My Bladder Cancer came back... AGAIN!

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:06]Hi everyone, welcome to the channel.

[00:00:07]This is Beyond Authentic Health where we're documenting our health, well-being, and weight loss journeys.

[00:00:12]And beyond. I'm Lisa. I'm Rufus. And today's video is a little bit different.

[00:00:16]Today we're not talking about our weight loss journeys, we're talking about my cancer journey, really. Um, and where I am at the moment and what is coming up.

[00:00:27]So then, uh, you're going to have to fill me in with dates and things cuz if you're new here, I've got ADHD and my brain does not function in terms of time. So, this could have happened 2 months ago, it could have happened 2 years ago. It was longer than that, but there.

[00:00:46]So anyway, in 2022, and I know it was 2022 because I've got it on the notes from yesterday's hospital appointment, Wednesday's hospital appointment. See, already don't know what day it is. So in 2021, I went to the doctor in late 2021 because I was having recurrent thrush, basically. Now, as a type 2 diabetic, it basically means that my blood and also my urine has quite a high lot of sugar, or did at the time. Even though we were on Slimming World before, but we were doing it differently, all of that.

[00:01:16]Anyway, so I went to the doctor, they referred me on to the urology team, and the guy basically had a look, we we talked about options and all of that.

[00:01:29]And then as we were about to leave, he says, "Is there anything else that's worrying you?" Mhm. And I said, "Well, not really worrying." I said, "But I'm assuming it's from the thrush." I said, "Because every now and then, I get like a little tiny what looks like a tiny little scab in my wee." And I said, "It's literally like a grain of ground salt or a grain of ground pepper, like a little tiny black spot." I said, "And I've been noticing it." I said, "It's not every time, it's not even every day or every week. I said, "But, I've taken to peeing in a jug in the morning and just checking if there's one in there."

[00:02:05]Um I said, "You know, that's probably from the thrush, isn't it?" And he went, "No.

[00:02:11]No, I I don't think it is." So, he said, "Right, we'll send you for a Was it a CT scan and an x-ray, wasn't it? Of my my abdomen, I guess.

[00:02:24]Um and they said, "Oh, if there's anything that is amiss, we'll contact you and we're sending you for a cystoscopy, which is a camera into the urethra into the bladder."

[00:02:39]Um long story short, 3 months later, I hadn't heard anything. This is now 2022 and um on the phone, randomly rang up the doctors, doing my usual January thing of, "Right, I've probably forgotten a ton of stuff. Let's see if there's anything outstanding." And she said, um the receptionist said, "Oh, you missed an appointment." I said, "No, I never.

[00:02:59]For what?" "Oh, for a cystoscopy." I said, "No, I I was told I would hear from you and I I haven't or from them and I haven't heard anything."

[00:03:08]>> in mind, this is the time of, you know, the big C, like >> COVID. The other yeah, COVID times, the other C, yeah.

[00:03:16]Um so, basically, anyway, long story short, it had been sent but hadn't been sent or hadn't turned up or hadn't Whatever, we're not sure what happened.

[00:03:26]>> a letter anyway, so.

[00:03:28]So, I then got sent for a cystoscopy. You were down looking after your mom and dad at the time, weren't you? Because things were were happening where down there.

[00:03:38]And literally, they put the camera in through the urethra, looked at the bladder, and there were lots of fingers, I call them.

[00:03:48]Um basically, I had bladder cancer. And what it looks like is the undulating um parts of a sea anemone. So, the thing in um Finding Nemo, yeah, that Nemo and his dad live in, that anemone. Well, so it kind of does this. It's like coral reef, but it it undulates with the tide. That is basically what it looked like in my bladder. And he said, "Oh, yeah, that's bladder cancer." And I was like, "Okay."

[00:04:18]Uh okay.

[00:04:20]And because you were away, you'd rung me, or I'd rung you later that day and said, "Oh, it's all okay. Everything is okay." And it wasn't until you came back up, was it? And I went, "So, I might have fibbed a little bit, and when I said it was all okay, turns out I do actually have cancer, and I've got to go in and get some treatment."

[00:04:40]>> Yeah. So, went in, had it It's called a TURBT, which is a uh transurethral something something something. Don't remember all the words.

[00:04:50]But basically, they go in, they laser it off, and under a general anesthetic. So, laser it all off, and then put a It's called MMC, but it's basically chemotherapy liquid. Put that into my bladder, leave it, and then sluice it out. So, they did that. They sent me home the same day. Uh I continued to bleed really badly, had lots and lots of problems, got back into hospital the uh following day um via casualty.

