u/hikerguy2023

So, starting this month, we will no longer receive a registration card or license plate sticker (but you still must have your car inspected). I would hope all NC law enforcement are aware of the change, but what about law enforcement outside our state? Will they pull us over because our plate is missing a sticker?

FYI: You can still print a copy of your registration card at (or pay $5 to have one sent to you):

ncdmv.gov/registration

My original post is from 3 months ago and isn't as readily visible as it once was, so I thought I'd create a new post every few months so people know this Word doc is available to them.

It contains general info on what to expect related cystoscopies ("cystos"), TURBTs (the procedure to remove tumors), BCG treatment (a common immunotherapy to treat BC), Gem/Doce (chemo drugs to treat BC), a small section about muscle invasive BC, along with resources for new BC patients, the latest BC treatments, common acronyms and some terminology. I also included my timeline at the top of the doc. You can download it here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BladderCancer/comments/1uyk6ye/a_guide_for_newly_diagnosed_bladder_cancer/

I'm getting ready to buy a lumbar hiking pack from them but I've never dealt with them. If anyone has anything good or bad to say about them, please let me know.

Thanks!

About 6 days after round #14, I experienced significant joint pain in my knees and severe stiffness in my legs. I dealt with it for 2 days, then started Methylprednisolone (a 6-day tapered dose). I felt much better after 6 days but still wasn't 100%. It took me about 5 weeks to where I would say I was back to 100%.

I'd like to hear from anyone who experienced an arthrtitic-like response to BCG who decided to continue with BCG and what the outcome was.

If you continued, did the pain and stiffness come back? If so, how many doses did you get through before you experienced this again?

Was the pain/stiffness worse during the re-challenge?

Per subject. I'm looking to buy either T-bills through my brokerage account or 6-month CDs via Ally. Treasury bills (T-bills) pay maybe .5% higher, but you have to actively invest every time the T-bill matures.

Has anyone had any significant issues/problems when buying CDs or issues when the CD matured?

A little background. I (63M) was diagnosed with BC back in March 2025. I went through three TURBTs and 13 rounds of BCG with no major issues. Six days after #14, I started having some knee pain which got worse that night. By the next day I had significant swelling above both needs and could hardly bend my legs. I had to "shuffle" around the house, bracing myself against a chair or wall as I walked. Got put on Methylprednisolone for 6 days which helped quite a bit. However, here I am three weeks later and can't bend my knees too far beyond 90 degrees without feeling a tightness (which I guess is from inflammation). After going through this, I found out that joint pain and arthritis-like symptoms can be a side effect of BCG.

The BCG has definitely done it's job. It did take three TURBTs and 9 rounds to get a clean cysto and I've been clean for 6 months now. I'm just concerned this could happen again and I don't want to have to go through this again. It was pretty rough. And I've seen some people on Reddit that have had these side effects for months.

So, with that in mind, I'd like to hear from people that switched from BCG to gem/doce (Gemcitabine/Docetaxel). Here are some questions I have:

Why did you switch?

Were you tumor free while on BCG before you switched? If so, have you remained tumor free on gem/doce?

If you have remained tumor free on gem/doce, how many years have you remained tumor free?

What are some of the minor side effects you've had from gem/doce?

What are a couple of the major side effects you've had from gem/doce?

Do you regret switching to gem/doce?

When you initially switched, did they immediately start gem/doce, or did they wait until the time you would have had your next BCG treatment to start gem/doce?

From what I'm reading, you start with a 6 week instillation, then go monthly for two years. Is that how your treatment went?

We had started out with SafeMart/LiveWatch back around 2012. Around 2021 they were bought out by Brinks, who continues to raise their rates. Since 2021, it's climbed from $29 to their new rate this month of $50.

We're considering switching but have a few questions before doing so:

Are we overreacting? Is $50 around the going rate for monitoring these days?

We currently have a Qolsys unit (model# IQPanel2). It's using cellular service. We bought this from Brinks, so are we going to have a nightmare having them release this cell# to another provider?

Are there any major pitfalls to watch out for when switching companies? For example, do they enforce a brief "non-monitoring" window to make sure everything is operational and tested before they actively begin monitoring the system?

What is the process to switch providers (high level).

I'd have to convince my wife to do this, but can we just use our QolSys as an "internal alarm system" (i.e. non-monitored) so it will still go off when a sensor is set off, but it won't call the alarm company? We live in a good neighborhood and have neighbors that watch out for each other, but we all no that no neighborhood is immune to crime.

Who are the top 3-5 monitoring companies in the U.S.?

I (63M) completed rounds 12-14 of BCG treatment on July 15. Yesterday when I got up, I noticed my knees ached a bit. As the day progressed, the pain worsened and sometimes I'd feel pain in the hips. By bedtime last time, I was kind of hobbling around the house because of the discomfort. It wasn't a sharp pain. More of an ache all around the knees and sometimes the outer hips. I found that as time progressed, when I bent over, it was painful (kind of in the way when you just don't have flexibility).

I had very mild chills last night when I first went to bed that lasted maybe an 30 minutes. No fever.

