Dee Ann,
pT2a: Tumor invades superficial muscle (inner half) ... NX: Regional lymph nodes cannot be assessed ... MX: Distant metastasis cannot be assessed
He's got a lot of things to be considered. First of all i would recommend your father go to MD Anderson for a second opinion and for treatment. Dr. Kamat is very good at handling difficult cases plus they have a multidiciplinary team to consult on all the other issues. Also Dr. Dinney, and Dr. Grossmann
I'm sure Dr. Hakim is a good urologist but he's in an office setting and i can assure you he does not see the volume of bladder cancer that MD Anderson does. This is a highly specialized field and you want a top surgeon.
Dr. Kamat
faculty.mdanderson.org/Ashish_Kamat/Default.asp
Dr. Dinney
faculty.mdanderson.org/Colin_Dinney/Default.asp?SNID=1806315031
Dr. Grossman
faculty.mdanderson.org/Herbert_Grossman/Default.asp?SNID=1806315031
With the invasion just into the first layer of muscle its imperative that he have a cystectomy and reconstruction. I had the same thing and am alive and well 8 l/2 yrs later as i had a surgeon well trained that does 90 plus a year.
Make your appointment and they will tell you what to bring with you. Its just a matter of contacting the hospital and signing release forms for the pathology and slides and any other tests they may have done. Did he have a CT scan or bone scan, blood work? They will do all those.
Don't get to far ahead of yourself. There is a lot of good information on the Home page here on newly diagnosed. You're very fortunate that you're close to one of the top hospitals for bladder cancer.
Pat