Dual Cancer Diagnosis

I was diagnosed with bladder cancer (papillary urothelial carcinoma) in November 2017 at age 54. I had a TURBT in November and another in December that indicated I had a high-grade tumor that took up about half the space inside my bladder.

Aggressive treatment

Based largely on the size of the tumor, I was told my chance of recurrence was high so chose to be aggressive. I had a robotically assisted radical cystoprostatectomy with neobladder in January 2018. The resulting pathology revealed that I also had prostate cancer which had been previously undiagnosed. The good news is that the cancer was contained within the prostate which was removed as part of my surgery.

Two-cancer survivor

While all of our cancer journeys are at least somewhat unique, most of us will also have a lot of common experiences, emotions, and concerns. I have found that sharing with and learning from each other is both therapeutic and rewarding. I am now a 3+ year cancer survivor and give a lot of credit to two men who spoke with me before and after my surgery about their cancer experiences. They had no motive other than to share their story in hopes that they may make my journey just a little easier. Because of this, they openly shared the good, the bad, and the ugly about their experiences. Their information and insight was so valuable and reassuring to me. I am paying it forward by making myself available to chat with other men who may be faced with similar situations and choices to me.

Talking to others to share experience

I especially like talking with people who have been recently been diagnosed with cancer and/or their caregivers. I feel most helpful talking about important decisions you will be making about treatment, helping people mentally prepare for surgery, or talking about urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

If you would like to talk, please friend me so we can share contact information and schedule a time that will work well for both of us to speak. My wife is also available to speak with people from the caregiver's perspective. We live on the West Coast and are available most evenings after 6p or just about any weekend. Please let us know how we can help.

Scott