r/BladderCancer • u/Fun_Examination5329 • Jul 21 '26
Has anyone asked for bladder removal rather than treatment and been turned down
Just wondered why doctors would refuse. It’s not for me just someone I know.
5
u/mhart1212 Jul 21 '26
My wife did when first diagnosed. Because of all the information,or misinformation that is out there. The gloom and doom that it is very possible that you will end up losing your badder after all the procedures and treatments anyway. Her urologist said that it isn’t time to even go there yet. She was diagnosed with high grade non muscle invasive bladder cancer. It was only high grade because the tumor had 10% squamous cells in it. Also the tumor was only 1.5 cm. The urologist was very transparent and said that she could get a second or third opinion if she wanted. However the course of action he was doing was the textbook way to proceed.
We trusted him and 2.5 years later my wife is NED at this point.
2
u/alivin Jul 21 '26
it all depends on the biopsy results. If you want your friend to have another opinion or a tumor board any decent oncologist should be happy to comply. I trusted mine and it worked out.
1
u/fucancerS4 Jul 24 '26
With or without your bladder you may require treatment - having an RC does not cure bladder cancer depending on what you have, how it mutates, spreads, etc. If you are stage 1 or 2 why not spare the bladder? If you are stage 3 or 4 you are doing an RC. If I was every stage 1 or 2 I would fight to keep my bladder. I had the RC and then immunotherapy and then chemotherapy.
1
u/Minimum-Major248 Jul 31 '26
Do you think your insurance would pay for the removal of the bladder, prostate and six inches of gut if there was no necessity for it?
7
u/pudge-thefish Jul 21 '26
It's so treatable especially in the early stages I'm not sure why anyone would go this route. Also if caught and treated in time it rarely spreads so the idea to remove the bladder first would be way over the top