[00:05:21]Was up all night, went to casualty, and they kept me in. Lots of more problems, really really difficult healing, really really difficult process. Um But why why was >> But But why was that? Because when they when they removed with a laser bits, obviously, from the bladder wall, you've then got to pass all of that by yourself. They don't it doesn't just get flushed straight out of your bladder No. after the treatment?

[00:05:49]And there was a lot of bleeding and scabbing afterwards then. I could I couldn't pass.

[00:05:55]>> larger pieces.

[00:05:56]>> Very large pieces. But anyway, we weren't going into that. We weren't going into that. There was a whole lot of stuff that happened after. And basically meant that I was in hospital for 4 days and and then I went home and then there was literally what? How long did it take me to properly heal? Maybe about 4 more weeks?

[00:06:11]Yeah, they they did say after about 2 weeks that you might start getting little bits um scabbing coming away, yeah. After that, 3-monthly check-up for I think that was the first year. Then it went to 6-monthly. Then I was on once a year.

[00:06:26]So, Yeah. after nearly 3 years um all the results being absolutely clean, nice no sign of anything, we were almost at the okay, after 5 years it's like I haven't had it. So, we're getting on for that process. Everything's going fine.

[00:06:42]And then the cystoscopy was due in the say November. Um and it would have been September time and I said to you, "Oh, I think I need to go get checked. It it it feels You feel differently or something?

[00:06:58]>> It feels like a flutter. And that's the only way I've ever been able to describe it. It feels like a butterfly wing. It's just sort of you know when they open up and they just flutter in the wind. It felt like that inside the bladder. Now, again, specialists have told me you can't feel your bladder. That isn't a thing.

[00:07:17]But But we'll we'll crack on with that story in a second. But anyway, so turned out the bladder cancer had come back, very early stage. So, they uh again in quick laser this time under a a local anesthetic. So, straight in, zap zap zap and I was out. Um and that was it, wasn't it? And >> Well, so this this was the one that when I saw looked like what you see when you put a light up to a fertilized egg.

[00:07:46]>> Yes. Um, so you just see the little blood vessels and stuff like that.

[00:07:49]>> that's all it looked like. Um, but it was enough for them to say, "Ah, it's coming back. It's trying to get a foothold. Let's get rid of it before it can get a chance."

[00:07:57]So, that was 6 months ago or about 8 months ago now. Um, and then the first 6-monthly checkup came and it came back already and that's where we are now. So, um again, at this point when we had the cystoscopy, it was just the Was it two little dots or three little dots where it looked like blood vessels were going to something?

[00:08:21]>> Three little dots, but they looked like if you could imagine what succulent little plants, those little tiny ones that grow around little rocks.

[00:08:31]But, kind of nearly see-through they were this time. Tiny little raised little bits.

[00:08:36]>> little bits, yeah. So, again, off we go.

[00:08:40]Um and that was what? Nearly a month ago? Yeah.

[00:08:44]So, in the meantime, my MDT met, which is the multi-disciplinary team, um, looking at how best to treat this. So, on Wednesday I had the appointment. I went in at Supposed to be half four.

[00:08:56]Yes. So, I was all set for half four.

[00:08:58]So, milling about during the day trying to not clock watch thinking, "Right, when you get to about 3:00, I'm going to get the old lady shaver out, shave my legs so they're nice and done. There's no stubble bits. There's There's, you know, nice bit of deforestation going on if you get what I'm saying. Everything's nice.

[00:09:15]And at about quarter to three, half two, quarter to three >> They rang.

[00:09:20]>> Got a phone call. "Hello, is that Lisa?"

[00:09:23]Yes. "Oh, well, um, the doctors are asking if you can come in early because we've got some spacing and uh so, if you can get here as soon as you can, you'll be seen and probably out the door before half three before half four."

[00:09:36]So, I we go, "Okay, yeah, can be on our way." Literally in the car I go, "Oh my god, I haven't shaved me legs." Never mind, right. So, anyway, off we go. Same thing, except when the camera went in this time round, it wasn't just the little spots that we'd seen, there were actual parts of the cancer visible, if that makes sense. And the only way I can describe it this time round is it's like if you see the slow motion of leaves when they've been germinated and they they pop out of the seed, there's a little tiny bit that pops out and then it's all curled under and then it slowly opens up. Yeah.

[00:10:17]It looked like it was slowly opening up.

[00:10:19]So, and there were two or three patches of that.

[00:10:24]So, they lasered it off and I said to them, um I said I'd known.

