Husband ultrasound next week

Hi there

I endured this process last year. In my case the GP was poker faced, just said if any suspicion at all of cancer, it's a 2 week referral and not to worry as only 1 in 8 generally turn out to be.

I saw a urologist 6 days later who said don't worry it's not cancer, just an infection, heres some antibiotics and we'll do an ultrasound just in case.  

The chap who did the ultrasound another 6 days later didn't tell me a thing, just that I'd get my results from my urologist. I've heard some instances where they do tell you a little.

The key bit though, is that the diagnosis and decision on treatment is taken by a multi discipline team of doctors, urologist, oncologist etc looking at the ultrasound, blood tests.  This meant it was 10 days after my ultrasound before I got the bad news.  The radiographer doing the ultrasound isn't the person who decides what it is and how to treat it, they are a cog in the process.

I've had an orchidectomy and chemo so far, and the worst bit (mentally) of the whole thing was the wondering and waiting.  

Hang on for the right results at the right time, even if it's a little slower than you'd like. We can't help being impatient with such serious stuff, I was the same.  Needless to say the antibiotics did nothing ;-)

They can't diagnose cancer at this point. All they can say is they are so concerned it is, the testicle needs to be removed.  Only after that is it analysed and cancer confirmed (or not.)

Hoping it turns out to be something innocuous, but if it's bad news, it's not all bad news. It's highly curable and there's plenty of us around here to tell the tale.

Phil.

Hi

The Gp also referred my husband to have an ultrasound at the hospital. I asked if they could tell us there and then but the man doing the scan said he couldn’t and we would know by letter within 7-10 days.

We had only been left the hospital 30 minutes when my husband’s GP phoned to say that he had received the ultrasound report and they were pretty sure was cancer. 

From there we waited 8days to meet consultant and it al went from there.

good luck to your husband for his scan 

Thanks Phil, I think I’ve alteady stumbled across your blog on my many cancer related google searches! The waiting has been awful so that’s my fear that we still have a long way to go before finding out anything definitive! My husband is only 34 but has an existing medical condition that could complicate any treatment he may need. It’s such a worrying time but got to stay positive that it is at least very treatable 

Thank you and best wishes to your husband during his treatment. We will go into Monday not expecting any answers then and just wait and see 

Best of luck.  Unfortunately it's most prominent in 18 to 35 year olds, I'm 36. 

You do get a lot of funny looks knocking around the hospital where the majority of other patients are at least 15 years older. Often got told I was "too young" to be there !

Keep coming back if you have questions Let us know how you get on.

Hi,

i have just just been through this process myself. I had an ultrasound in late December and had to wait 10 days to go back to hospital to discuss the results. At that point (early jan) it was decided to do another scan 2 weeks later to see if the size had changed which it didn’t. I then went back to hospital for second meeting and the decision was made to remove the lump (at this stage all my markers had come back clear). I had an orchiectomy 3 weeks ago and found out on Tuesday that it was cancer and had a ct scan this week to check it hasn’t spread further. I should get the results back next week.

Its easy for me to say now as I had kind of prepared myself for the worst and processed my diagnosis but your husband is in the best hands now so try not to worry too much. Now he is on their radar, they will make sure he is treated as quickly as possible if it’s needed. The worst part of the whole thing for me has been the waiting for the results so distraction will really help (I found exercise helped me a lot). 

Best of luck for your results 

Hi

Can I ask what your recovery was like after your surgery? When could you drive etcC

My husband has his orchiectomy on the 27th of this month .

many thanks 

After coming out of surgery I didn’t really feel any pain or discomfort for the first 24 hours or so as they pump you full of pain releif. Even when the pain did kick in it was uncomfortable but not unbearable or as bad as I had expected. The next 3/4 days were bad for me as I kept peeing continuously but this was to do with an existing condition and eventually cleared up by the end of the first week.

The second week I started to feel normal again and was driving by day 8/9. Still had some minor discomfort but not enough to need any pain meds. I’m now coming up to week 4 and have started light jogs again and back at work since last week.

My advice to your husband would be to rest as much as poss week 1. Small walks around house / block helped me stay sane and is spose to help with restoring blood flow to the  area. 

Hope that’s helped. Any more questions we have feel free to ask. All the best for the op.

Many thanks for the reply.

Good luck for the rest of your recovery /journey .

Hi 

Just been reading your post. Can I ask what you were told after your first ultrasound? My husband has just been told after 10 day wait that nothing sinister but he will be monitored. Was this the same for you?

He is concerned as testicle definitely not right and we are waiting for letter with more information than would be given over the phone. We can't understand why he needs to be monitored if all ok?

Hope you are doing well with your recovery.