BCG Treatment #1 - July 3-4, 2008

Before we left home I tried to relax using the hypnosis deep breathing technique. It didn't help much - I was way out of practice, and I was full of trepidation. The long drive provided an additional opportunity to try 3-4 more times, each attempt having an increasingly good effect. Did one more in the waiting room, and another in the exam room. I also got two stress balls from work - these are foam balls to squeeze when under stress. And concentrating on squeezing them tends to take the instinctual squeezing away from the affected area! I was pretty serene when the doctor walked in, and the process (relaxed and squeezing the stress balls) was very easy. After the instillation process (2 out of 10 on the gross-out scale) at 11:00 AM, we got into the Honda Pilot and headed home. Due to construction the trip took just over an hour. I sipped maybe 6 ounces of flavored water during the first half hour, turning every 15 minutes to slosh the BCG around the bladder. This was enough to address my dry mouth, having had no fluids since 11 the night before. I consumed the balance of the 16 ounces in the second half hour, then moved into the bedroom to continue flipping positions every 15 minutes. Began sipping iced tea the next half hour, then downed another 28 ounces during the last half hour. This gentle schedule was meant to avoid supreme urgency to pee from overfilling the bladder. At 1:00 PM the first episode started easy and ended painfully - not a lot of the fluid had hit the bladder yet. Sat a while and managed one final bit of voiding. Did all the special handling and hit the hydration trail. Drank 32 ounces of tea and had lunch in the next two hours. Check out BCG under "Post Labels" about halfway down the column at left for more information on how my BCG treatments are progressing.


Bathroom Diary details of both the instillation process and specific details on my progressive side effects for Initial BCG rounds 1-6 moved to the instillation page.

As of 3PM on Friday, Day 2, all normal. I could certainly have gone to work today without incident, but for being a national holiday! Happy Independence Day to all!!!