A week or so ago I posted a message with some errors.  My father,
who lives in a different city, was not getting chemotherapy; he was
receiving BCG therapy.

    By way of explanation:

    My dad had been undergoing BCG therapy for bladder cancer, which
they caught fairly early.  About a month ago, he was on his last monthly
BCG treatment after having had a total of eleven or so.  
I guess BCG stands for "Bacillus Calmette-Guerin."

    Disaster struck on the final monthly treatment.  Instead
of going into his bladder through an inserted catheter, the
re-engineered TB bacteria that is BCG went all throughout my father's
body.

    Nobody knew this, so he went home after treatment, only
to find a short while later that he was really, really sick.  
I suppose the doctors had given him the
disease TB or tuberculosis??--my sister
seems unclear on the facts, too, after speaking with the docs.  
She did tell me that the doctors told her that dad was
experiencing sepsis from the final BCG treatment.
The doctors hospitalized him immediately.  He was in the
hospital for about 3 weeks.

    The BCG in his body made him extremely weak and bed-ridden.  
I've never seen my dad so weak.  

    Well, after about 3 weeks, the hospital realeased him
to his home, where my Mom was taking care of Dad, but he is still
in bad shape.

    When another doctor saw him, the doctor said the first hospital
should not have released him, and the doc re-hospitalized him
at a second hospital.

     Anyway, the docs say he should return to normal, but it
may take 6 to 9 months.  I suppose the re-engineered TB bacteria
they were giving him through the catheter and with which they
were treating his bladder cancer have now spread all throughout
his body.  

    The original care-takers said that what may have happened
maybe was that his bladder could not hold the 12th and final BCG
treatment that was injected into his body, and so the BCG went
throughout his body from the bladder.  Is this a common occurrence?  

    I have to wonder if the catheter either leaked the BCG
into his body or perhaps the catheter was not properly positioned
in his bladder--perhaps it became dislodged?  I just don't know.

    Something does not seem right to me.

    I only remember that about 15 years ago when I was hospitalized
very briefly for a minor procedure, some IV fluids leaked into my
arm, instead of going into the bloodstream.  When I woke up, my arm
was plumped up, almost balloon-like.  The needle had not been inserted
properly, and so the fluids drained into the surronding muscle tissue,
instead of going into the blood stream.  

    When a nurse passed by in the morning, she commented that
5 or 6 people on the floor all had swollen arms from improperly
placed IVs.  Well, I have to wonder about my father.  I hope he
returns to normal.

    Should I consult an attorney?

    Thank you.

email address: NYETT999@hotmail.com