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The report of treatment being trialled that could potentially spare bladder cancer patients life-changing surgery is welcome news (Doctors hail drug that spares bladder cancer patients \u2018life-changing\u2019 surgery, 2 June). Yet readers currently facing surgery that includes removing their bladder are likely to be concerned about the here and now.<\/p>\n
Like Tracey Emin, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2020. Life requires some planning. For example, the paucity of public toilets means mapping alternatives, as bladder bags have much less capacity than a natural bladder. I always carry a spare kit, however; following the advice and guidance of stoma nurse specialists, it is possible to avoid leaks. The Urostomy Association <\/strong>is\u00a0a mine of useful information.<\/p>\n I can again enjoy all-year-round outdoor swimming and walking, and find entertainment venues helpful in booking end-of-row seats with easy access to toilets.<\/p>\n In my experience, being open with colleagues, friends and family (and, if necessary, complete strangers) is massively beneficial. Explaining that wearing a bladder on the outside requires some adjustments is nothing to be embarrassed about.<\/p>\n To those facing bladder surgery, I say: don\u2019t despair \u2013 it is life\u2011changing, but manageable and,\u00a0crucially, life-saving. Have an opinion on anything you\u2019ve read in the Guardian today? Please <\/em><\/strong>email<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/strong>us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our <\/em><\/strong>letters<\/em><\/strong> section.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The report of treatment being trialled that could potentially spare bladder cancer patients life-changing surgery is welcome news (Doctors hail drug that spares bladder cancer patients \u2018life-changing\u2019 surgery, 2 June). Yet readers currently facing surgery that includes removing their bladder are likely to be concerned about the here and now. Like Tracey Emin, I was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50060,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[10142,654,1476,24686],"class_list":{"0":"post-50059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-bladder","9":"tag-cancer","10":"tag-patients","11":"tag-reassurance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Gail Cartmail<\/strong>
London<\/em><\/p>\n