Even if it only happens once – blood in urine can be serious.
Blood in urine is not something that usually crops up in information about healthy eating and fitness, but this article is for good reason.
This article is about raising awareness of the risk of kidney cancer and comes from personal experience.
If this article serves to save one person, then it has done its job.
The back story
My Dad has just been diagnosed with kidney cancer.
It is devastating for him and devastating for us as a family.
He was diagnosed recently because he saw blood while he was urinating one day.
There are no other symptoms. No pain. Nothing. He feels his usually healthy self.
You can imagine, peeing blood was quite alarming and so he saw the doctors. A couple of weeks later, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer.
We are now a few months on from his original diagnosis and we know that cancer has spread to his lungs. We are waiting to find out if it has spread to his brain.
This was not the first time he had peed blood and not the first time he had been checked.
This happened to him five years ago.
Just once.
In fact, he had actually only peed blood twice, five years apart.
Blood in urine: What went wrong the first time?
Simply put, he did not have checks beyond his bladder.
He had a cystoscopy.
Then he had a prostate examination.
He was told everything was fine.
Everything was not fine.
He now has cancer and it has spread to his lungs.
This takes time…years.
What was different this time?
This time was different because he was sent for a CT scan immediately.
No hesitation.
This was the same doctor that had seen him five years ago.
It is unclear why he was given the scan this time and not the last time.
Maybe it was because he had peed blood before?
If we had known then what we know now, we would have insisted on it.
We had no idea and that’s the whole reason for this article.
The CT scan was up to the neck.
The doctor seemed to suspect something. It seemed that he at least wanted to rule something out.
This was when they found a mass on one kidney and both lungs.
Insist on these health checks if you see blood in your urine.
If you pee blood, even if it’s only once – get checked.
Even if it stops and doesn’t happen again. Please take the time to get it checked out.
Be sure to take control of your health and insist on full checks.
Do not just accept tests on your bladder.
Ask for a scan. Insist on a scan.
Apparently, kidney cancer is often missed because people do not feel unwell.
Many people do not get symptoms.
This may have been prevented.
This may have been diagnosed five years ago and the odds may have been better.
You can find out more information from the NHS about kidney cancer here.
**Important information about this article – I am NOT a medical professional and I do not seek to give you healthcare advice. This article is about raising awareness of a situation that could happen to another person, in the hope that they seek medical attention if they experience a similar situation. There are other conditions that can cause similar symptoms and peeing blood does not necessarily mean that it is kidney cancer. It is always better to get a thorough medical check rather than leave it, especially if it goes away by itself – please do not assume it is ok **