My Bout with Bladder Cancer, 2005, by Dale Jorgenson

From MemoryArchive

Who: Dale Jorgenson
What: Bladder Cancer
When: May 2005
Where: Wisconsin

On Friday April 15, 2005 I noticed a very small speck of blood in my urine. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I knew I needed to get things checked out. I called the local hospital and was able to get in to see my urologist . He he had a CT scan done the same day and was able to see that I had a tumor in my bladder. He ordered a biopsy right away and was able to do it that Wednesday, April 20th.

Six days later, as I was driving to the hospital to celebrate the birth of my 5th grandchild the Urologist called me on my cell phone and told me that I had a stage 4 tumor in my bladder. My wife and I went and talked to the doctor the next day and scheduled surgery for May 12, 2005.

I had the surgery, recovered and now 15 months later still show no signs of cancer. My doctor told me that my quick action probably saved me from a much more serious situation. The tumor that was removed had not migrated beyond the inner wall of the bladder. This meant that the cancer was contained, and once the bladder (and prostate) were removed the cancer went with it.

My story could be longer, but my point for anyone reading it is that you need to pay attention to what's happening with your body. The Urologist told me that the only sign of bladder cancer is blood in the urine. If it's caught soon enough perhaps the outcome can be a good one such as mine.

Oh, one more thing, the primary cause of bladder cancer is smoking...unfortunetly for me I had been a smoker for about 25 years. I quit 5 years prior to my diagnosis, but it still caught up with me.