Megan, I moved your post here to a place where more people who might be interested would see it.
I am sorry to hear about your father. He is lucky to have you as his advocate. The usual treatment for non-invasive (early) bladder cancer is a TURB (transurethral resection of the bladder) where the urologist removes the tumor while the patient is under very light general anesthesia. Radiation is not routinely used in these cases and can cause additional problems. The TURB procedure is usually done as an out-patient procedure and is not a difficult one, such as major surgery can be. After the tumor is removed, it is sent to a pathologist for analysis. Only after the pathologist's report is back can the doctors be absolutely sure what the stage and grade really is.
In cases of low grade, early bladder cancer, a TURB can be curative. The patient will be monitored by a cystoscopy exam every three months for about two years. If there is no sign that the cancer has returned, he will then go to every six month's monitoring.
The reason for the continual monitoring is that yes, bladder cancer does have a nasty habit of returning, so the monitoring allows it to be caught early if it does. In many many cases it never does reappear.
Sara Anne