[00:10:30]I said I knew it had changed cuz again I said to you last week, I I can feel a flatness. Something has changed again. And I said this to the surgeon who said, "Oh, no. No, no. No, no, you can't feel your bladder. That's that's not possible." And I said, "Well, it might not be possible Oops. It might not be possible as far as you're concerned, but as far as I'm concerned, I could feel it. 100% I felt it."

[00:10:53]And he said, "Oh, well, that might be something like spooky going on then, psychic ability or something." I said, "No, no, I'm just very aware of my body." But anyway, interestingly, as they're lasering me and going quite firm and lasering off the layers to get all of the the cancer cells and all of the roots, >> [snorts] >> Excuse me.

[00:11:18]Interestingly, as they're lasering me and going over the area multiple times to get all of it gone, um I could feel it and I was like, "Oh, that's a little bit painful, actually."

[00:11:29]And it was like, "Yep, no, I can definitely feel that." Same guy that's said you can't feel your bladder. Um So, anyway, that was on Wednesday.

[00:11:37]Everything went fine. They got rid of it all.

[00:11:40]They did find more in there than they were expecting again.

[00:11:44]That's the story of my life, isn't it?

[00:11:46]But When we've looked online for a bit more information, they they do say that you should have somebody that you can talk to like a bladder nurse or somebody specialist.

[00:11:58]>> bladder cancer nurse. Yeah.

[00:12:00]As of yet, you don't have one still.

[00:12:02]>> No. Fell through the cracks on that. So, anyway, that's a whole other discussion that we'll we'll get into with the the hospital. Where we are right now is 2 days ago I had the laser treatment. I've got to wait about 3 weeks for the bladder to heal from that before I'll then get sent an appointment to go in for the MMC, which is once again, that's the chemo liquid. And basically, it's the same stuff that they give you if you've got a different type of cancer.

[00:12:33]But, instead of going through your bloodstream, this one literally gets pumped straight into the bladder. And if you imagine the inside of a balloon, it will destroy anything that's on that inside of the balloon, whether it's healthy cells or unhealthy cells will all get kind of wiped away.

[00:12:50]And so, yeah, it means I could be prone to all sorts of other conditions, urinary infections, and things for a little while. So, say you'll probably have to drink more fluid than you have been just to try and keep your bladder full. Yeah.

[00:13:08]At the moment, I try and do between 2 to 2 and 1/2 L of fluid a day. With as soon as the MMC's done, that might have to go to 2 and 1/2 to 3 just to make sure that the bladder's constantly being flushed out. And this is the chemical where if I, for some reason, get a a spot it touches my skin, I've got to wash it off immediately. It's quite a toxic chemical that they put in, um, which is why if you have it intravenously in your bloodstream, it's why your hair falls out and all those other complications that people get with chemo. Um, but luckily it is only it's contained within the bladder. Um, so after that I go back to three-monthly checks and we go back to the fingers crossed that it hasn't come back. Um, but I am >> did it did keep it away for 3 years.

[00:14:01]Yeah, yeah, well, two two and a half years. Yeah, I mean it's going to be one of those things where bladder cancer is probably not going to kill me, not at this stage, especially with getting all of the three-monthly and then six-monthly checks before we go to the year because at those intervals if anything is regrowing, it's spotted nice and early, go back in, another get rid.

[00:14:27]Um, so and we can do that pretty much indefinitely. There are some limits depending on, you know, your scarring and lots of other things that that could affect it, but as long as I remain relatively healthy, um, in myself, then you know, we should be good to keep it at bay.

[00:14:47]Um, and again with those six-monthly, three-monthly and six-monthly checks, it would just keep an eye on it. Uh, so effectively it's going like my diabetes, which as long as I'm doing everything I'm supposed to do, stay off the sugar for in terms of diabetes, >> it's sort of like living as a healthy lifestyle, then it should, you know, it should be a manageable illness.

[00:15:10]>> Did they say they said, you know, "Have you ever smoked?" Oh, yeah.

[00:15:14]>> Or have you know, they're like And even the the surgeon today when he was looking at it and I said, "Oh, that's a lot bigger than it was." me. He said to me, "Have smoked?" And I said, "Yeah, I did for quite a while." And he was like, "Right, okay." And I could tell it was one of those, "This is why it's it's so prevalent and so determined to come back." May is bladder cancer awareness month and that's something that is really important to highlight. This is from Fight Bladder Cancer, which is one of the two bladder cancer charities in the UK. For those of you that can't see, this poster says, "We're the only things that make your pee burn." And it's a picture of two chili peppers.

