The Beginning

Some of you may know that for the past two years, Dave has been navigating the recurrence of blood clots thought to be brought on by COVID. After completing an initial six months of treatment on a blood thinner, Dave was able to go back off of them, assured by his cardiologist and vascular surgeon, that the blood clots in his leg and lungs had calcified and no longer posed a risk. 

Unfortunately, a new blood clot was found in Dave’s leg in early August of this year, and he needed to restart a blood thinner once more.

Less than two weeks later, Dave experienced a severe bleed that landed him in the ER. What we all thought was a urinary tract infection, exacerbated by his blood thinners, turned out to be much more than any of us bargained for.

After four days at Highland Park Hospital, Dave was released with an appointment to meet with a urologist the next day. During that appointment, his urologist took a biopsy of a nodule found on his bladder.

A few days later, Dave received the results of the biopsy: cancer

The Surgery + Consultation

Dave underwent a Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor (TURBT) on Wednesday, September 3rd, at Highland Park Hospital. When his urologist came out to speak with us, he told us that the tumor had been removed, and plot twist! Dave had never had a UTI at all! The cancer caused his bleeding, and his surgeon had been able to identify and stop that ongoing bleed. He also said that while they found more cancer in his bladder than they expected to, it all seemed superficial and still suggested an early stage. 

He was at least half correct.

A week later, Dave received the pathology results. 

High-grade, aggressive, muscle-invasive bladder cancer.