Today I'm still finding it somewhat difficult to walk around the house. I manage, but it's not comfortable. My urine still looks straw colored. No other joints ache. I'm able to function, but it's just not comfortable.

Has anyone experienced this after BCG treatment? If so, how long did it last?

I had a post that's been up for 7 months in the r/bladdercancer sub. I added a URL to my post today that was a very long and unusual looking URL (it pointed to a file on OneDrive). I think the filters may have seen this as a bogus link and removed my post. I removed that link since then, but my post still says "Sorry, this post was removed by Reddit’s filters.".

How do I contact Reddit to get this post reinstated? I already reached out to the mods who said there's nothing they can do since Reddit removed the post.

Background: 63M diagnosed last year with Ta HG NMBIC. As of today, I've been tumor free for 6 months.

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Here are my questions:

How many of you have been able to keep your bladder 8+ years after your bladder cancer diagnosis?

If you started on BCG, did they stop after 3 years? I've read that's the typical stopping point.

Did the tumors return a number of years after you had a clean cystoscopy? If so, how big a gap was there where you were tumor free?

Did you have multiple times where you went several years without tumors, but then they appeared again?

This has been going on for a few months, so obviously not a big deal. More of an annoyance. I used to be able to text "text" or images to my email addresses using Textra and Google's messaging app. Now when I do it, it either gives me a Mailer-daemon message or it gives the impression that it sent it (i.e. no error message), but it never reached my email. This is happening to both Gmail and yahoo.

Any ideas why this is happening when it worked in the past? I'm on the Verizon network if that factors into things.

I received a summons today for jury duty for August 26. I have no problem appearing that day, but I have my follow-up cystoscopy on Sept. 3 (where they check to see if tumors have reappeared), then on Sept. 4 I have an MRI to see if I have prostate cancer (elevated PSA recently). Both of these appointments are critical for detecting any further cancer. That's only 6 days between my initial date and Sept. 3.

I'm concerned if I'm selected as a juror I won't be able to make these critical appointments. Would they let me postpone my date due to the issues noted above? I plan on calling Monday but I wanted to see if anyone else has had to deal with something like this.

I received a summons today for jury duty for August 26. I have no problem appearing that day, but I have my follow-up cystoscopy on Sept. 3 (where they check to see if tumors have reappeared), then on Sept. 4 I have an MRI to see if I have prostate cancer (elevated PSA recently). Both of these appointments are critical for detecting any further cancer. That's only 6 days between my initial date and Sept. 3.

I'm concerned if I'm selected as a juror I won't be able to make these critical appointments. Would they let me postpone my date due to the issues noted above? I plan on calling Monday but I wanted to see if anyone else has had to deal with something like this.

Does anyone know why ChatGPT has chosen not to provide some type of Recycle bin for deleted chats? Maybe something that keeps it for 30 days then permanently deletes it.

Per the title. A few I've come across as decent filters are:

Honda OEM

WIX XP

Purolator BOSS

Purolator One

Mobile 1 Extended Performance

I've been playing around with dopus for a few days. While it is extremely customizable, I have a serious question. What exactly are you doing at home or at work that requires this kind of customizability? I'm retired now, but in my 23 years of working as a network engineer (working on routers and switches), I can't think of anything where this would really be useful to me (at work or at home). Explorer was always enough. This just seems way overbuilt.

I'm really curious why you chose dopus over Explorer, and do you use it at home, work, or both? We would never have been allowed to install dopus at work.

I created my original post (link below) six months ago and thought it might be useful to post this again in case people don't come across the original post too easily.

If you're a new bladder cancer patient and want some ideas of what's ahead for you related to cystoscopies, TURBTs and BCG treatment, or if you want to know about some of the newer drugs that are out there, patient resources that are available and some terminology, this document might be helpful to you.

As I state on the link below, I'm not a medical person, just a bladder cancer patient trying to pass along info that you may not have been told by your oncologist or urologist.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BladderCancer/comments/1pxg5d9/comment/orgy3i0/?context=1&screen_view_count=3

For background, my PSA the last 9 years was always right around 2.0. I had my PSA checked in April 2025 and it was 1.94. I started BCG last April as well and have gone through 11 rounds so far.

During my physical in April this year, my PSA jumped to 4.83 (this was three months after my last BCG treatment). My oncologist had me recheck in May and it "dropped" to 4.80 He's now got me set up for an mpMRI in September.

Has anyone seen their PSA jump like this? I know BCG can raise it, but my oncologist thinks it's been long enough where that shouldn't factor into why it's doubled.

If you've had your PSA rise like this, did it ever go back down to your "normal" level? If so, how long did that take?

To start with, I've been treated for bladder cancer since April 2025 and have had two clean cystos this year (meaning no tumors seen in the bladder). On 2/12, I had a CT scan (with and without contrast) to see if the cancer had spread. It had not.

This April during a routine physical, my PSA was tested and it was at 4.8 (I've been at 2.0 the last nine years). A recheck a month later was still at 4.8

I'm now set up for an mpMRI in September. I'm a bit claustrophobic and wanted to ask if they put you in feet first or head first into the MRI? And if feet first, do they still put you in so you're "up to your head" in the tube?