How To Help A Loved One Cope With Bladder Cancer

How can I help a loved one cope with bladder cancer?

Patients with bladder cancer face a number of unique challenges. One, is that they have to confront the diagnosis of the cancer, which is not that different from any of the other cancers, but they will have to cope with this diagnosis much longer than patients with other typical solid tumors such as breast, lung, colon, or prostate, because of the natural history of the disease. They need that support because recurrences tend to be frequent, and each time the patients come into the office and they've had a couple of negative examinations, they expect that they're cured, and they're very disappointed when 8 months later, or 12 or 16 months later, they're facing another recurrence - this tends to be a repetitive cycle. What's also different for bladder cancer, is that when patients face the decision to undergo a radical cystectomy for removal of the bladder, the urinary tract has to be reconstituted, and some of them will require an ostomy. There are lots of issues with body image, having a permanent ostomy, a permanent collection device associated, that these couples actually have to deal with. Finally, patients who pick some of these newer surgical alternatives, with the creation of a new bladder that is stitched down into the urethra, and reconnected to the urethra, have to relearn how to urinate because the bowel is not made to store or evacuate urine. They have to learn how to catheterize themselves initially, and they have to learn how to void by straining. A lot of the attention has been directed to men, who undergo cystectomy, and it's clear that these men face a very high risk of having either partial or total erectile dysfunction, or sexual dysfunction. More recently, sexual function in women undergoing cystectomy has also been addressed, and there certainly is significant sexual dysfunction in women who undergo cystectomy as well. Those needs have to be anticipated, addressed and attended to.