Cystoscopic Exam

I went back to the Urologist April 12th for another Cystoscopic exam. The doctor inserted the scope and looked around in the bladder and seen two specks coming up. He got out his burning unit and cauterized both spots while in the office saving me a trip to the surgery center again. I go back to him again for another scope exam on July 15 of this year.

I went back to the Urologist again this morning (July 18, 2013) for another Cystoscopic exam, and results were not good. He found two more tumors in the bladder and one in the Urethra, itself. Going to be going in to the surgery Center sometime and have the tumor removed surgically. The doc says that he can't cauterize the one in the urethra, it has to be removed with surgery. All this to be done at a later date, as no time or date was set up today for the surgery.

Good luck, Curly

I went back to the Urologist Sept. 5 to get the results fro the last tumor removal, and the new was not good at all. Out of 4 removals, 3 have shown the tumors to be "highly aggressive". Therefore the urologist has recommended to me to have the Bladder removed surgically. In doing that, the remove not only the bladder, but the prostate, part of the urethra, then tie the uters together and attach them to a stoma that fixed on one side of the lower abdomen. Also, the doc wants me to have one round of chemotherapy, either before or after the surgery. I go to see the Oncologist on Sept 18, then back to the Urologist on the 19th to see when the surgery will be done.

Best of luck and best wishes for success.

Curlyt66: Hope everything goes well and my best of wishes.

Good luck! My father opted not to have a stoma but to have something called a "neobladder" instead. The surgeon created an "new" bladder by removing part of the intestine where the small meets the large, stitching the two ends together and using the removed piece to form a bladder. To be honest, it seemed to be more trouble than it was worth. Since there was no sensation of fullness he had to remember to void periodically including during the night. Plus the intestine continued to produce mucous which causes difficulties with catheters.

Just out of curiousity, what were your risk factors for getting bladder cancer? Having researched causes out of my own self-interest I discovered that smoking and working with organic chemicals such as benzene, which my father nailed perfectly, were factors. Heavy saccharin consumption was also identified as a risk which is why they pretty much banned it in the late 1970's.

@Aardvark

Risk factors for me were that I worked in a factory where a lot of plating of plastic parts was done and before that I worked in a factory that produced automotive batteries. Also I have Multiple Sclerosis and for one of the treatments I was given chemotherapy (Cytoxan) every 8 weeks for a 2 year period. Cytoxan did have some affect on the renal system, anyway. For a couple of years, I did my own photo processing, and not sure how those chemical worked into the mix, either. So many factors involved, it is hard to say just what caused the Bladder cancer in me.

One website I have been on tells that going out and eating fast food can be a contributing factor to Bladder cancer.

Went back to the Oncologist yesterday and the PET scan showed that the cancer had spread and gotten into the lymph nodes surrounding the bladder. Recommendation: go for Chemotherapy, 8 shots of it spread over a 12 week period, then go back for another PET scan to see if the chemo had any effect on the cancer. I go in next Tuesday morning to have a Port installed, them hopefully have first chemo treatment later that afternoon.

Curlyt66 - I wish you the very best and hope that everything goes well for you. I do not think that those of us who are older were ever aware of industrial exposures. For myself, I spent a summer working on a diesel ferry in the engine room. My shoes were a white and tan leather. Carbon tetrachloride? Great cleaner. Used it on the shoes, my hands, arms and even chest to remove grease. Dumb - I know. Anyway, best of luck.

@Curlyt66: Good luck on the treatments. Treatments have improved significantly since the 1990's.

@rain: I am 51 and recall back in the 1970's when OSHA started putting rules in place to restrict the use of carbon tetrachloride and benzene (among others). I was barely a teenager and I remember my father being angry about all the new restrictions being imposed on them. They had been using these chemicals for years without any problems (well we know better now) and were having to remove all these chemicals from the store room and move them to new specially built storage rooms with separate air systems, etc. We had small bottles of carbon tetrachloride at home (many people did in the form of the brand name cleaner Carbona, long ago reforumulated, or in old fire extinguishers). I never had much exposure to it being a kid.

