Transcript of “Bladder Cancer Was Sue’s Third Type of Cancer”

March 2, 2023

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Voice over:

This is Bladder Cancer Matters, the podcast for bladder cancer patients, caregivers, advocates, and medical and research professionals. It’s brought to you by the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, otherwise known as BCAN. BCAN works to increase public awareness about bladder cancer, advances bladder cancer research, and provides educational and support services for bladder cancer patients and their loved ones. To learn more, please visit B-C-A-N.O-R-G.

Rick Bangs:

Hi, I’m Rick Bangs, the host of Bladder Cancer Matters, a podcast for, by, and about the bladder cancer community. I’m also a survivor of muscle invasive bladder cancer, the proud owner of a 2006 mono year neobladder, and a patient advocate supporting cancer research at the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network, or as many call it BCAN, producers of this podcast. This podcast is sponsored by the Seagen/Astellas alliance.

I am pleased to welcome today’s guest, Sue Spector. Sue is a survivor of three different cancers, thyroid, breast, and bladder cancer, and her bladder cancer did not respond to BCG at first, and we’ll have more on that later. She was born in Milwaukee and moved to Maryland in her twenties where her two sisters were already living. She was a teacher for 31 years, 21 in elementary and 10 in middle school math, and now works as a part-time bookkeeper for three CPAs. Sue, thanks for joining me on this podcast.

Sue Spector:

Thanks, Rick. Thanks so much for inviting me.

Rick Bangs:

Oh, our pleasure. Three different cancers is really unusual. How did your thyroid cancer diagnosis happen and did you have any symptoms? How did the diagnosis happen?

Sue Spector:

For the first five years that I was teaching, I would get tonsillitis every year. And after five years, my doctor said, “Sue, if you get this again, we’re going to have to take your tonsils out.” And I guess that scared me because I never got it again. But then, about four years later, I was at home grading papers one evening and started to have a sore throat and thought I was getting again. I reached up to check and see if my glands were swollen and I felt a lump in my neck. When I looked in the mirror, I actually saw a visible lump. That had never happened with my tonsillitis before. So, I made an appointment to see my doctor and he said it was definitely my thyroid and sent me to have a scan. The scan showed I had two nodules, a large fluid-filled one, which is the one that I had felt, and a smaller solid one. He wanted me to have them biopsied.

The doctor who did the biopsy said he could extract some of the fluid and biopsy that, but he couldn’t get to the solid one because it was too deep. The results came back and it was benign so I was feeling somewhat comfortable, but then my doctor told me that there’s a 25% false benign rate. So because of that and because the solid one was not able to be biopsied, he suggested that I start on Synthroid, which is the synthetic hormone that the thyroid produces.

At the beginning, my thyroid functioning according to my blood work was totally normal. After several weeks on the Synthroid, they rechecked my blood and it was showing that I was too hyperthyroid so they adjusted the dose. And after a year of constantly trying to adjust it, I was still too hyperthyroid so they suggested a total thyroidectomy. Then a few days after the thyroidectomy, I got the results. The fluid-filled one was indeed benign but the smaller one was malignant, but I was lucky it was only seven millimeters in size and they told me that anything under a centimeter is considered cured, and other than taking Synthroid daily, my treatment was over.

Rick Bangs:

Wow. Okay. Then, you have a second cancer after this thyroid cancer. How does your breast cancer diagnosis happen and what were your symptoms there, and how did the diagnosis come about this time?

Sue Spector:

I was undressing for bed one evening in the bathroom and happened to glance in the mirror, and it looked like my left breast was sagging a little bit more than my right. And I know for me and I think for every woman, no two breasts are exactly symmetrical, but it seemed noticeable. So, I contacted my doctor the next day and she said, “Definitely. I can see you this afternoon.” And she took a look and she said, “It doesn’t look like breast cancer and I don’t feel anything, but let’s have you get a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound.” So, I went, and the mammogram showed nothing, but they saw a spot on the ultrasound and I had that biopsied and it came back as cancer.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. Then, how did they treat the cancer?

