Peri,
What an interesting project. Nobody ever seems to hear about bladder cancer until they get it so to hear about it as a high school project is good. It may even save some lives.
Here is a link to a treatment guide I put together a while back.
bladdercancersupport.org/images/Bladder%20Cancer%20Treatment%20Guide%20v4.pdf
It shows the most likely treatment path depending on things like stage and grade.
For Stage 2 bladder cancer, as Pat said, it means that the cancer has penetrated the inner layers of the bladder into the muscle. Depending on how deep into the muscle, the surgeon will either administer chemotherapy before or after the surgery or not at all. The standard treatment for Stage 2 is removal of the bladder. In the old days, there was only one option and that was to remove the bladder and then connect the ureters to a stoma that would connect them to the outside of body. There, a urostomy bag, would be attached to catch urine and the person would dump it. That is still an option today and it is the easiest surgery to get.
There are other options however. In one, called a neobladder, a segment of the person's intestine is used to create a new bladder. It is connected to the original plumbing (ureters and urethra). While intestine is not muscle, it serves well as storage place for urine inside the body. Through various pelvic floor exercises, one learns to control urination. At first, there is pretty much no control but in a month or so many people are able to achieve day time continence. Over more time and schedule of waking up at night to urinate, the majority of people also achieve night time continence. When first made, the neobladder is fairly small (about 40-60cc capacity). By sticking to a schedule of how often to urinate, it can be slowly stretched to normal (around 400-600 cc) capacity.
Another option is the Indiana Pouch. They made a new bladder out of a segment of intestine, like the neobladder, but it is not connected to the urethra. There is a stoma created and often it can be hidden in the belly button. Nobody would ever know as the navel looks the same. In this case, a person uses a catheter through the stoma to urinate. This option is more typical for women as they have shorter urethras than men and the neobladder has a higher risk of incontinence or hypercontinence (not being able to go without catheterization) in women. There is also a higher risk of infection for women doing catheterizion than men because of the anatomy of where the urethra exits the body. This Indiana Pouch option is also popular if the cancer has spread to the urethra.
The surgery to remove the bladder is called a cystectomy. Here is a link that explains the options and what they do in each.
my.clevelandclinic.org/services/urinary_reconstruction_and_diversion/hic_urinary_reconstruction_and_diversion.aspx
During the surgery, they also remove a number of lymph nodes to be sure that the cancer has not spread. The typical path of spread is through the lymphatic system. If there is any indication of cancer spread into the lymph nodes it is typical to administer courses of chemotherapy.
That's some of the basic treatment information. One key is that when being treated for stage 2 bladder cancer, one must find the most experienced surgeon in the particular urinary diversion they desire. These are typicall major cancer centers (but not all) or university teaching hospitals (again, not all). The outcomes are statistically better for those treated at the top bladder cancer hospitals.
So...there is a crash course in the treatment. I will make another post about the initial symptoms and emotions involved in the diagnosis.
Hope this helps you. We'd like you to get an A on this project. It would also be great as you educate others on the symptoms. Who knows? What you put in the paper may stick in someone's mind for years and then they get symptoms and get treated early and it saves their life down the road!
Mike
