Awaiting Testing and Treatment

GD1345
GD1345 Member Posts: 2
in Testicular Cancer #1

Hi. Around a month and a half ago, I felt discomfort in my scrotum and noticed one testicle was larger. I have recently gotten in cycling and had thought it was a side effect/injury of excessively working out.

In the first week of January, I went into the hospital for an ultrasound. A day after that I was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Two days later, I underwent surgery to remove my right testicle. Upon pathological testiing, it was found to be nonseminoa testicular cancer. Since then, a CT scan found a small dilation of a lymph node in my abdomen. This week, there is a also a lesion on my liver, which an MRI will tell me whether it has cancerous cells in it or not. 

On next Monday, I have a follow-up with my oncologist to determine my treatment plan after going over the results of MRI. If there is a cancer in the liver in addition to lymph node, then chemotherapy will be the plan. If the cancer is just in the lymph node, then I will go to Indiana University to do surgery to remove the lymph node. 

Currently, I am feeling impatient and worrisome. I want the cancer to just be gone from my body. I am worried I could have done something earlier to stop from spreading outside of my testicle. Anybody else going through similar experiences? Or have been through it?

Comments

  • annie4145
    annie4145 Member Posts: 218 Member
    #2
    Sorry you have to join this

    Sorry you have to join this Board, but this whole forum is a great place to get support and guidance. I have a different type of cancer, but I have to tell  you that it is quite often that people don't seek doctors the very moment that they notice something unusual.    A month and a half is hardly any time at all.  Many people wait months and months, if not longer, or see doctors who misdiagnose them.  My boss wasted 9 months with local doctors who missed his cancer all that time despite his symptoms before he was finally diagnosed with colon cancer.  I myself waited longer than I should have before I got a colonoscopy at age 51 (I had some bleeding for a couple of months, but didn't think  alot of it when it first happened.)   Althoug I still regret not acting faster, I think that you did act pretty fast, and unless your cancer is some sort of super aggressive cancer, it is likely that that the lesions were already there, but just weren't dectected in the intial CT scan.  I was also diagnosed at stage 3 because of lymph node involvement.  Perhaps if I had acted faster, maybe it would have been confined to stage 2.  But I really think you acted pretty fast.  If you are fairly young and healthy, cancer is the last thing that people think of.  That is normal.   Plus you can't go back in time.  Just be gentle with yourself and focus on the path forward.   

  • annie4145
    annie4145 Member Posts: 218 Member
    #3
    annie4145 said:

    Sorry you have to join this

    Sorry you have to join this Board, but this whole forum is a great place to get support and guidance. I have a different type of cancer, but I have to tell  you that it is quite often that people don't seek doctors the very moment that they notice something unusual.    A month and a half is hardly any time at all.  Many people wait months and months, if not longer, or see doctors who misdiagnose them.  My boss wasted 9 months with local doctors who missed his cancer all that time despite his symptoms before he was finally diagnosed with colon cancer.  I myself waited longer than I should have before I got a colonoscopy at age 51 (I had some bleeding for a couple of months, but didn't think  alot of it when it first happened.)   Althoug I still regret not acting faster, I think that you did act pretty fast, and unless your cancer is some sort of super aggressive cancer, it is likely that that the lesions were already there, but just weren't dectected in the intial CT scan.  I was also diagnosed at stage 3 because of lymph node involvement.  Perhaps if I had acted faster, maybe it would have been confined to stage 2.  But I really think you acted pretty fast.  If you are fairly young and healthy, cancer is the last thing that people think of.  That is normal.   Plus you can't go back in time.  Just be gentle with yourself and focus on the path forward.   

    There are alot of posts on

    There are alot of posts on this website by or about people that waited.  Check this one out.  There are some good thoughts on it: https://csn.cancer.org/node/197188

     

    1. This is for ALL OF US....please, let no one regret or beat ourselves up for not going to the doctor sooner or whatever. It serves noone. Maybe, some of our stories can prompt others to get checked out sooner...we all learn from our life experiences. But I'll say it again, it doesn't serve us well to regret. Let us live now, in the Present, with all things that are wonderful...
    2. I have reflected back on what could have been. Now it doesn't really matter, hindsight is not very useful without a time machine that works.
    3. No one deserves cancer, + the difficulty with diagnosing this cancer is the symptoms are similar to other less scary dieseases. Please don't blame yourself.

     

     

     

  • annie4145
    annie4145 Member Posts: 218 Member
    #4
    Last thought, since there

    Last thought, since there aren't very many people posting on this board as compared to some of the others, find a cancer that is most similar to yours (such as in treatment) and hang out in their board.  For example, I have anal cancer, but hang out in the colon cancer board sometimes.  good luck...

  • GD1345
    GD1345 Member Posts: 2
    edited January 2020 #5
    annie4145 said:

    Last thought, since there

    Last thought, since there aren't very many people posting on this board as compared to some of the others, find a cancer that is most similar to yours (such as in treatment) and hang out in their board.  For example, I have anal cancer, but hang out in the colon cancer board sometimes.  good luck...

    Thanks so much for the kind

    Thanks so much for the kind and empathetic comments. I really appreciate it. Your words and suggestions have helped me consider and cope. 

    Since my initial post, I have heard that there is no cancer in my liver. The only sign is a small dilation in a lymph node in my abdomen. I am awaiting word back from my oncologist who is scheduling a consultation appointment for me at Indiana University to check out and see what the best treatment plan is (surgery, chemo, monitor). Is it possible for a lymph node to undilate on its own and the node just fight the cancer off? I don't know if that's even possible, but sounds like a phenomenal situation. 

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