Hi,
I'm sorry about your news. MD Anderson is a wonderful, great place, however they are strongly in favor of chemo for bladder cancer where you might find a different attitude somewhere else. It depends on the stage, mostly.
In Europe chemo isn't used either before or after surgery unless there was spread. Not everyone agrees on things like this. MDAnderson is cutting edge but that can also mean aggressive.
Most people are not going to argue with a doctor from a place like MDAnderson (or anyplace, for that matter) because we as patients do not presume to be smarter than the doctor...at least at first - many patients do end up having as much knowlege about their own particular disease as the doctors they see.
Still, when someone's life is on the line there is not much of an argument to make. Like I said, it depends on the exact stage, what the path report said. It might have been a rare cell type. Was it transitional cell carcinoma or something else? Sometimes a rare cancer is so aggressive that chemo gives the best odds.
You should come to an agreement and understand exactly why they are recommending pre=op chemo, is it for a clinical trial?
Please consider joining our email discussion list as well, there are many folks there getting chemo or caring for someone who is.
blcwebcafe.org/listinfo.asp
If you need help write me:
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Also, in case you don't get many replies here, you could try posting your concerns to this board under the 'invasive bladder cancer' section, it might get more input there.
All the best to you,
Wendy