I decided to man up and go to the doctors... within 3 weeks and after 2 doctors appointments, an ultrasound and an appointment with a Urologist at my local hospital I heard those dreaded words..
We think its testicular cancer Jack, my life literally flashed before me.. I froze. I'm the sort of person that takes nothing seriously, I went to the appointment at the hospital on my own, so as the specialist was telling me about what is going to happen I really wasn't listening. All I was thinking about was how I was going to tell me family & what would happen with work?
When I zoned back into the room the specialist explained that he wanted me on the operating table as soon as possible... bearing in mind it was now Thursday, when he said that I was thinking maybe next week sometime, depending on how busy they are...
I was booked in for the first slot on Monday morning, I literally had no time to think about it... I knew it wasn't going to be easy but I spent the next 3 days trying not to think about it, I just focused on telling my family and sorting out my sick leave with work...
Monday morning came and I was in good spirits, the specialist explained previously that I would be having a left orchiectomy... all this meant to me was that they would be removing my left testicle.. the procedure went well and I was back home by 2pm, considering I went down at 9:30 I didn't think that was too bad at all.... they explained that I just had to be careful over the next few months, no lifting or anything like that...
So I spent the next few weeks recovering and during that time I had a CT Scan at the hospital and more bloods done also.... all I was doing over this time was waiting for my appointment with the oncologist, for him to hopefully tell me that it was all fine and I could go back to work.... t
That's not what he said.... on the day of the appointment my mum & dad came with me, we sat in the waiting room and I had the last appointment of the day... we got called in about 17:15 ish... the oncologist asked me how I was, how everything had been and all that small talk.... I knew then that something wasn't right, I knew that if it was good news he wouldn't of dragged it out, he would have just told me and that would of been the end of it...
He then continued to tell me that from the CT Scan he could see that some of my lymph nodes where enlarged and that didn't initially worry them until they received the results from the bloods which showed that the cancer markers had risen SINCE the pre-op bloods, which meant that they hadn't got it all and he believed that it was spreading to the lymph nodes in my groin, one of the first places testicular cancer spreads to...
So as soon as he finished talking my mum broke down into tears, I could tell that my dad was in bits but was trying not to show it... all I could to was ask the question on the tip of my tongue... when can I start chemo??
He explained that it would be a good idea to freeze my sperm before starting, & told me all about chemotherapy and all the possible side effects...
Today is the 28th July, I've frozen my sperm, I've had all of my pre-chemo bloods, lung function tests, hearing tests and all that... I had my meeting with the chemo nurse last week and I start chemotherapy tomorrow.... I'm bricking it, just really trying not to show it... I know what to expect, but not everybody reacts the same way to it... I will probably lose my hair, my immune system will be basically useless and I am pretty terrified...
But the one thing I will say is, bring it on.... I have my family, my friends and my colleagues all supporting me and without that I wouldn't know what to do.. the next 9 weeks are going to be a struggle but I will get through it, I have no choice...
This time next year I plan to be sat on a beach somewhere with a nice drink in my hand thinking to myself about how much I was worrying over nothing, and how easy it all was!
