If your cancer in not among these fortunate few, you must suffer the removal of your entire bladder and most of the organs nearby. But the surgeon will not perform this type of surgery if he or she thinks he cannot remove all the cancer. He or she may not know until you are on the operating table, asleep and opened up. At that point the surgeon looks around as much as possible inside you to find all evidence of the cancer. Although the urinary bladder is not a vital organ like the heart or brain, its function is certainly necessary to your health and well being.
Arrangements have to be made.
This plan produces complications with chemicals in the urine that the intestines doesn't handle well, and is generally not done. The ureters can be diverted to an opening in the skin called an ostomy , over which a pouch is placed to catch the urine that dribbles out continuously. The connection requires that the ureters be extended by creating a tube of small intestine, so that they are long enough to reach a convenient place on the front of the abdomen. A pouch made of intestine and separated from the rest of the bowel can be constructed and made to hold urine until you can empty it yourself. This way you don't have to wear a bag.