Or try something less invasive that would not "cure" my cancer but allow me to enjoy the summer with my two young kids?
I'd first been diagnosed with Stage 3 bladder cancer in mid-2020.
Bladder removal — the medical term is cystectomy, and about 25% of bladder cancer patients end up undergoing this procedure — means living with a "diversion," a kind of tube that routes urine out of your body.
I didn't want to be the sick dad who couldn't show up to ball games and chorus concerts, who couldn't go on hikes or bike rides.
As a journalist, I had no fear of calling up random doctors who were practicing a newer technique called "bladder preservation," even in complex cases of bladder cancer, as mine was, using combinations of drugs and surveillance.
Persons:
I'd, we'd, they're, couldn't, didn't, You've, —, — we'll