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