Sue Spector:

I was told I could have a lumpectomy or a mastectomy. And I know that with a lumpectomy, they just removed the tumor and it preserves your breast, but with a mastectomy, you lose your entire breast. I said, “I would prefer the lumpectomy, but is it going to make a difference in my prognosis?” My doctor said that if I choose the mastectomy, well, first, she said that the prognosis was exactly the same no matter what I chose, but she said that with the mastectomy, after the surgery, unless I chose reconstruction, I was done. But if I chose the lumpectomy, I would have to then follow up with radiation. I chose the lumpectomy, and then I followed up with an oncologist and she started talking about how she wanted to have this test done called Onco DX, where they…

Rick Bangs:

Right.

Sue Spector:

Have you heard of that?

Rick Bangs:

Yeah, that’s relatively new in the last few years, but yeah, that’s really exciting.

Sue Spector:

Yes, it was only one lab at the time in California that does the test. And what she explained is they would send a tissue sample from my tumor and they would break it down to the DNA level to determine if there was any benefit to having chemo. That kind of shocked me because nobody had said anything about chemo before. She explained that it used to be before this test was available, any tumors that were under a centimeter, they never suggested follow up with chemo, but anything over a centimeter, they did. And mine, of course, was exactly one centimeter so I was in that limbo area.

Rick Bangs:

Right. You’re on the fence.

Sue Spector:

Right. I had the test and the results came back that there’s three different categories. One category, it’s a very non-aggressive tumor, no benefit to chemo. Opposite end, very aggressive tumor. They definitely recommend chemo. Where did I fall? Right in the middle. She told me that based on the results, if I opted not to do the chemo, I would have a 91% chance of no recurrence in 10 years. If I opted to do it, it would jump to 95%, so a 4% benefit. Chemo was scary, the thought of it, and I agonized over the decision. My father was talking to me one evening and he said, “You live only 45 minutes from Baltimore. Why don’t you go to Johns Hopkins and get a second opinion?” I thought that was a great idea. I went and the surgeon I talked to said based on my age and the fact that I’d already had thyroid cancer, she would recommend I do the chemo. But, she said that once a month the doctors get together for some kind of a conference and present interesting cases and discuss… You can guess where this is going.

Rick Bangs:

Yeah. You don’t always want to be an interesting case.

Sue Spector:

Right. She said that they were actually having that meeting the very next day and she wanted to present my case if that was okay with me. I said, “Absolutely.” A couple of days later, she called and she said that it was unanimous. Every single doctor said, “She should do the chemo.” And interestingly, I had been thinking about it in the time in between, and I’ve never been the type of person to give something less than a hundred percent and I didn’t want to have a regret. And down the road if I had a recurrence, I’d be wondering, “Oh, if I would’ve done the chemo, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” So, I ended up going for the chemo. I had four cycles spread over eight weeks of Adriamycin and Cytoxan, which is known as AC. And then, after about a month break, I had six and a half weeks of daily radiation.

Rick Bangs:

Wow. And then, you have a recurrence of thyroid cancer.

Sue Spector:

Right. Every year, I follow up with my oncologist and she does blood work that tests tumor markers, and one of them is a test called thyroglobulin, and it checks thyroid levels. My level was elevated and she said, “I think it might be lab error.” So, we waited a couple of weeks. I repeated the test, and then this time it was even higher. So, she sent me for a scan and they saw that something had grown back. I said, “I don’t understand. I had my entire thyroid removed. What do you mean something grew back?” The explanation I got was that it’s very easy to have some stray cells left behind. And the reason that I was on Synthroid was not only to give my body what I wasn’t getting naturally since I didn’t have a thyroid to give it to me, but also they were giving me a slightly higher dose to keep me suppressed. And that suppression is supposed to stop anything from growing back.

