Anyone know what "complete excision" actually means?

Hi Hammer77

Our situations sound very similar.  Mine also referenced 'classic seminoma - completely excised', which I interpreted as completely removed.  Did you also receive a staging (mine was pT1)?

I have my ONC appt on the 2nd August, so will hopefully find out more then.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike- my appointment is 2nd Aug too!, and a yes my staging was Pt1. Good luck for that meeting and hopefully we can connect afterwards. 

Cheers

Hammer77

Good luck for your appointment!

Hey Hammer77, how did your appointment go? 

Mine was as I expected really, choice between single carbo or surveillance, haven’t committed either way yet.

There was also something picked up on one of my lymph nodes during the CT. Was discussed at a local MDT and was not deemed an issue.  Needs to be discussed at an MDT at this hospital next week (much bigger hospital to where I had my I/O).

Oncologist will call early next week after the MDT to advise the outcome.  Need to have made the decision on carbo/surveillance by then, though if there are concerns on lymph it will likely result in another CT and possibly 2/3 sessions of BEP.

Still feeling positive! Hope your appointment was good!

Hi Mike

Glad that you are feeling positive! My appointment was as expected too, they confirmed a Stage 1 seminoma with no spread to rete testis and CT all clear. So the appointment became about my choice between surveillance and carbo as a one off. I must say the consultant and the nurse were absolutely superb.

I was quoted 12% chance of recurrence for surveillance only, which would be reduced to 4% after the treatment. I've opted for the carbo treatment as I want to do everything that is in my control to reduce the chances of recurrence, and i was also told the surveillance would be less often after the treatment which i think it standard.

So now i'm waiting for a date for my kidney function test (nuclear medicine test?) and date for the carbo. I must say it's hard to know what the best thing to do is but i'm also positive about today's meeting. 

Wishing you all the best for the outcome of the MDT meeting

Cheers

Hammer77

Hey Hammer77,

Just checking in to see how your journey is going?  Have you had your carbo yet?  How did it go?  How are you feeling now?

As for me, everything was on hold for 2 weeks whilst I went for a much needed break in Spain.  Saw the Oncologist the day after returning to the UK who advised the MDT outcome was that they weren't concerned about the lymph node at this time, so the choice of surveillance vs Carbo was still valid.

I went with the Carbo option like yourself, and had my appointment in Nuclear Med yesterday.  I am booked in for tomorrow (Friday) for my Carbo.

Would be good to hear how you are doing, as our journeys were very similar to date.

Cheers,

Mike

Hi Mike,

Glad to hear that your that there was nothing discovered in the lymph node, so you are in the same position as me. I had my Carbo dose August 25th so am day 15 in. I think i must have been lucky as I have had very few side effects. I did feel odd the first couple of days but not sure whether that was the Carbo or the anti-sickness drugs that they gave me (they were excellent and very regimented about what i needed to take, but also gave me extra in case i needed it). After about Day 5, I felt relatively normal and now feel back to normal. 

I went back to work on Day 12 (WFH) so took a week and half after the Carbo to recover and made sure I drank lots of water which did seem to help flush everything through, and i'm still doing that now.

The process itself was very easy, i was in and out in a hour, all very straightforward. The worst thing for me and i know i'm lucky, was i still have a fairly bruised arm and some pain leading up my arm, the nurse thinks its Phlebitis so not a major worry and it is getting better, but it was pretty bruised day 2. So I guess for advice anything you can do to reduce the bruising would be good.

So for me now it is surveillance with a blood test end of October and discussion with the Consultant (4 times a year, Year 1), with a CT scan 12 months after the first scan, and trying to go back to normality as much as i can.

Wish you the best for tomorrow

Cheers

Hammer77

Great to hear you are through it relatively unscathed.  Note taken about drinking lots of water, will definitely ensure I do that (mentioned quite a few times through others experience).

My arms already look like a pin cushion having had the kidney tests and full bloods taken yesterday

Just want to get these next few weeks over and done with, and then concentrate on moving forward with life.  Glad to hear you are doing well!

Cheers,

Mike