But here we were, it felt amazing and a little bit too good to be true! A week or so later I had some bleeding which promoted us to take a trip to our GP. She told us it was probably nothing to worry about but refereed us to the EPU for an early scan just to put our minds at rest.
At 7 weeks pregnant we had our early scan. It really was the most amazing feeling to see that tiny little heartbeat flashing away on the screen. We went back to the waiting room so relieved and excited to share our amazing news.
Unfortunately our celebrations were short lived as we were called back into another room soon after. Neither of us could have predicted what was going to happen next, it was a bit like being hit with a sledge hammer as the doctor explained to us that the sonographer had found a mass in my bladder during the scan. They couldn't confirm cancer at this stage but they weren’t ruling it out either. Whatever it was they knew it shouldn't be there.
We left the hospital feeling totally shell shocked and headed home to try and makes sense of everything we had just heard.
The next few weeks were a blur of hospital appointments, scans and tests and I must confess quite a lot of google research. A cystoscopy at 10 weeks confirmed bladder cancer and I was told that surgery was the only option.
As terrifying as it was to be pregnant through all of this I received the best possible care from so many doctors, nurses and midwives. Each one reassuring me in their own way that they were doing everything they could to ensure treatment would be as safe as possible for me and the baby.
The safest time to do the operation would be after the 12 week mark which gave doctors a little while to prepare. A senior team was assembled and a special machine was brought in from another hospital. On Monday 14th of May I had surgery, fully conscious with spinal anaesthetic. We decided this would be the safest option for the baby and sure enough as soon as I was out of theatre and in recovery I was allowed to listen to it’s strong little heartbeat to let me know everything was okay. Surgery was a success, the surgeon managed to completely remove two tumours from my bladder and these have been sent away for testing. We should have the results in a few weeks.
Over the last few months I have probably felt every emotion under the sun! But the main one is relief at how unbelievably lucky we have been. Bladder cancer is pretty easy to treat when caught early and very difficult to treat if it’s missed. If it wasn’t for our little magic bean we probably wouldn’t have had a clue it was there and who knows where we would have ended up.
I’ve kept my story pretty quiet up until now because for a long time it felt like such a personal battle. I needed to get my head around it without any outside influences. I’ve kept myself to myself for the last few weeks because it’s hard to act like everything is fine when it really isn’t. It’s also easier to stay focused and positive without people giving you pitying looks and I hate the idea of anyone feeling sorry for me! I wanted to stay positive and deal with this temporary set back as quickly as possible, so we could get back to our lives and start getting excited about our tiny little person.
What I really wanted was to talk to people who had been through what I was going through, who maybe understood. I spent hours searching the web for people and stories I could relate to, but because cancer in pregnancy is so rare and bladder cancer is usually diagnosed in people over the age of 70, I felt very alone. That’s why I’ve decided to write this blog. If I can help just one person in a similar situation to me feel less alone then it will be a huge success!
I also want to raise awareness of bladder cancer, it’s one of the most common cancers in the UK, with 10,000 people diagnosed each year, but we don’t like to talk about it. It doesn't have its own colour, charity wristband or fun run, in fact unless you have it you’ve probably never even heard of it.
It usually happens in people over the age of 70 and is more common in men, but women and men of any age can get it. Unfortunately it is often diagnosed much later in women due to their symptoms (BLOOD IN THE URINE) being mistaken for other more common conditions, often with not great consequences. When caught early bladder cancer is really treatable, when caught late it can be very difficult and the mortality rate for bladder cancer is much higher in women than it is in men.
So please please please share this blog, get people talking about bladder cancer and make them aware of the symptoms! I’ve included some links to some amazing websites that are far better with the facts than I could ever be and a list of symptoms to look out for.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bladder-cancer/
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/information-and-support/bladder-cancer
Thank you for taking the time to read a little bit about my story.
Katie xxx
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