This time, I had a very interesting treatment. It was a three-day hospital stay. It’s called I-131. It’s a radioactive iodine treatment. And in this hospital, there are only two or three rooms designed specifically for this. They have the Caution Radiation sign on the door and the door has to say shut all the time, and there’s all these precautions. And I thought I was going to get zapped similarly to what happened with my breast cancer radiation. But, shortly after I was admitted, this doctor comes in and the only way I can describe it is it was as if he was in a hazmat suit or an astronaut suit, and carrying this huge container, which he proceeded to open. And inside was a tiny paper cup with two capsules that I had to swallow and that had the radioactive iodine, because I guess the thyroid attracts the iodine. That’s how it works. It’s very interesting.

Rick Bangs:

Oh my gosh. Okay. Then, sometime later, you have a third cancer, and this time it’s bladder cancer. What are your bladder cancer symptoms and how does that diagnosis come about?

Sue Spector:

I came home from work one evening and went to the bathroom, and when I stood up to flush, the toilet was full of blood. Chemo put me into early onset menopause so I thought, “How did I start menstruating all over again?” My first thought was, “Must be a urinary tract infection.” But, I had had one years before and it caused burning and urgency, and I didn’t have any of that. And then, I remembered a friend of mine had such a severe UTI that it spread to her kidneys and she was running a fever. So, I went and I took my temperature and it was normal. So, I decided, “Okay, I’m going to Google what causes blood in urine.” Of course, three choices. UTI, which I’d already ruled out. Kidney stone, and I’d had a kidney stone and the pain was excruciating.

Rick Bangs:

Yes, it is.

Sue Spector:

And I didn’t have any pain, so I thought it can’t be that. And so, of course, what’s the third cause?

Rick Bangs:

Bladder cancer.

Sue Spector:

Yes. The next day, I called my doctor and she was not available but the nurse practitioner said, “Definitely come in.” First, they checked to see if I had an infection, did not. Sent me for a scan to see if I had kidney stones. I did not. So, they said, “With your history, we’d like you to follow up with the urologist.” I went to the urologist, the one that they had recommended, and it was a woman who was taking my history, and she said, “I see that you’ve had chemo. Do you know which drugs you have?” And I told her Adriamycin and Cytoxan. And she said, “Oh.” And I said, “Well, what does that mean?” She said, “Unfortunately, the way that Cytoxan is secreted from the body, they’ve seen somewhat of a link to bladder cancer.” I thought, “Great. I can’t win for losing.”

She said, “We really aren’t going to know what’s going on in your bladder unless we do a cystoscopy.” I was scheduled for that a few days later, and she was very sweet. I could see on the monitor everything that she was seeing and she was explaining everything. And then, we saw something that the best way I can describe it is it looked like sea coral. And I said, “What is that?” And she said, “Well, that’s a tumor.” With everything I’ve been through, I said, “Well, are you going to biopsy it?” And she said, “Let me finish looking around, make sure I don’t see anything else, and we’ll discuss it when we’re finished.” We finish up, I go into her office, and she said, “I only saw that one spot and there’s no way of knowing for sure whether it’s cancer or not unless we biopsy it. But unlike the other biopsies you’ve had where they put in a needle, you can’t do that for bladder cancer.” She told me I had to have a procedure under general anesthesia called a TURP, which I believe stands for transurethral resection of a bladder tumor.

Rick Bangs:

That’s correct.

Sue Spector:

I’m also a doctor’s daughter so…

Rick Bangs:

That helps.

Sue Spector:

Yes, I have that medical jargon. We scheduled the TURP for a few days later and came back that I had a high grade papillary tumor. She said I needed to go back for a second TURP so that they could make sure that there wasn’t cancer anywhere else in my bladder. She wanted to take more samples and also to determine whether it was muscle invasive or not, because whether it is or it isn’t, they’re treated differently. After the second TURP, I found out that while I did not have muscle invasive bladder cancer, they found a second tumor called CIS, which stands for carcinoma in situ, and both are high grade. The papillary one that we saw grows up from the lining of the bladder and the CIS lays flat like a carpet or a blanket, and both are high grade in my case.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. Did you have any risk factors?

Sue Spector:

The main risk factor that I was told is smoking, and I have never smoked, so no, no. The only risk factor is that chemo drug, Cytoxan. I asked my oncologist and she said that they gave me the smallest dose for the shortest period of time to still be effective, so her feeling was even if it did increase my risk, it was by 0.01%. So, who knows?