I have had this procedure done under a local twice and under a general 3 times now and its wonderful to see the scope with the camera enter your body and to watch it go down the full length of the cock into the bladder. last time i had this done was Feb 2014

Just had an exam done (2/27/2015) and the doc said he couldn't see anything. That is the bladder and the urethra were free of cancer at that time. Will have the test done again in 3 months to check for cancer again.

I had a similar experience. When the cystoscopy was finished I had to walk over to the nearby urometer to pee. I was naked below the waist and the nurse was with me the whole time. No secrets from the urologists nurse.

I had a similar experience. When the cystoscopy was finished I had to walk over to the nearby urometer to pee. I was naked below the waist and the nurse was with me the whole time. No secrets from the urologists nurse.

That's unusual because you're urethra has been dilated and irritated so the uroflow is useless at that point. The only valid measurement would be total volume which is also useless after your bladder is filled with water.

After mine, I was sent to the bathroom with a warning about possible blood and pain. There was neither.

I had my cystoscopy with just the local anesthetic they inject into the urethra about ten minutes before insterting the scope. Insertion was uncomfortable not painful. My bladder was filled with water and emptied several times during the procedure. After each infusion I voided into a basin under my butt that drained into some sort of tank under the exam table. Did the same after the scope was withdrawn. There was no toilet-like device in the room. Got dressed, checked out at the front desk and went to the restroom with an urgent need to pee. There was some blood and it was like pissing razor blades for several days afterwards. That was was the worst part of the entire procedure.

I had a malignant tumor removed from my bladder in Jan. I now get scoped every 3 months for a year to look for new tumors. None so far. I f I go a year without any new tumors, they drop back to scopings to every 6 months, for life.

I too , had a bladder irrigation done by a young lady and had to void in the "spittoon-like" container. She was right there with me with her hand on my cheek. She looked very "Ho-Hum" about the entire process.

Just back today from my um-tenth cystoscopy(flexible). This one hurt more than usual. My urologist said I had some strictures above my prostate and that explained the increased pain. I had run very low on my Flomax Rx caps., so I started taking them q.d., rather than b.i.d., as Rx'd. He said this explained my discomfort. I asked about what he would do if the strictures got worse. He shrugged it off, saying he would just go up and "gently" dilate the urethra. I sure hope that is done under anesthesia. He had his med. ass't. do an ultra sound on my bladder and she said I hadn't emptied my bladder very well. She had me sit on a toilet device and void into a graduated container. I pee'd a lot more even after feeling that my bladder was empty. The Dr. told me to get back on the Flomax b.i.d. and that should help. I don't have to go back for another flex. cystoscopy for 6 MONTHS!! Hurray! And he gave me a 27 day supply of Vesicare tabs; they are expensive, but help lots.

I have to go once a year for an exam. It's been 5 years since my cancer went into remission. I went through a series of BCG treatments and it did the trick. My friend had bladder cancer and couldn't tolerate the BCG so they used another therapy, but it didn't take. They had to remove his bladder. ?

Curley66, I used to sell Cytoxan and have read all the side effects, like kidney and bladder bleeding. I used to get requests from some of the Docs I called on to get free Cytoxan to treat cancer in their pet dogs. I would tell them the possible side effects and ask them if they wanted to put their pet through that. Some relented, some still wanted it.

I was catheterized after surgery because I could not pee on my own. After 24 hours I went back to the ER and had that thing removed. I could not sleep and had to empty the bag every hour. I stopped drinking and eating because of that stupid thing. Anyway once the (VERY HOT) nurse removed the catheter I had issues peeing normally. I would spray everywhere when I stood at the toilet to pee. I forced myself to sit when peeing to keep from having to clean up a mess every time. I complained to my doctor and she sent me to the urologist, who did a brief looky loo and prescribed meds for me to try.

When that course of action resulted in no significant improvements I begged for some sort of scope exam. The urologist set me up with the cystoscopy exam.

When I was called back to the exam room the nurse walked me down a long hallway that looked like a deserted wing of the hospital. She talked to me and she sounded like a cool person. She had me walk into the exam/surgical room and stand near the table. I saw two men behind a glass partitioned wall milling about and doing stuff related to the equipment behind the thick glass wall. She tells me straight up to lower my shorts and underwear, but not to remove them. I do so. She then asks me to wait, while she walks around this giant room a bit and gets a full sheet of that blue plastic with cotton catch pad stuff and lays it on the exam table. She then asks me to lay down on it. My shorts almost come off my feet since my cell phone, wallet and car keys are heavy in my pockets. She then reaches down and removes me shoes. I am laying there, for what seemed like 20 minutes, naked from the waist to my ankles. I may have been there about 3 or 4 minutes. She then picks up another one of those blue plastic sheets that I am laying on and rips a hole in it. She positions the hole over my penis and then reaches in and pulls my penis up thorough the hole she just created.

