Oncology and potential Bilateral Orchiectomy

Hi Rob. Hope you are feeling ok and beating up?

I was in pretty much the same situation aa you. Stage 1 and calcification noted on my remaining nadger.

The calcification was pretty much ignored as standard as far as I’m aware. I don’t think there is anyway they would remove it for that. That sounds like a torture method! Or removing someone’s someone’s lung because they’ve just started smoking. Ok, I’m exaggerating but you get my point. Ultimately you are in good hands now and in a month or two you’ll be feeling great with a new lease on life!

My oncologist didn’t really offer a choice between chemo or surveillance as I wanted the chemo. Have a read through my previous posts. I pretty much demanded it, but that was my choice. You need to make your own. I felt the oncology team were great. Although I requested it they made me feel at ease that I had made the right decision. No pressure. I liked the odds. Chemo around 97% chance of being cancer free in 5 years compared with 75% with surveillance. 

Any questions just ask. Good luck! 

Hey there—so sorry to hear you're going through this. It's not a fun club to join by any standard, but I hope you're still feeling positive about getting back to normal life in the coming months.

As for a bilateral orchidectomy—we have a neighbour who has testicular cancer on two separate occasions and thus had both testicles removed. He still feeds his cows every morning and seems to have a very ordinary life with his family. I can't speak much about the specifics and personal issues I'm sure he's had, but he still works, has a reasonably active lifestyle and hasn't put on any noticeable weight.

That being said, if the other testicle just has a calcification, I would wait to see what your doctors actually decide upon. My husband had a calcification on his remaining testicle, and they gave him an ultrasound 4 months later, and then another 6 months after that, just to be sure it hadn't grown or started to cause issues. Calcifications seem to be reasonably common, so fingers crossed your doctors decide it's harmless.