Cancer Survivors Network

Twice last year, I had pain in my lower abdomen. My family doctor referred me to a wonderful surgeon who barely touched my abdomen, asked me questions, and made an educated guess based on experience. He scheduled me for an abdominal CT which confirmed the presence of a well formed mass. My surgeon's guess was spot on. Turns out instead of 1 testicle, I really had 2. It's just 1 stayed hidden in my abdomen all those years. It's not a good thing as my surgeon explained that it becomes cancerous.

I had the tumor removed. Pathology report showed cancer cells in a few of my lymph nodes (less than half). A few weeks later, I had a chest CT which came up clean (Thank God). I survived 3 months of chemo. A month later, I had a CT of my chest, abdomen, & pelvis.

So after all the awareness of mSV from the nuclear problems in Japan, I have to ask myself, "Do I really need more CTs?" The math is fuzzy, as I can't nail down the exposure from one CT. Nuclear workers are supposed to be limited to 50mSv in one year. I'm thinking I've been exposed to at least that amount which is fine...couldn't be avoided.

I asked my oncologist, and he said "I don't know." He'll ask his other colleagues. I don't think I should be aggressively scanning.

I'm just venting. Regardless of what my oncologist says, I think I'll delay my next scan scheduled for summer.