30 M - Referred for an urgent TURBT
Well, after years of chronic pain I was getting back to work, getting my life back on track as a now single parent and I thought I'd address some health issues I had put on the back burner while managing the chronic pain. One of the things to manage was stomach issues.
So I changed GP and she was really on top of things, sent me for an ultrasound of my whole abdomen which showed a complex cyst on a kidney. To get a better look she sent me for a urinary tract ultrasound and I knew something was wrong when they spent 45 minutes, got their supervisor and asked if I've had any symptoms like pain, blood etc.
A couple of weeks later, my urologist told me it's almost certainly cancer and I've been a bit of a mess. I know the likelihood is that it will be just cut out and then we play whack-a-mole with cystoscopies from here on out, but the likelihood for someone like me who doesn't fit any of the risk factors at 29 we picked this up. I'm trying not to worry so much but I'm struggling.
Fortunately my boss is incredibly supportive as he is battling his own cancer. I just feel so alone and exhausted since finding out yesterday. I prepared for the worst, hoped for the best, got the worst. I can't do it again. I've read so much about TURBT, different types of bladder cancers, everything.
It doesn't comfort me that the prognosis is generally pretty damn good, especially with an almost symptomless incidental finding. Because the statistics haven't been kind to me so far, why would it change now?
Sorry for the ramble, thanks for hearing me out.