Dear Nancy,
I support your decision as well. I was given similar stats after my mastectomy showed extensive lymph nodes involved. Like with you, the lymph nodes were removed.
My doctor told me chemo would add 10% to my 10 yr survival. It was recommended to me but I declined. I felt the odds weren't worth it, it's a very personal decision. I was 43 ...I did have other treatments instead, and they must have helped, they were hormonal blockades that causes early menopause. Breast cancer is often driven by estrogen. In fact I just read that one drug I used, Tamoxifen, is being tried for bladder cancer and showing a lot of promise in advanced disease.
I did not expect to be cancer free 7 years later, but that's the case. I wish you much quality time. Don't second guess yourself either.
I don't know how you feel, but I do feel as if I might consider chemo if the cancer recurred. I'd be past the 'curable' stage, but sometimes chemo shrinks tumors that cause distressive symptoms and sometimes it extends life in breast cancer pts. I will cross that bridge if and when I ever come to it. There's also the possibility I'd refuse it again.
There are new and interesting options coming down the pike, drugs other than chemos being tried for bladder cancer. In case of recurrence you could either choose for chemo (being chemo 'naive' helps, first-timers get better response) or get creative with some of the less toxic treatments being tried these days.
You may never need them. Surgery can be curative, even in advanced bladder cancer. It happens all the time, so why not with you?
Wishing you all the best,
Wendy