[00:15:57]And it says, "Frequent urinary tract infections, UTIs, not responding to antibiotics, contact your GP practice or 111. Early diagnosis saves lives."

[00:16:07]Lives, absolutely. So, that's why #peeaware, p e e a w a r e. Do you not think though that this is also one of the cancers that people don't really hear about? I think a lot of people don't hear about it. 20,000 people a year are diagnosed in the UK. Most of them older people.

[00:16:24]So, in their late 60s and 70s onward. It's very uncommon for someone as as young and new bio as me to get it.

[00:16:36]Um I I was first diagnosed in my mid just about 40s.

[00:16:42]Um so, yeah, it's quite uncommon for that to happen. It can happen and it can happen even younger than that. So, this is why campaigns like this are important. These posters, by the way, are now in a lot of motorway service station toilets up and down the UK. So, if you see one, take note of it. Um there is another one.

[00:17:02]And again, this one's really important as well. So, we've got a beetroot and it says, "I'm not the only thing that changes the color of your pee. Look down. The color of your pee matters.

[00:17:12]Red, pink, orange, or brown pee, even just once, contact your GP practice or 111. And again, this is really important, that first speck of ground black pepper that I saw in my urine, and I saw it a couple of times, that element was what basically tipped the urology um department, the urologist, to send me for testing for this. Otherwise, you might not have known.

[00:17:37]>> No.

[00:17:38]So, it doesn't have to be that you've got red pee or brown pee. Anything that is even slightly different, remotely different, speak to your GP about it. And then the other um poster that we've got here says It's got a picture of a runner bean in trainers. Are you running for a pee more than usual?

[00:17:58]Question mark. And then it says, "Urgently running for a pee? Contact your GP practice or 111." Now again, with all of these, there could be all sorts of other reasons that these that is is affecting you, right? So, it could be more If you're more urgently needing a pee, it could be 101 other things. One of them could be >> it's bladder cancer. But also, if you've ever had any other treatment and then had a catheter in, often that people find it irritates your urethra afterwards. And also, sometimes you can get a little bit of urgency from that. But yeah. Can do this. With With most medical conditions, there are a lot of different things that could be causing it. These are just highlighting some for bladder cancer, because again, as I said, 20,000 people are diagnosed every year. If you're diagnosed early, as I was, it basically becomes very, very survivable.

[00:18:54]If you're diagnosed late, then it's a whole other story. If I had left it much longer, it would have put down those roots, and it could be a much different story. I could be sitting here now without a bladder, or I could be having secondary conditions happening and secondary cancers happening. Touch wood, it was caught soon enough that that isn't going to be a factor.

[00:19:17]Um and certainly both times it's come back it's relatively early stage. And certainly both times it's come back it's at the very earliest stage of being spotted, which means the treatment is minimal. It's not comfortable. It's a bit embarrassing getting your bits out for someone and it's you know, there's a couple of days of recovery after the laser and certainly after the chemo there'd be a couple of days of recovery.

[00:19:42]But it's minimal compared to having to have my bladder removed or whatever. There's a lot of other things that could happen.

[00:19:51]So, that's where I am in my bladder cancer story. So, again we just wanted to make a quick video.

[00:19:58]Um I've got to say I would not have been able to get through this journey without Rufus cuz you I mean I'm quoting if you're going to quote anyone, I guess quote a princess. But you are absolutely my rock in all of this.

[00:20:13]Um I wouldn't have been able to get through this treatment without you. And um and also without the NHS here in England I'm incredibly blessed that this is happening in a country where we have free health care um and not somewhere else where you got to pay thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars because that could impact how quickly you go for a checkup and how how often you go for a cystoscopy. So, thankfully I am you know, able to basically go oops, something feels different. Let's see if I can bring that forward a little bit and let's go get checked now.

[00:20:47]So, I'm very grateful for that. But yeah, whatever else is happening, please do have a look online for the resources from Fight Bladder Cancer and Action Bladder Cancer UK. I'll put links to both those charities down in the comment section and in the description.

[00:21:03]Now, both those charities they work slightly differently and it's there's an interesting dynamic between them. I'm not quite sure sure what the story behind the scenes is, but they're two distinctly different charities working in two distinctly different ways. But as a patient they both offer different things for me, basically.

[00:21:25]Um we are now we've opened up memberships on the channel and we've decided that for May any money that the channel makes through ad revenue or through the memberships, all that will go between those two charities, Action Bladder Cancer UK and Fight Bladder Cancer. We're also doing some car boot sales, aren't we?

[00:21:41]>> Yeah. Um and raising money that way.

