A cystectomy is surgery to remove part or all of your bladder. Sometimes other organs, lymph nodes, and part of the urethra are also removed. The urethra is a tube that carries urine from your bladder to outside your body.
To do the surgery, your doctor makes a cut in your lower belly. This cut is called an incision. If the doctor takes out all of your bladder, he or she will need to make a new way for you to pass urine. This is called a continent reservoir. It's a storage pouch that attaches inside your pelvis. It's made from a piece of your bowel. There are two types.
In the hospital, a nurse with special training will teach you how to care for your reservoir. Most people go home in 1 to 2 weeks. But you will probably need 6 to 8 weeks to get back to your usual routine. If your surgery was done to treat bladder cancer, you may need other treatments. These include chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Surgery to remove your bladder may affect your sexual or reproductive life. If a woman also has her uterus and ovaries removed, she will not be able to get pregnant. She could also start menopause and have hot flashes or other symptoms of menopause. And if a man has his prostate gland and seminal vesicles removed, he may have problems getting an erection. He will also not be able to get a woman pregnant. If you are a man who may want to father a child in the future, talk to your doctor. There are ways to save your sperm before the surgery.
It's common to feel sad or worried about how this surgery will affect you. It may help to join a support group. You can ask your doctor about these groups. You can also call the American Cancer Society (1-800-227-2345) for more information. Or you can visit its website at www.cancer.org.
Surgery can be stressful. This information will help you understand what you can expect. And it will help you safely prepare for surgery.
A cystectomy is surgery to remove part or all of the bladder. The surgery is mainly used to treat bladder cancer.
After surgery, your belly will be sore. You will probably need pain medicine for 1 to 2 weeks. You may notice some blood in your urine or that your urine is light pink for the first 3 weeks after surgery. This is normal.
If you have a urostomy (stoma), you can expect it to be swollen and tender at first. This usually improves after 2 to 3 weeks. A stoma is an opening the doctor makes in your belly. It connects to the newly created bladder so you can drain urine. You do this by placing a small plastic tube into your stoma. You decide when to do this.
If you have a neobladder, you will have a thin plastic tube (catheter) coming out of your urethra for about 3 weeks. When it is removed, you will urinate much as you always have. But for the first few months after surgery, you will need to set a time to urinate. Your doctor will tell you how to do this. You will probably leak urine for a few months. Within 1 year, you should be able to control when you urinate.
While you recover from surgery, you will also learn to care for your stoma (if you have one) and your catheter. You may find it helpful to meet several times with a wound ostomy continence nurse (WOCN), who can teach you how to do this.
You will probably need 6 to 8 weeks to get back to your usual routine. If your surgery was done to treat bladder cancer, you may need other treatments after surgery, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
Bladder cancer surgery may affect sexual function. If a woman's uterus and ovaries are removed during the surgery, she will not be able to get pregnant, and menopause may start. She may have hot flashes and other symptoms of menopause. And if a man's prostate gland and seminal vesicles are removed, he may have problems getting an erection and will not be able to make a woman pregnant.
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