Rick Bangs:

Right. At this point, have the doctors suggested any linkage between the three cancers? I mean, I did hear of how the bladder cancer theoretically might have started, but have they suggested any linkage and have they recommended any testing?

Sue Spector:

They really don’t know. At one point, I did go for a blood test because there was something that they were looking to see could possibly link thyroid and breast cancer. But whatever it is, I don’t have it. Then, the only other test that I had was the breast cancer gene test. Because I have two daughters and two sisters, I wanted to have that information, and I don’t have that either. So, I always say, “I’m just lucky, I guess.”

Rick Bangs:

Yeah. Okay. Let’s put aside the differences in the disease and treatment. How is your bladder cancer experience different from your other two cancers?

Sue Spector:

I would say there’s two main differences. One was the length of treatment. If you think about from the time I was diagnosed until the treatment ended with both of my thyroid cancers, it was one to three months. With my breast cancer, it was just about a year. But with the bladder cancer, it was about four years, so that was a significantly longer time. And the other thing I would say is in many ways, bladder cancer was a little more scary for me, because if the cancer would mean I had to lose that part of my body… Living without a thyroid is not that big a deal. I take a pill every day. Living without a breast, it’s pretty cosmetic. But, I was scared of the thought of losing my bladder. So, that to me was I would say the main difference.

Rick Bangs:

So now, before you had your cystoscopy, you probably had some perceptions going in. How did the actual experience differ from your perception?

Sue Spector:

It was actually a lot better than I expected. I thought it was going to be very painful or uncomfortable, and I thought it would last a long time similarly to like an MRI that lasts 45 minutes. But the actual test when I had it, there’s a little bit of discomfort when the scope is first inserted, but the whole thing lasts about 15 minutes so it really wasn’t bad at all.

Rick Bangs:

Right. Okay. All of us, when we get diagnosed, we have to decide who needs to know and when they need to know. Can you talk about how you grappled with this and what did you ultimately decide?

Sue Spector:

Sure. I’ve always been pretty much an open book and I share a lot with my closest friends and family. I kept them in the know as to everything as it was happening. Then, it wasn’t until after being diagnosed that I might post on Facebook or something so that other people who weren’t in my inner circle would find out. For me, though, the hardest part was my two kids and what to tell them. Honestly, I really don’t remember what we told them in either case of my thyroid cancers. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer, I was still married at the time and my daughters were in high school and middle school. And I was afraid to tell them. It was about a two-week timeframe from the time I noticed symptoms until I got the biopsy results and I thought, “I don’t want to cause any undue stress or have them do poorly in school because they’re worried about me if it turns out to be nothing.” So, I waited right until we got the diagnosis and then we sat them down and explained what was happening.

And I remember my older daughter was a little bit upset, and she wished that we had told her right from the start, and some of it may have been that she sensed some of the anxiety that was in the house because there’s only so much you can hide it. When I was diagnosed with my bladder cancer, basically, I’d had the cystoscopy where we saw the tumor but I didn’t know if it was malignant or not. I called both my daughters, they were not living at home. I was separated at the time, and I apologized saying that I didn’t really want to have to give them this information over the phone but I wasn’t sure when I was going to see them and I wanted them to know prior to having the TURP. So, I told them what was happening, and as much as they were sad to hear the news, they really appreciated knowing right from the start and being kept abreast as it was happening.

Rick Bangs:

Yeah, understood. And your point about you want to have enough information before you start sharing, that’s a really critical point. How did you decide you had the right doctor, the right hospital, and the right treatment?

Sue Spector:

Well, as far as the doctors, I was really fortunate because a doctor that I knew and trusted and really liked referred me each time. My primary care physician referred me to both my breast surgeon and the urologist. And then, the breast surgeon, who I was very impressed with, is the one who recommended me to the oncologist. And then if it was a hospital, I trusted whatever hospital they had privileges would be fine with me. And then, as far as treatment, I just went with whatever was the standard treatment, except I made the decision to opt for the chemo with my breast cancer.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. You had both papillary and CIS, and you start on BCG, which is the gold standard for that diagnosis. Talk to me about your BCG experience.

