Well who'd believe that? Scar Wars X

So this is the 10th time I've been in for an Operation - 10! Well I thought it might be 9 but then went and checked it out.

I suppose, if you were reading this and have not had Bladder Cancer you'd wonder at having 10 Operations. Well it isn't quite as bad as you probably may think because:

• You get used to it - by that I mean - you realise quite early on that you'll have to be in and out a fair amount even if it is just to take a biopsy like this visit is
• It comes with the territory - there is every possibility that they'll need to do a minimum of three operations - TURBT (1), Biopsy and Re-TURBT (2) and a follow up biopsy.
• After treatment of a high grade cancer with BCG - in the UK they follow that up with full biopsies after each stage including maintenance.

I very much doubt that it will be the last one and it's been almost a year since my last one whereas for the 4 years before that I'd had at least 2 operations a year :-(

It was nice to get the two visual flexible cystoscopies rather than the full operation - again quite how you can imagine (if you aren't a sufferer) that this is preferable may be difficult to understand. However, it's worth considering this in your deliberations:

If you were, unfortunately, to get bladder cancer there is something to consider which is that you will be monitored closely. It DOES or CAN come back - it's annoying that it does this but, the upside (believe me if you have this it is) is that it can be treated and treated well with surgery, Immunotheraphy treatment, Drugs and if worst comes to worst, they can cut out the bladder altogether and build a neo bladder or do something else - they can save you - they have the technology and so the downside to all of that is that they keep their eye on you all the time, you have scopes, operations and other things all designed to keep you well. You often hear of people's cancer coming back and getting them after they thought they'd been cured etc but the thing with Bladder Cancer is that they'd be onto this fast as you like.

It is a whole of life thing of course and that means that I'll probably be being checked right up until the end of my life. I guess that I should be reassured by that but at the same time it is a little daunting too. At least I'll be looked after.

Anyway - 10th Operation in less than 5 years. Add 3 Flexible Cystocopies and the X-Ray which was a pretty low point, then I've had 14 things done in 5 years. Add my BCG Treatments (I can't remember if that was 24 or 18 visits) plus around about 10 Out Patient Visits and you'll soon see how it all adds up. On three Occasions I've been in for more than 2 days, twice I got out in a day and the remaining 4 were 2 days. For 3 of these Operations I had 4 weeks off twice and 2 weeks off last time. All the others were meant to be one or two days recovery.

It's a fair amount of lost time if you think about it - each BCG is a day off and in reality it is 24 hours one day to the next - generally it meant I only worked a few hours on the day and day after treatment. So I reckon that I've probably had about 20 weeks off in 5 years.

So - standby for Scar Wars X

If you want to know where the other Scar Wars Blog Posts are they are here:

Scar Wars I
Scar Wars II Scar Wars II Recovery
Scar Wars III
Scar Wars IV Delayed
Scar Wars IV
Scar Wars V
Scar Wars VI
Scar Wars VII
Scar Wars VIII
Scar Wars IX

Hopefully Scar Wars X will be a non event - I could do without too many adventures!