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CEBU City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has been given an option by his doctors in the United States to save his bladder.
This would mean undergoing a ?very intense? and ?aggressive? treatment because the cancer has ?invaded? the muscles of his bladder, according to the mayor in a text message to .
While Osmeña has yet to make a final decision, he said that if he had to choose now, he would rather have his bladder taken out to avoid the hassle of chemotherapy and radiation.
If he opts to save his urinary bladder, Osmeña said it would mean staying in the US about six months, ?undergoing daily treatment and feeling bad.?
?And if there?s no progress, they remove it anyway,? he said.
There is also a higher risk that the cancer will recur if he keeps the organ, said Osmeña.
?Oh, let me point out that my brains are not in my bladder,? he said.
?As long as I don't lose my brains which happen when cancer spreads to the brain.?
Osmeña yesterday had a conference with his doctors in the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston. He was with wife Margot and elder sister Minnie. After the meeting, they flew back to New York.
He told the doctors found a ?spot? in the lymph node of his right pelvis, which, he said, doctors in Cebu either did not detect or ignored.
?There is no clue if the cancer has spread out of the bladder. They will have their top radiologist study the film of the ?spot? and another biopsy may be required,? the mayor said.
Osmeña said the cancer had spread to the muscle of the bladder.
The usual course of action is to surgically remove the bladder but his doctors offered an option to save the organ and let him undergo ?a very intense, aggressive and prolonged chemotherapy and radiation.?
He identified his doctors as Dr. William Y. Shipley, MGH head of the genitourinary oncology unit and the unit's deputy chair of clinical research; and Dr. Donald F. Kaufman, clinical professor at Harvard and director, the Claire and John Bertucci Center for Genitourinary Cancers.
The mayor and Margot left for the US on Oct. 8 to seek a second opinion of the diagnosis of his doctors in Cebu.
Six days later, he underwent a transeurethral resection (TUR) at MGH on Oct. 14, a surgical procedure used to diagnose cancer and remove cancerous tissues.
His doctors confirmed that he has cancer, which has damaged his bladder.
Osmeña said he, Margot and Minnie would fly to Houston on Sunday in time for Monday's meeting with doctors at the University of Texas MD Anderson (MDA) Cancer Center.
He said he would listen first to recommendations of MDA doctors before deciding on surgery.
