My Journey with Bladder Cancer

“Given your age and active lifestyle, the chances of this being something bad are extremely low,’’ the urologist said in his North Miami office that early Friday morning. As he spoke, my eyes slowly traveled over the bright orange anatomical diagrams of the bladder, kidney and prostate that decorated the wall of the sterile exam room. I wondered, which organ was releasing those mysterious red specks? And what could be wrong with me that I was given this referral?

Still, his eyes brimmed with kindness. He radiated a calmness which in turn made me feel somewhat at ease especially when he said, "You don't fit the profile for bladder cancer." I jotted his words down on my note pad. Then he ordered additional tests.

That was just over a year ago, the beginning of my journey with bladder cancer. May is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month and I'm sharing the experience with the hope that others may learn about early detection and noticing the tiniest of symptoms. My close circle of friends have strongly encouraged me to share my experience in case someone out there is going through what I went through. ( I also tend to overshare.)

MY JOURNEY BEGAN WITH RED SPECKS

I could hardly see the speck. Like a red stray piece of confetti, it swirled down inside the toilet bowl. I thought, maybe I strained a muscle from running?  I was always dehydrated from my two to three mile runs.  And I had a physical a few weeks before so I knew everything was fine. So I didn’t think much of the dot and mentally filed it away.

A few days later, it happened again.  A red dot. And then another speck here and there in the following days. I wasn’t in pain or anything.  I thought, maybe inflammation in my bladder or kidneys?

But when my urine streamed bright red on an August Friday afternoon, I panicked. My heart raced. I called my primary doctor and she made time to see me that Monday. I had also snapped photos with my smartphone of my urine to show her exactly what I saw.

“Johnny, that’s not a little blood. That’s a lot. I don’t like what I am seeing there, ‘’ she said that Monday and immediately ordered a urine sample.

Two days later on my commute to work, she called with the results: microscopic red blood cells were present in the urine.

“They shouldn’t be there,’’ she said. During my drive to work, I cringed, rubbed my forehead and frantically wondered, what is going on?

MORE TESTS

That call led to an ultrasound of my kidneys and bladder and the referral to an urologist.

Days flowed into a new month, September. An ultrasound revealed some thing, about three centimeters or so, inside my bladder.  My doctor said it was difficult to tell what it was exactly.

My heart pounded in my ears. I held back the tears as I spoke to her from a conference room at work that Tuesday afternoon. She reminded me again to make an appointment with the recommended urologist. I already had and it was for the following week.

YOU DON'T FIT THE PROFILE
When I met the urologist,  I described the symptoms. We talked about the ultrasound report which he said could be read wrong. He wanted to do more testing.

His calm and friendly demeanor comforted my frazzled nerves.

When he explained that I didn’t fit the profile of someone with bladder cancer, time seemed to stop for me. I had never thought about bladder cancer. I really didn’t know what it was. I told myself, nah, that's not me. This has to be something else like a kidney stone or something.