MSI Press Blog

Most people think of cancer as something dramatic — a lump, a sudden collapse, a terrifying scan. But cancer rarely begins with drama. It begins with whispers. And one of the quietest, most easily dismissed places the body whispers is the urinary tract. We are trained, culturally, to ignore urinary problems. We blame dehydration, aging, “a little infection,” stress, or simply being busy. We wait. We hope it will go away. Sometimes it does. Sometimes it doesn’t. And sometimes those early urinary changes are the first hints of something deeper. This post is about those hints — not to frighten, but to illuminate. 1. Blood in the urine: the most important sign we ignore If there is one urinary symptom that should never be brushed aside, it is hematuria — blood in the urine, visible or microscopic. Blood in the urine can signal: Bladder cancer Kidney cancer Ureteral cancer Prostate cancer (less commonly as the first sign) Advanced cervical or uterine cancer (when they invade nearby stru...

  May is Bladder Cancer Awareness Month. For information about bladder cancer and links to good resources, download  HERE  the Carl's Cancer Compendium information on the topic. See also this helpful overview from the Mayo Clinic . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our  home page . Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , an...