Please help! My father was recently diagnosed

13 years 9 months ago - 13 years 9 months ago #32731 by Dee Ann
My father was recently diagnosed with bladder cancer. He is 67 years old. He lives in La Vernia, TX which is close to San Antonio.

He had his first surgery on 06/14/10 (TURBT?). They removed and biopsied a tumor. The doctor originally told us that he thought he got all of it and was very happy about the results. We thought he would be okay and were given the all clear. Well he had his followup on 06/18/10. The doctor then told my dad that they now have to remove his bladder, prostate and lymph. We need help understanding all of this. He talked to the doctor for a while on the 18th but didn't really know what questions he needed to ask. Another followup is scheduled for this Friday and will have approximately 30 minutes to ask his questions and make all of his decisions. That's not enough time in my opinion and I'm not too confident he is being taken care of properly.
His diagnoses is as follows:
Urothelial carcinoma, carcinoma in situ, high grade, solid with areas of ulceration; nesting pattern noted focally, early detruser muscle invasion identified on deeper levels, permeation of lymphatic spaces identified, tumor superficially invades detrrusor muscle; extensive invasion of subepithelial connective tissue, Stage pT2a, NX, MX The doctor is Samuel Hakim. Has anyone heard of him?

What does all this mean? I've tried looking it up but it's like putting pieces of a puzzle together without knowing what the result is supposed to look like. What questions should we be asking? What are his replacement bladder options? What is the prognosis for something like this?
I've read many of your posts on here and it gives me a bit of hope for his future.
Any help would be appreciated. I'm desperate and very worried about him.

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