Don't forget chaps... check down below occasionally

Hades

Hades

Hades

Man of Honour
Joined
19 Oct 2002
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Location
Surrey
Well it has certainly been an interesting few days. I'm not looking for medical advice as I've had plenty of that in the last week :) A week ago I was happily enjoying life with no health issues (or so I thought).

Thursday Last Week

Last Thursday I happened by chance to notice a lump down below. Somewhere no man wants to have a lump. I realised instantly that it didn't feel right and it took me a little by surprise. I was working from home that day so I managed to get one of my doctors emergency slots that day. I didn't mention it to my wife at this point as I didn't want to worry her unnecessarily until I knew more.

The emergency doctor was a lady who politely asked if I needed a chaparone for my examination. But quite frankly I just wanted to get it looked at and didn't care whether it was a man or woman. She's a doctor and I'm sure she's seen far more interesting sights than mine. After a short 'shuffle around' she agreed that it didn't feel right and recommended I have an ultrasound.


Monday This Week

Luckily I have private medical insurance through my employer. So I managed to get a very quick appointment on Monday (the equivalent NHS appointment would take several weeks). The ultrasound technician confirmed straight away that he had found something. He also scanned my kidneys and lymph nodes and couldn't find anything obviously wrong.


Tuesday

Back to my normal doctor the following day (Tuesday this week) and he confirmed the results that the ultrasound technician had given me; a probable tumor. Not good news. He also had a good 'shuffle around' for good measure. He recommended seeing a consultant 'urgently' and, again due to having private insurance, managed to get an appointment locally for me that evening. So I rushed home and drove straight there.

The consultant took one look at the ultrasound results, then donned his gloves for the obligatory 'shuffle around'. I knew things wouldn't be great when he asked if I had kids and whether I wanted any more. After that question you kind of know what's coming next. He confirmed a tumor and recommended it be removed 'immediately' and booked me in for surgery this Friday morning. We won't know for sure if it is indeed cancerous until it is removed but the risk is too high to ignore. It needs to be done.


Today

...and today I had some blood tests and a CT scan of my torso from my neck right down to my pelvis. The CT scan is painless of course but the bucket of water they make you drink beforehand means you're bursting to go to the toilet! I already knew I needed an operation but the CT scan was to get an early indication of whether there were secondary tumors visible elsewhere. In other words had it spread? Waiting to get the results this evening was quite nerve wracking. My wife wasn't taking it well at all and I think she was more nervous than me. Knowing you need an operation is one thing but waiting to hear further bad news is another.

Luckily there was no sign of it having spread; the result was good. That was a great relief. I can deal with surgery but waiting to hear if it was more serious was the bad part. I still need to get the result of the blood test in a week (they check for cancer markers) and of course the biopsy on the tumor after it is removed on Friday. But, on the assumption it does turn out to be cancerous, at least it has been found early.


Next Steps...

The next steps are the operation on Friday. This is a day procedure but under a general anaesthetic. Then follow ups with the consultant and a referral to the Royal Marsden to decide whether chemo is necessary.

Having held my fathers hand 9 years ago when he died of cancer I am probably more sensitive than most people to how destructive it can be if not acted on urgently. It made me act as soon as I suspected something wrong. Luckily this type of cancer (again assuming the biopsy confirms it is indeed that) is very treatable, especially if caught early.

I've always worked very hard and had fairly stressful jobs. I rarely take any sick time off; the last sick leave I had was two days off when I broke my leg a few years ago. So my natural instinct is to just get back to work as soon as I can. But my wife is trying to persuade me to take some time off. The doctor is prepared to sign me off for two weeks if I want. For once I might just accept it and take the time off. I'm convinced the stressful jobs has at least contributed to this, and it does make me reconsider whether I want to continue in such jobs in the future.

So the moral of the story chaps, is check yourself down below regularly. It may just save your life one day.
 
I hope it goes well. I hope even more that it hasn't spread. There's a TC Cancer forum if you Google it; you'll be able to get loads of support from there about testicular cancer.
 
You don't need more stress so take the time off work.

Good luck with the op and have a speedy, successful recovery. :)
 
did you have any side effects?

a friend of mine was diagnosed with testicular cancer 3 yrs ago this december, he only found the lump because he was reading an article in the paper and he checked himself the same night and found it. he has just gone 35.

he's made a good recovery, back to work etc. he had no side effects though and wouldn't have found it if he had not of checked.

i wish you the best possible turnout in this.
 
Shows how important it is to get these things checked out asap.

Take the time off and relax for a couple of weeks, even if you don't need it, your wife might. :)

EDIT: Also I am never sure how obvious it would be, there's plumbing down there that causes bumps anyway...
 
Hope everything works out mate and your operation goes well. At least you caught it early mate :)

Every guy who has read this thread has just had a rummage around!
 
I don't post here much but always read daily. I would like to to wish you luck with everything as I know what you are going through.
In July this year I was diagnosed with bowel cancer with knocked me for six, especially when I found out by accident from the head nurse whilst going for some pre op checks. I have already been through 3 sets of Chemo, been rushed into hospital with a dangerous blockage which meant I had to have a stent fitted to allow things to pass and have an operation booked to remove a 3rd of my bowel on the 10th of November.
After my operation I have a recovery time of approx 5-6 weeks then have 18 more weeks of Chemo.
I have fully come to terms with it and thankfully it is what they class a cureable, my wife, kids, family and friends have been a brilliant support and they also appreciated that i didn't want to be smothered and just to get on with life as best I can.
My treatment is also at the Royal Marsden and I cannot believe how good the hospital is in every way. The staff have been outstanding and never rush you when they are with you.

If you need a chat, PM me sometime but if you are similar to me, chatting about issues isn't something I need to do as my mind is set that this will be sorted by some point around May next year (fingers crossed).

One last thing that may help is that Chemo really isn't as scary as it's made out to be on TV, the worst side affect I have had is a sickness feeling but never ill.

Sorry just read you post again and seen that the tumor is not confirmed as cancerous, so I hope that results come back clear after your op.
 
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Take time off, if you keep putting your stress on yourself the worse its going to get, keep resting and good luck and I hope you've caught it early.
 
I remember the fear that crossed my mind when I found a lump on lefty when I was around 15. I usually have a feel every time I shower and I'd never noticed it before so I left it a week before I was going to go about telling anyone and luckily the lump had gone after a few days, not sure what it was.

Hope your op goes well, sorry aout having to lose one of the boys though :(.
 
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