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Hang in there! My wife was pretty much just like you (52 yr old)only they wanted three rounds of chemo (Mayo in Phoenix / Scottsdale, AZ). Chemo just about did her in, none of the anti nause drugs helps much, had to quit working (Director of Childrens Ministry / Preschool) toward the end of chemo. Only thing that helps was supporrt from family & friends. But the good news - tumor shrank in size from the chemo!
She just had surgery about 2 weeks ago for a neobladder, all went well (7.4 hr of robotic surgery) but she is having a tough time recovering (more nausea, very tired, can't keep food down).
The best news - no cancer found, chemo "killed" it all & she is now a TZero!!

After three years of symptoms that included frequent urination, blood in the urine, intermittent painful urination, a collegen bulk up of the urethrial sphincter that helped incontence but became the site of a primary transitional cell carcinoma tumor, and extreme fibromialgia diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis and a recommendation for risky Remicade chemotherapy,
at 65 she had a radical cyctectomy and creation of am illeal conduit umbilical stoma (she caths thru the belly button) at Oregon Health and Sciences University. That was last August. The urethrial tumor was a T1B stage and 17 lymph nodes were negative. Cancer Free! And the arthritis immedeately disappeared. In June this year the arthritis returned, and a CT Scan revealed a small mass growing in the pelvic cavity by the tail bone. It is recurrent transitional cell carcinoma. She starts Chemo next Tuesday. She is in the small per cent that recurr soon. Perhaps Chemo pre or post surgery would have caught a micro malignancy, but standards say the correct course was no chemo. We pray that your comination of surgery and chemo is the answer. Blessings

Colleen...please don't stop the chemo..there are many that cannot tolerate the Cisplatin and they are then switched to Carboplatin. Ask your oncologist if that is another option. Here is a list of some of the anti nausea drugs out there..maybe there is one he hasn't tried. Please work with your oncologist to solve this .... http://www.chemocare.com/manag...herapy.asp
Pat

My mom, age 61, was diagnosed in May of 2008 with bladder cancer and went through 2 rounds of chemotherapy over the summer months. She was sick, lost weight, and got very weak, but the urologist recommended chemotherapy before surgery to try and shrink the tumor. Her pain was almost unbearable during all of this. Unfortunately, her tumor did not shrink during chemo. However, surgery went very well and she has a new stoma and ostomy bag. So far, no big problems, she is still in intensive care. The sad part is that they were unable to remove her lymph nodes in the pelvic area because they found cancer in them. We hope that she will be ready to do more chemotherapy once she recovers from surgery, but the prognosis is not good. I wonder if she should have had surgery right away, once they knew the tumor as invasive? I am sure there is always second guessing on decisions made related to cancer. From what I can tell, you have to keep moving forward day by day and try to fight. Best wishes to you Colleen, keep asking questions and keep fighting for your health.