I again lay there for what seems like 20 more minutes when a very young and good looking woman comes in and asks me for my name and date of birth. She says her name, but I cant even attempt to repeat it. She walks around, talks with the guys behind the glass wall. Asks where is Dr Smith.... She asks them to page the doctor. She then tells me that we will start when the doctor makes it into the exam room. The nurse walks over, grabs my penis and squirts what looks like a packet of clear ketchup down into my urethra. She tells me its a numbing agent and might feel cool for a bit.

My feet, my penis and my head are about the only things visible under this blue sheet. Again for a long time.

In walks the doctor. The pretty woman grabs my penis in one hand and has a machine of sorts in her other hand. The doctor asks me for my name and date of birth. The nurse helps her guide the scope into my urethra. The male doctor looks over her shoulder and mentions a few things she needs to look for and do at the same time. He has her come in a bit, then back out. She turns a dial and I can see the image on the tv screen. The inside of my urethra looks amazing. I am so proud!

She enters a bit more when I feel a pinch of sorts and jerk my body. The doctor says to her, "you see, its not that far in, the little bump will help you guide it in correctly". The doctor looks at me and tells me to wiggly my toes for him for 10 seconds. I do so, and as I do she rams the scope in passed my prostate. It hurts for a half a second.

She enters into my bladder and looks around. He shows her things on the screen. I have no idea what they are saying. Its like another foreign language to me. She then asks if my bladder feels full or if I need to pee yet. I tell her no, not yet. The doctor tells her to fill up my bladder and take some measurements.

She dumps some sterile water into my bladder and I can see my bladder fill up like a balloon. She keeps rotating the camera looking at the walls of my bladder. The water stops. I am asked again if my bladder feels full now. I tell them no. They inject more water into my bladder. I tell them when my bladder feels full. They stop the flow and start to withdraw the scope. They stop and ask me to wiggle my toes. She yanks the scope out past my prostate and the scope falls out of my shrinking penis. Water falls all over my blue sheet. The nurse exclaims 'thats the reason we use these sheets for this exam, it will soak it up."

The hot woman (I later found out was a doctor in training) leaves the exam room and goes behind the glass wall. One of the guys that was behind the wall asks me to get up, not to put my shorts back on yet, and walk over to the bathroom and empty my bladder into the portable toilet. I walk in and semi attempt to close the door behind me and the guy tells me to leave the door open so the sensors can reach his laptop. I stand there, with my shorts around my ankles, butt naked and empty my bladder with about 3 people in the exam room behind me, watching.

I am then asked to get back up on the table. I tried to explain to them that even now, I just leaked and sprayed on my shorts (Thank goodness it was sterile water) but they wanted nothing to do with it. The Doctor in training comes over and wipes my penis. Spreads my meatus opening and wipes it clean. She peers close into it and feels up and down my penis, telling me everything looks normal and there is nothing wrong. She tells me to have a nice day and leaves. The nurse walks over and assists me up into a standing postilion and tells me to pull up my shorts. She then walks me back out to the waiting room.

I walk in and semi attempt to close the door behind me and the guy tells me to leave the door open so the sensors can reach his laptop. I stand there, with my shorts around my ankles, butt naked and empty my bladder with about 3 people in the exam room behind me, watching.

It makes me wonder how things like this, or a flow-test is conducted when the patient is pee-shy.

I just can not urinate when others are present.

It makes me wonder how things like this, or a flow-test is conducted when the patient is pee-shy.

I just can not urinate when others are present.

When I had it done they left me alone.

@jhg - I was somewhat dumbfounded that they bothered to drape me "for modesty" when my penis was hanging out of the hole and, if anything, more obviously "on display" than if they'd left me naked from the waist down. I guess there might have been some benefit from a sterile field, but it definitely didn't boost modesty.