realistic outcomes for older patients - any experience?

cdjr

Hi - I am posting from the UK to try and find the best inormation available re my father.  Until last summer he was an extraordinarily fit and active 83 year old. Then  he was hit with pneoumonia and an un identified infection.  He was in hospital for two months, unrelated to his admission,  as a precaution, they did a body scan and unrelated to the reasons he had been in hospital for, they found he had a mass in his blader.

He has an aggressive tumour in the bladder which is making a valiant attempt to break through the bladder wall, so far it has succeeded in getting through to the muscels but as yet appears to be contained, with perhaps one node enlarged.  Bone scans normal.

Because of his health he clearly was not a candidate for radical surgery (not that I am convinced that is the route to go in any event , given the sad stories I have read on this site of poor outcomes of surgery).  However, he  is now on week six of combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy.  He has been very positive, even with the side effects and life has been pretty normal.  The day will come soon when we know if the treatment has had any effect.

That is my question really - I know each case is individual and none of you can give a definitive answer but I am trying to be realistic in my expectations.  What is the liklihood of this treatment having any effect, and if it has any, is it short term. Are we talking prolonging life - for several years or one if we are lucky?

I know very little about this cancer, but this is aggressive and I am guessig therefore recurring, I just wondered how likely is the treatment to have had any effect and if it does recurr, what sort of time frame are we facing?

thank you and best wishes

 

CJ