct an artificial bladder out of part of the colon. It's major work and it depends on the connecting parts being salvageable but I prefer it to the other option, which is having an external piss bag. I'll explain more later.
LATER
Piss bag = urostomy. I should use the lingo really.
They usually just offer the urostomy but most people are a good deal older than me. Mr Loo hasn't treated anyone with this of my age, only those wth benign tumours. I'm some kind of anomaly. Well, he had a 50 year old who considered the neobladder but ended up going with the easy option. I'm not giving him the easy option. Ha.
(It wouldn't actually be Mr Loo. He has a colleague in mind who trained in Switzerland and has da skillz - but this neobladder surgery has never even been performed in Stoke! Stoke's first proto-bladder, I'm going to be famous.)
But it all depends whether the urethra is damaged. If it is, there's still the possibility of neobladder with the stoma (outlet) going through the tummy. Imagine doing a wee through your tummy. I hope my urethra is in good shape.
So providing they're right, the bladder will come out with all the badness contained and that will be the end of it - minimal chance of recurrence, though I'll have to be monitored for life. If they find any evidence that even a trace has gone beyond, I may need chemo, which will make me infertile. As it stands, he expects to be able to preserve my fertility. However, any future babies will have to be delivered by C-section with someone like him present, especially if there's a neobladder with its own blood supply in the way of the womb.
It's major surgery and I'm going to be out of action for a good few months. They can do it laparoscopically, which is pretty cool, but it's still a big deal. It's akin to a hysterectomy with about three months' recuperation. In addition, getting the neobladder right and learning to use it is a big slog, especially in the early days. You have to get up in the night and irrigate it and allsorts. But once you've cracked it, it sounds like a pretty good approximation of the real thing so I'm willing to put the hours in.
Next step is the MRI scan and getting ready for the op. I want this badness out, and to start getting on with things. I'm going to be ok :)