167: Bob Schreiber survived bladder cancer | Cystoscopy | BCG | Ileal Conduit | Replacement Bladder | Neobladder

Blood detected in Bob Schreiber’s urine led to a diagnosis of Stage IV bladder cancer.  This came after a cystoscopy, in which a tube is inserted into his urethra, taking a picture of the bladder.  Twice without success, Bob hoped BCG treatment would address the cancer by instilling a set of chemicals inside the bladder to strengthen the immune system.  As a result, he had to get his bladder removed.  It was replaced with a neobladder, which was made from his small intestine.  His recovery took close to a year, he has to deal with incontinence at night, but would his overall health is about 80 percent of what it was pre-diagnosis.

 

In 2015, Bob’s cancer journey began when a lab tech detected microscopic drops of blood in his urine.  This got the attention of a urologist, who immediately suspected cancer and called for a cystoscopy of Bob’s bladder.  The doctor wanted to make sure there was cancer and that if there was cancer, to make sure it had not spread beyond the muscle of Bob’s bladder.  Thankfully, the cancer had not spread, but the photos from the cystoscopy confirmed Bob Schreiber had Stage IV bladder cancer.

 

Bob was told in terms of treatment, the gold standard is the removal of his bladder, but he learned of a potential remedy called BCG instillation.  Under this procedure, chemicals would be instilled into the bladder to strengthen its immune and defeat the cancer.  Bob and his wife preferred to go this route, but the operation was unsuccessful.

 

They switched hospitals and made a case for a second attempt at BCG instillation, claiming kidney damage that occurred on the first attempt may have compromised the first attempt’s effective.  A new care team went ahead with the second BCG instillation, but it, too, was unsuccessful.  This left Bob with no other option than to have his cancerous bladder removed.

 

Although he could have chosen treatment that would have left him with a bag to collect his urine, he instead went with a neobladder.  That’s a replacement bladder made from his small intestine.  The difficult and dangerous took eight hours.

A day after its conclusion, Bob got up and walked around the hospital floor.  And he walked and he walked and he walked.  By the time he was done, Bob said he had walked about a mile and a half!  Hospital staff had done a better job of bouncing back from this particular surgery than any patient they had ever had.  Whereas many patients remained hospitalized after this procedure for weeks, Bob went back home just four days after the surgery was done.

 

Bob Schreiber said recovery was slow, but he made progress.  He said then, and now, he is able to remain continent during the day but does have incontinence issues at night and has to make trips to the bathroom every three or four hours.

 

Bob says his health is approximately 80 percent of what it was prior to his diagnosis, but he is extremely grateful to be able to chase after his small grandchildren.

 

Additional Resources:

 

Support Group:

 

The Bladder cancer Advocacy Network: https://www.bcan.org