HEalth news
On April 6 I had my annual physical, where my MD finally agreed that there was something wrong with my right testicle. I've been saying this for two years, but now that it had grown to about 3x the size of the other one, he finally agreed.
April 13 I had an ultrasound, after telling me it would be at least a week before any results were in, they called me with referrals to a urologist and an Oncologist within 24 hours (April 14). I saw the oncologist on the 16th, who got me fast tracked to the urologist on the 21st.
The urologist said, "Yep, it needs to come out, what are you doing tomorrow morning?" Seeing as I needed to be functional for Dia de los Ninos/Dia de los Libros that weekend, we scheduled the surgery for Monday, April 27. That gave time for my parents to come down and for me to take some time off work. It also gave me time to clean my apartment (thanks Zada).
On the morning of the 27th I delivered a 90gram, seminoma tumor. Which confirmed the diagnosis of testicular cancer. Which has seriously screwed with my summer plans. I got to wait around the hospital for about 5 hours until they could fit me in for a CT on my abdomen and chest to see if the cancer had metastasized. While they only found one lymph node involved, it was 3.3cm, which made me stage II. The good news is that my liver and lungs are clear. I didn't have my brain MRI until May 5th, so I don't know if my brain is involved yet or not, although they say that it is doubtful when the organs in between are clear. Still, 95% of the people who get this type of cancer are between the ages of 15 and 39, so I"m not willing to take a chance.
I start 4 cycles of BEP chemotherapy on May 18th. My cycle consists of five (5) days of chemo with 16 days of recovery, repeat 4 times. By a happy coincidence, my summer trips, K'tai in June and ALA-Annual in July are all on weeks when I will not be getting chemo, and the Dr. (Vivanco) says I can go to them, as long as I feel up to it. Pennsic is right after I finish the final cycle, so it is the diciest of the summer trips, but I'm planning on being there as a reward to myself for making it through chemo.
I'm also going to keep going to school through all this. I am too close to this degree to stop now.
I'm going to survive this. but one burning question comes to mind.
Do I need a different size cup since I only have one ball?
More later.
John/Omar
PS Guys, do regular testicular exams no matter how old you are, and if you find something odd, push your doctor until he explains it. I wish I had.
April 13 I had an ultrasound, after telling me it would be at least a week before any results were in, they called me with referrals to a urologist and an Oncologist within 24 hours (April 14). I saw the oncologist on the 16th, who got me fast tracked to the urologist on the 21st.
The urologist said, "Yep, it needs to come out, what are you doing tomorrow morning?" Seeing as I needed to be functional for Dia de los Ninos/Dia de los Libros that weekend, we scheduled the surgery for Monday, April 27. That gave time for my parents to come down and for me to take some time off work. It also gave me time to clean my apartment (thanks Zada).
On the morning of the 27th I delivered a 90gram, seminoma tumor. Which confirmed the diagnosis of testicular cancer. Which has seriously screwed with my summer plans. I got to wait around the hospital for about 5 hours until they could fit me in for a CT on my abdomen and chest to see if the cancer had metastasized. While they only found one lymph node involved, it was 3.3cm, which made me stage II. The good news is that my liver and lungs are clear. I didn't have my brain MRI until May 5th, so I don't know if my brain is involved yet or not, although they say that it is doubtful when the organs in between are clear. Still, 95% of the people who get this type of cancer are between the ages of 15 and 39, so I"m not willing to take a chance.
I start 4 cycles of BEP chemotherapy on May 18th. My cycle consists of five (5) days of chemo with 16 days of recovery, repeat 4 times. By a happy coincidence, my summer trips, K'tai in June and ALA-Annual in July are all on weeks when I will not be getting chemo, and the Dr. (Vivanco) says I can go to them, as long as I feel up to it. Pennsic is right after I finish the final cycle, so it is the diciest of the summer trips, but I'm planning on being there as a reward to myself for making it through chemo.
I'm also going to keep going to school through all this. I am too close to this degree to stop now.
I'm going to survive this. but one burning question comes to mind.
Do I need a different size cup since I only have one ball?
More later.
John/Omar
PS Guys, do regular testicular exams no matter how old you are, and if you find something odd, push your doctor until he explains it. I wish I had.