Cancer Recurrence After Cystectomy

i live in Boston Ma . my hubby was very stuborn about the fact that he didn't want his whole bladder removed . on thursday ( yesterday ) the doctors were meeting to decide what will be the best course of action . I think his age and medical condition is calling the shots . my hubby has heart deisies and high blood pressure as well as being diabetic . although he has all these problems he's very active and in good shape (not overweight ) . i am looking into a second opinion but not sure where to go ?

a partial cysectomy is pretty much frowned upon by surgeons who do this surgery. You've still got the same old cancerous bladder you started with and microscopic cells will find a way to attach again. His only option was not just to have an external bag was it?...If it was you're with the wrong doctors. Are you near a major cancer center? I'd definately get a second opinion from a different group. What part of the country are you in?

im making my notes and printing out a lot of stuff on interferon and BCG , they say a little knowledge is dangerous but i think i need to arm myself with as much knowledge as this old brain can take . im going to ask for the patholigist report and of course ask for a PET scan and ultra sound .
am i on the right track at last ! this is going to be difficult for me as im not very aggresive .

Was there a reason the doctor didn't remove the whole bladder last year?
sure was
hubby begged him to save his bladder, he didn't want to walk around with a bag ( a 78 year old macho man ) , to me it just didn't matter, to hubby it did , I wish to GOD that these damn Doctors would call a spade a spade . when the Doctor told us it was T1 high grade . i asked that the T1 is good and the high grade is not so good and he just looked at me and then continued saying they would remove the stint . all the doctors will be meeting thursday to discuss the next option .hubby also has severe animia and gets shots once every two weeks . well at least im not working today and have a day off to recoup . it feels great to have a day off and NOT spend it at a hospital

Dear Dotty,

I'm sorry that you're feeling overwhelmed...maybe it's me and my question overload. As to whether you should be happy or worried, well, worried never helps anything. Happy is hard to dredge up in this situation, actually you and your husband are in a sort of limbo until you have a plan and all the answers. It's a tough spot to be in, in fact, it's the hardest part of this whole cancer thing. We all sympathise.

You ask what it means to have cancer cells in the urine...I am pretty sure that would point to a cancer existing somewhere in the urinary tract. It sounds like the doctor knows where it is, if he was pointedly trying to treat the left kidney with BCG.

Just so you know...these days doctors have learned that reducing the dose of BCG cuts back on the bad side effects and does not effect the outcome. There's also a new combination of immunotherapy drugs, interferon+BCG, the BCG is a low dose and most people who can't tolerate BCG can tolerate this combination, which works very well for those who could not tolerate BCG. However, the doctor must be very sure of the stage of the cancer, which must be Ta or T1.

There is a bunch of info on Webcafe about immunotherapy, BCG, interferon and the combination, if you like you can start here"
blcwebcafe.org/immunotherapy.asp

Was there a reason the doctor didn't remove the whole bladder last year?
Thinking of you,
Wendy

my husband had half his bladder removed dec 2005 after he had 6 BCG treatments  ,he had three types of cancer in his bladder the BCG got rid of two but not the aggressive one so  removel of half his bladder . they found cancer cells in his urin last dec  they did go in and take a look see but didn't see anything they did some biopsies but they were negative  so they put a stint in so the BCG would go into the tubes and kidney and started the BCG treatments ,( it seems they are only worried about the left kidney ?)he only had one treatment when he got a severe reaction . i see the oncologist on Feb 1 .  when they take the stint out they will be going in for another look see . i really don't know if i should be happy or worried . if the cancer cells are just in his urin what does that mean exactly ? sorry if i sound a bit stupid  but im starting to feel overwhelmed