Sue Spector:

It starts out, it’s once a week for six weeks. I went in the morning and I had read some conflicting reports about how long you’re supposed to hold it once it’s instilled. Some reports said one hour, some said two hours, and I wanted to do whatever my doctor said was appropriate. And so, I checked with the urologist’s office and they said an hour was fine. So, I would go get it instilled, come home, and then I described it as I would marinate for my hour. I would lay for 15 minutes on my back, on my stomach, on my right side, on my left side, and then I was able to go to the bathroom.

They warned me that there might be some side effects. I did have some. I had some burning and urgency that lasted the first couple of days, and luckily I was able to take some medication that helped with that. By midday of the day that I had gone for treatment, in the middle of the afternoon, I would be overcome with this wave of fatigue. And the fatigue was weird. I had never experienced anything like that. And that lasted also a couple of days. And with a few of the cycles, I had a more rare side effect. My eyes would sting, and there is a rare side effect called uveitis. And so, I was given some eyedrops, which helped a bit with that.

Rick Bangs:

Interesting. Okay. Unfortunately, your bladder cancer does not get the desired response to BCG. So, your BCG treatment gets adjusted and you’re given BCG plus interferon. What was that like and was it different, worse than the BCG alone? How would you describe it?

Sue Spector:

Right. My CIS did not go away at first after the first six, so that’s why they said to try to have it with the interferon and hopefully that would take care of it. I was warned that the symptoms would be worse. Interestingly, I expected that they would be more intense, but it wasn’t the intensity. It was that they lasted longer. So whereas the first time, it was only two, maybe three days after treatment that I would feel the effects. But with the interferon, it lasted way longer, four or five. I finished one cycle, started the next, and really didn’t have a break in the symptoms. But then, I’m happy to say I had another TURP. And after the sixth, with the BCG, I was determined to be cancer-free. And interestingly enough, I had a memory pop up on Facebook today. Six years ago today I posted I am finally cancer-free and I have been cancer-free sense. I did go through the maintenance phase also where it’s repeated every three months and then every six months for three more years.

Rick Bangs:

That’s awesome. Okay. So now, your family, you got two sisters, I think I heard two daughters. What role does your family play during your treatments?

Sue Spector:

My family, we’ve always been very close, and they were super supportive and wonderful. But in addition to family, I had friends and neighbors who also could not have been more supportive. The calls, the emails, bringing meals over, people stopping by just to give me a hug, really, really sweet. My parents actually were visiting from Milwaukee for Thanksgiving and it was the Monday after Thanksgiving that I was supposed to have the breast biopsy, and they were going to fly back on Monday. That’s when their flight was scheduled, and they postponed it till the next day because they wanted to go with me to the biopsy appointment.

And then, when I had had the cystoscopy, I left the doctor’s office and called my parents and said that they saw a tumor. I’m scheduled four days later for this TURP and my mother said, “We’re coming.” And because I had separated and was living alone, she said, “We’re coming and we’re staying with you.” And it was very sweet. And then, as I said, I have two sisters, they’re both older. My oldest sister, when I was going through the BCG treatments, she was retired, and she insisted that she wanted to drive me to and from every BCG treatments, and she would stay and make sure I had lunch and dinner. She’d cooked for me and was so concerned about it being worse with the interferon, that not only did she do the same thing, but she then slept over to make sure I had breakfast the next morning and I was doing okay.

Rick Bangs:

Wow, what a great family.

Sue Spector:

Yeah.

Rick Bangs:

It’s so important. You’ve had several cystoscopies and CT scans. Do they get any easier? Do you have any tips for our listeners?

Sue Spector:

Well, I’ve always been pretty optimistic. I try to enjoy life and not dwell on the negative stuff. My tip is really try to take it one day at a time. If you can focus on one day and not think too much past that, it’s less overwhelming. But, that doesn’t mean I don’t get nervous before a scan. I did read somewhere somebody coined the term “scanxiety.”

