Gator,
First of all don’t feel bad about not knowing what all of the new terms you are being faced with mean, time will take care of that. If you are right and your husband has CIS and no invasion into the muscle you probably mean that it is Grade 3 and either Stage T1 or Ta here is a link to an explanation of what the pathology terms mean.
www.bladdercancersupport.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=45&Itemid=102
Many people do quite well with BCG they will experience some burning and urgency for a day or so after and some report being a little tired and body aches and pains. Others have more of a sensitivity to it and will have more or more severe side effects, but there are other agents that can be used and the BCG amounts used can to reduced while still remaining effective. Personally I only had a little burning for a day or so and some urgency for the same time period. As a matter of fact I would shop for the two hours that I held the BCG and drive home from Boston the two and a half hours the day after the treatment myself without a problem.
Bladder Cancer does have a high re-occurrence rate of any cancer your doctor is right. This will mean lifelong surveillance no matter what treatment path your husband chooses. That is the bad news the good news is that your husband’s cancer was caught early, more good news is that CIS tends to respond to BCG well.
One of the things we strongly recommend is that everyone that is diagnosed with blc get a second opinion for a center and doctors that do a high volume of bladder cancer. If you give us your state of residence we would be happy to suggest places close to you.
Good luck and keep us updated we are here for you welcome to our family.