Hi,
Yes, it means you have to get used to this because you can get old and die in your sleep. My sister had a low grade tumor, 3 cm, in '98, she had one (or was it two) recurs the first year and has now been clean since '99. She was a smoker, got dxed at 49.
The follow ups are for life because there is always a small risk that a low grade tumor can return with changed characteristics but this is actually quite rare...follow ups get further apart the longer a person is clear.
The biopsy and path report will tell you more about what is going on. The best outcome would be a single papillary tumor, 3 cm or less, transitional cell and no rare types, no 'carcinoma in situ/CIS' (this ups risk). That's what my sister had and she is fine, but the first year was horrible for us- we'd just lost another sister to cancer (breast) and didn't exactly know how to remain hopeful in the face of a cancer diagnosis, having lost our father as kids.
I personally was very suspicious when her doctor simply removed the tumor and sent her home. I researched so much I caused myself carpal tunnel; got so involved, read everything I could until finally...I could trust her doctor's choice. (imagine me...second guessing Sloan Kettering?)
Before you go on any kind of info hunt, be sure you know the exact diagnosis or the articles and studies on the subject might scare you to death, which would be a shame since you probably have a tumor that won't ever kill you otherwise...not to detract from the initial terror any cancer diagnosis brings...but there are many different types of bladder cancer, and your situation could well turn out to be less dire than it seems now.
Take care, hang in there. Cancer is not an immediate death sentence, it just seems that way when it's you.
Wendy