[00:21:44]Yeah. So if you want to watch the video more than once, that would be really They would. As a certain supermarket says, every little helps. So any um thumbs up you can do on the channel as well. So especially on this video and yeah, thumbs up, share it. Share the video to other people as well. So >> Yeah, share the video, hype the video if you're able to do that. Um all of those lovely things really do help get um the message across because again 20,000 people diagnosed, a lot of those people are diagnosed later on when the symptoms are really, really obvious. In the early stages, you could put it down to 101 other things. One of the things that we really want to get across though is normalize looking at your pee because you'll be able to find what your normal colors are, you'll be able to see, "Oh, I only had two drinks yesterday so I was a little bit dehydrated or thirsty and my pee is this color." Or "Oh my gosh, why is it bright red? Oh, well I did have a beetroot salad yesterday, that's probably why."

[00:22:43]You'll be able to see what your normal is and then if anything happens, if anything changes, if it's darker, if it's a changing color, if you've got spots in it, single spot of blood, ring your GP. But just without fail, ring your GP.

[00:22:55]>> you know, they say one in every three will you know, in their life will have cancer. So, you if it's not you, it'll be someone else that you know, another family member or a friend or somebody.

[00:23:09]Um so, never think, you know, oh, you know, you're never going to get cancer or, you know, it'll always be someone else. Yeah. And the thing is, if you've ever smoked in your life, you are at a much higher risk of bladder cancer, and smoking is one of the main causes of bladder cancer. I'm not saying that everybody who smokes is going to get it, cuz of course not.

[00:23:30]But, most people that have developed bladder cancer have also smoked at some point in their lives. Um but, that doesn't mean if you're a non-smoker, you don't need to check. Again, normalize looking at your wee. Look down in the toilet pan or pee into a jug once a once a week even to normalize what it looks like for you. This is where we've got to be proactive in our own health.

[00:23:51]>> But, also, I'd say if you're someone that's had someone at at home that's smoked, second-hand smoke is probably just as bad.

[00:23:58]Um >> be, yeah. So, yeah. So, yeah, just be really careful, you know, with keeping on top of all these things. Exactly. And then, as I say, for my journey, I carry on. We we haven't skipped a live stream.

[00:24:13]I I streamed on Wednesday night.

[00:24:15]Um we haven't skipped a live stream.

[00:24:17]When I was first diagnosed, I did a makeup tutorial from the hospital bed.

[00:24:21]That's probably on the channel somewhere. You did. Um yeah, we just keep going. And again, >> all night because they kept like having to give you fluids and things, didn't they? Let's not revisit that. It's that's a whole horror story, that one.

[00:24:33]It was a little bit, wasn't It was a horror story. But, anyway, I am absolute proof that you can be diagnosed with bladder cancer, recurrent bladder cancer, and it not cause a massive change in your life as long as you stay on top of things. And I guess that's where That's a good point to end the video on. If you'd like to make a donation to the two bladder cancer charities, but don't really want to be a member of the channel, that's more than okay. Honestly, we're not going to hold it against anyone, are we? No. But, we have set up a buy me a coffee. It's buymeacoffee.com/beyondauthentic and you can donate there. There'll be a link there specifically that you can donate to the two bladder cancer charities. Any money we make there will be split equally between Action Bladder Cancer UK and Fight Bladder Cancer.

[00:25:19]Again, the more often I say those two charity names, the more, um, hopefully, you'll remember that name if anyone you ever come across experiences any bladder issues. If you do put it in and want to donate, it's beyondauthentic all together with that space in the middle.

[00:25:37]Yeah, all one word. All one word. So, that's it from us. Thanks ever so much for watching. If you haven't done already, please give this video a massive thumbs up. It really helps us out with the algorithm. Why not have a look at that subscribe button?

[00:25:48]Subscribing is absolutely free and also tells YouTube that you would like more of our content. And you can also, as we said, go and become a member. And you can also do this thing called hyping.

[00:25:59]Nobody quite knows what this does. It It's a thing. Don't know what it does. I hype a lot of videos.

[00:26:05]>> Does it help share our videos to other people?

[00:26:07]>> I've got no idea. It might do. But, share this to YouTube. Share it to your friends. If you know anyone who has ever experienced any form of urinary issue, share it to them as well. Um, because, again, the more people that talk or the more people that know about bladder cancer, the more early diagnoses this is there will be and the more survivors we'll have. But, anyway, thanks ever so much, everyone. Thanks for watching. And as always, be happy, be healthy, be authentic. And we'll see you next time.

[00:26:36]We certainly will. Bye-bye.