RPLND Experiences

lemnchic

Hi All, my husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer (mixed germ cell tumor seminomatous and embyonal carcinoma components) in March. He had an orchiectomy and then received 4 cycles of BEP chemo to take care of what spread into his neck, chest, back and abdomen. He wrapped chemo at the beginning of June and got his scans completed a few days later. The scans show he is all clear in is neck, chest, and back but they see some lymph nodes remaining in the abdomen area near his kidneys. Our oncologist felt that my husband would need the RPLND surgery and referred us to Dr. Joel Sheinfeld out of Memorial Sloan Kettering. We saw him today and he recommends we move forward with the surgery based on my husbands records and his exam. He talked to us about what is left behind could be teratoma and that it needs to be removed - its possible it could just be scar tissue and what nut but it also could be cancer that cannot be caught by a scan or blood workups. He said that the teratoma could eventually grow into another cancer. My husband is being scheduled for the surgery in two weeks! I understand why we should do it and we are moving forward with it, buts its so scary. While our surgeon is highly recommended and one of the best there is when it comes to this, I still worry about waht my husband will have to deal with after the surgery. 

Does anyone here have any experiences to share? I really appreciate any info you feel comfortable sharing.