From the Desk of Beth Battaglino, RN, CEO, HealthyWomen

It is an indisputable fact. Nobody is aware of your physique such as you do. And when one thing would not really feel fairly proper, it is essential that you simply listen, converse up and search solutions.

Shirley Norris discovered this lesson when she first observed brilliant pink blood in her urine in 2014. She’d had a hysterectomy, so she knew it could not be her interval. She noticed a urologist for the following couple of years as she struggled with continuously recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs) that turned out to be bladder most cancers.

It is commonplace for girls to get an occasional UTI, however they often go away with therapy. Different girls battle with UTIs for years and have little success eliminating them. Though it is unlikely for recurring bladder infections to be one thing as severe as bladder most cancers, it is all the time good to ask questions, as Shirley did, so you may get solutions.

Generally known as “bladder most cancers,” urothelial bladder most cancers (UBC) is most cancers of the liner of the urinary system. Though UBC is about 4 occasions extra frequent in males than in girls, girls usually have a worse prognosis, and Black individuals have decrease survival charges than white individuals, making the UBC burden for Black girls an enormous one. The important thing to a excessive survival fee amongst all individuals is early detection, however analysis can usually be delayed in girls as a result of UBC might be mistaken for frequent UTIs or postmenopausal bleeding. Monica Cox is aware of this firsthand, “Trying again, I assumed the blood I noticed in my urine was menstrual blood or associated to the UTIs, however I do know now it was presumably a pink flag for bladder most cancers.”

That is why it is important that you simply perceive what’s regular and what’s not in the case of your bladder. What must you look out for? What are the indicators of bother?

In our bladder well being schooling program, we aid you perceive indicators and signs, your UBC threat elements, together with smoking, easy methods to discuss to your healthcare supplier about any bladder signs you could be experiencing, and easy methods to regain management of your intercourse life after UBC. And always remember — you’re your individual greatest advocate.

In good well being,
Beth Battaglino

This useful resource was created with help from Merck, Astellas and Seagan.