My mother (85) may have bladder cancer. How long can we expect no real pain or discomfort?

Sorry, didn't read all the posts so sorry if I repeat.
Both my parents had bladder cancer. This can be a quite cancer but my parents saw blood in their urine. It is cureable if found early. The chemo, live Thurberculosis virus, is put directly into the bladder. Then the person has to turn to side, back, side and back every few minutes. Everytime they use the toilet it must be cleaned completely with bleach since virus is live. The problem comes in when the cancer goes thru the bladder lining. Then surgery maybe needed. So, it needscto be determined how far its progressed and that is done by a scope.

I wasn't elderly when I had 5% odds to survive ovarian cancer. But garlic kills a cancer cell in 3 hrs - I use 2 cloves in my meal for prevention. I took garlic, Shiitake Mushroom, Siberian Ginseng (helped with my stomach too during chemo), and other herbs that help fight cancer. I've learned that Vit. C and D3 also fight cancer - forget the other two. I don't know about the stage or chemo when elderly. But I survived the impossible. You can do a search on herbs that fight cancer & be sure they don't interact with meds she is on. - My faith and prayers for me helped too - ElaineNY

HunnyBub, there are times when it doesn't pay to tell someone everything that's being done. And it's for their benefit. Your GM doesn't need to worry about anything more; sounds like she's had enough complications these last several months.

On the issue of repeated UTIs, you mentioned a local doctor. You might want to ask if an infectious disease doctor can be brought in on consult. My father's last two hospitalizations have involved sepsis; each time a highly rated, very good (and also very personable) infectious disease doctor was consulted; he solved the problem.

And talk privately with the attending physician and raise your questions, asking if there are noninvasive ways to test for bladder cancer. (I don't know if a biopsy would be necessary or not, but there might be some blood work that could suggest the presence of cancer cells. I'm just not that knowledgeable on bladder cancer.)

I understand the issue with treatments; we made that decision when my mother was D'x'ed with breast cancer in her 80's. There is a value in knowing though, so that (a) you can identify symptoms and when/if they accelerating or intensifying and (b) you can understand if behavioral changes (such as depression) occur and (c) you won't be wondering what else might be occurring physically.

Hi, i was just wondering what the symptoms are in the elderly of bladder cancer? My nan has had about 8 UTI's in just this year, last year she had them all the time too. This time she has been in hospital with it for about 6 weeks so far because it went into blood system but she now has chest infection too so not very well. Still has the UTi too after 3 days of it clearing up. The local doctor before this was going to check for it and do more tests but as Jeanne said up there nan wouldn't do any of the treatments she said so so we haven;t had that type of test.

RaineP, it depends on if the bladder cancer is very slow moving or not.

My Mom had bladder cancer and she would see the urologist every year.   My Mom was 90 at the time.... her doctor told me that the cancer won't kill her, it will be something else.   He was right.   My Mom had passed at 98 due to complications from a fall.

If your Mom's doctor says the cancer is very slow moving, then I would focus on Mom's other health issues, such as her knees.   There is now a gel that can be placed in the knees to help bone on bone knee pain.

Some cancer treatments are easier than others. And some aches and pains are more of a hassle than bad enough to make life not worth living. I would not rule out either course of action without a lot more information. But, no, it is not wrong to limit treatment if it will be a huge burden with little payoff in either quantity or quality of life.

If your mother is 100% mentally competent, then this would have to be her decision.

My mother in her late 80s declined to have further tests to confirm whether she had cancer or not. She told the doctor, "I would refuse to have treatment, so what does it matter if we know the diagnosis for certain? I have had a good long life. I am going to die of something. If it is from cancer, so be it." The doctor respected that decision, as did her children.

Other competent adults would make very different decisions.

If your mother wants to talk through her options and her feelings about them, perhaps you can be a sounding board for her. Her decisions should drive what comes next.