Rick Bangs:

Yes.

Sue Spector:

I thought that was perfect. I wish I knew the person so I could give them credit.

Rick Bangs:

They’d be rich if we gave them permission.

Sue Spector:

But, I do pamper myself a little bit. The day that I am scheduled for a scan, I take the day off from work and go for the scan, and then afterwards I go to Starbucks. I have a whole routine. I go to Starbucks and I get my favorite coffee in a grande size, and then I head to a salon for a pedicure. It’s a little pampering.

Rick Bangs:

Good for you. Good for you. Okay. I want you to reflect on your entire bladder cancer experience up through today. How do you manage the stress and emotions on your side and for the family?

Sue Spector:

Like I said, I tend to be a pretty positive, upbeat person. The stress for me I think was not as much as possibly for other people, but I also found myself relying on friends and family, and we were kind of supporting each other. I went to some online sites, BCAN, of course, and also the Cancer Survivor Network because there’s wonderful information and support groups through both of those. My oncologist’s office actually has a therapist who is a therapist but also a registered nurse. She understands the medical piece as well as the emotional piece. I think I started seeing her when I was going through my breast cancer, and when I’ve been in treatment, I was seeing her weekly or every other week. And now, since I’m, knock on wood, doing very well, I only see her about once a month. But, it’s really helpful to have somebody I can share some of my fears and things that are happening with me.

Rick Bangs:

That’s critical piece of the foundation. Right? Okay. You mentioned BCAN. When did you discover BCAN and how did it help you as a patient?

Sue Spector:

It was actually my urologist who recommended it. As soon as I was diagnosed, she gave me all kinds of information. I went to the website and did a lot of reading because I wanted to educate myself and I knew very little about bladder cancer prior to being diagnosed.

Rick Bangs:

Most of us are in the same position. Okay. Did you find the BCAN online community and how did that help you?

Sue Spector:

Yes, there’s the Inspire website, which I believe is an offshoot. It was very comforting to read other people’s stories and read about people who’ve been through things similar to what I’ve been through. And even though every case is different, it’s still nice to know that you’re not alone. It really helped.

Rick Bangs:

Exactly. Okay. So now, speaking of not being alone, you are a volunteer in the BCAN Survivor to Survivor program, which matches patients to people who are like them. Tell us what you do there, and what’s that experience like?

Sue Spector:

I’ve been matched so far with probably around 10 different newly-diagnosed women. I get their email information and we correspond to find a time to talk on the phone. I tell them what I’ve been through. Sometimes, they have questions about what to expect and I explain some of the things that how I was treated and with the BCG and everything. And as you know, a cancer diagnosis is terrifying, so I try to provide inspiration and hope for people who are at the start.

Rick Bangs:

Oh, that’s tremendous. What advice do you give them in the Survivor to the Survivor program?

Sue Spector:

Well, like I said before, “Try to take one day at a time.” And also, growing up and still today, I’ve always been very independent. My parents joke about when I was trying to learn to ride my bike without training wheels. I would ride down the driveway, fall, get up, walk my bike back up to the top of the driveway and repeat it all over again. I was Susie back then, so they would say, “Susie, let us help you.” And I would say, “I’ll do it myself.”

And so, going through a cancer diagnosis, it’s overwhelming. It’s hard to keep up with some of the daily things that need to get done because you’re so focused on the diagnosis. But, when I stepped back and I let go a little bit, and allowed people to help me, it was so wonderful and really made a huge difference. So, my advice is don’t be afraid to ask for help, whatever it is, if you need somebody to drive you to and from appointments, if you want somebody to sit in with you on an appointment. Take notes, because sometimes as the doctor’s talking, it’s overwhelming and you can’t take it all in and then later you have questions. So if somebody’s taking notes, you can refer to the notes and often your questions are answered. Let people help you.

Rick Bangs:

Okay. So now, let’s flip it around. What advice do you have for friends and family members who want to help somebody with bladder cancer?

