New Normal — Same Cancer Since March of 2020 our patient community, like so many other patients facing their challenging times, has been reminded to continue to pursue their appointments with doctors and appropriate follow up — about their own individual circumstances. The pandemic may have caused us a new context of normal but we…

Standard Care Treatment for Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer I was diagnosed with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer, and after my TURBT and the pathology report, it was classifed as a Ta high grade disease. …

Meeting the urologist My first meeting with the urologist was February 5th, my cystoscopy took place on February 27th. Debrief after Cystoscopy After the cystoscopy, you will get dressed and wait for the de-brief with your urologist (in my experience). That first cystoscopy is truly the discovery examination. What’s going on in there? Is there anything…

The TURBT. The transurethral resection of a bladder tumour. This was the procedure that I underwent at Sunnybrook Health Sciences with Dr. Kodama. I arrived prior to 6am in the morning to check-in, after having completed pre-surgical screening a few weeks prior. I was prepped and then held in a…

Up to this point… You had a symptom, you sought advice, you underwent tests, you had a follow-up consult, a referral to a urologist, a further examination, a cystoscopy, further blood and urine tests, maybe another imaging scan, a TURBT to remove tumours from the bladder, a follow-up pathology report followed by BCG treatments. …

My Reflection I remind folks reading this series of blog posts related to my own non-muscle invasive bladder cancer journey that these are reflections related to my own personal journey in 2014 and forward. Each individual may have a slightly different experience or a drastically different experience in their bladder cancer journey…

Images and Test Results As patients of bladder cancer we will have experienced that first session with our general practitioner, where they have most likely had you undertake some sort of imaging to determine what might be going on internally. …

This month of May, like every month of May we at Bladder Cancer Canada work hard to raise awareness about this disease. I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in early 2014 with surgery to remove two tumours via a TURBT, followed by treatments with BCG. Luckily for me, I got…

With my birthday approaching March 3rd, I was so delighted and moved to have received an early card from my dear friend — artist and philanthropist Rita Winkler. From her Book’s site: “Rita Winkler, a young woman living with Down syndrome, shows us the world as she sees it through…