Sue Spector:

Most people are really, really sweet and want to be helpful and don’t really know what to do, and often will give the blanket statement of, “Call me if you need anything.” As the person going through it, it’s kind of hard to say, “Well, I actually need this.” So, if you’re going to offer to help, be more specific about what you can do, whether it’s going to be to drive them to an appointment, to sit in an appointment, or to provide meals. You can cook meals, you can pick up carry-out, you can bring gift cards for carry-out or for a meal delivery service. One thing that brightened my day is I had a friend who sent me a care package when I was going through chemo. She said, “I tried to think of your favorite things,” and she hit the nail on the head. She got me a couple of my favorite magazines, some bath bombs and chocolate, because in my opinion, chocolate heals everything.

Rick Bangs:

Oh, if only. If only. I know our readers are going to be interested to know as I know that you wrote a book on your cancer journeys. What’s the name of the book and what inspired you to write it?

Sue Spector:

The name of the book is What Cancer Taught Me, A Memoir. I was still married at the time so it’s published under my married name, which is Sue Strauss. That’s S-T-R-A-U-S. It’s available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle format. I had spoken several times at the Relay for Life, which is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and I spoke at the Survivor Luncheon, and I got great feedback afterwards. People telling me how they found it so inspiring and they were so happy that I shared my story so I decided I really wanted to try to share it with more people. So, I decided I was going to try to write a book, and it was somewhat cathartic to do the writing, and then I self-published. That’s pretty much how it came about.

Rick Bangs:

Excellent. What Cancer Taught Me, A Memoir.

Sue Spector:

Yes.

Rick Bangs:

All right. What are some of the key takeaways your readers would have after they read your book?

Sue Spector:

It’s divided into two sections. The first section goes through all my different diagnoses and treatments, and then the second section is what I’ve learned. The takeaways would be what I’ve learned. I don’t want to give too much away here.

Rick Bangs:

Oh, no, don’t.

Sue Spector:

I can tell you there’s a little blurb in the introduction where I say that most people think when they hear that I’ve been through four cancer diagnoses and treatments, that I must feel like the most unlucky person in the world, so they’re shocked to know that I actually don’t, because cancer’s taught me some things that I might not have learned had I never had it. It’s my hope that if I share the things that I’ve learned, I’ll help others navigate their cancer journey or better support someone else who’s dealing with a cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Rick Bangs:

And I’m certain that’s true. Okay, any final thoughts?

Sue Spector:

I just want to thank you so much for inviting me to share my story. It was really both an honor and a pleasure, and thank you also for doing these podcasts. I’ve listened to many and they’re all fabulous.

Rick Bangs:

Thank you. That’s very kind of you. Very kind of you. Okay, I want to thank you for giving us an inspirational view on how to manage your way through multiple cancer diagnoses and managing bladder cancer that doesn’t respond to BCG. If you’d like more information on bladder cancer, please visit the BCAN website, www.B-C-A-N.org. Sue, in case people want to get in touch with you, could you share an email, a Twitter handle, or any other information that you’d like people to have?

Sue Spector:

Sure. My email is @SueSpector62. That’s S-U-E-S-P-E-C-T-O-R62@gmail.com. I do not have Twitter, but you can find me as Sue Spector on Facebook. And I hope you’ll check out my book, What Cancer Taught Me, A Memoir, published under the name Sue Straus.

Rick Bangs:

Excellent. Just a reminder, if you’d like more information about bladder cancer, you can contact the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network at 1888 901-2226. That’s all the time we have today. If you like this podcast, never miss an episode by clicking on the Subscribe button on your favorite podcasting platform. Thank you for listening and we’ll be back soon with another interesting episode of Bladder Cancer Matters. Thanks again, Sue.

Voice over:

Thank you for listening to Bladder Cancer Matters, a podcast by the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network or BCAN. Beacon works to increase public awareness about bladder cancer, advanced bladder cancer research, and provide educational and support services for bladder cancer patients. For more information about this podcast and additional information about bladder cancer, please visit B-C-A-N.O-R-G.