All new to me and scared

Hi Lewis—really sorry to hear you've been having such a difficult time. It's not the news anyone wants to hear, but like you've already mentioned, the survival rates of this disease are fantastic, and you have every reason to believe that this will be an unpleasant memory in just a few months. 

With your x-ray clear, it's likely that you are only stage 1 of the disease, meaning you are likely to be able to remove the cancer entirely with just the surgery—I hope you're feeling very relieved for this! The surgery is a simple day procedure (dropped off in the morning, home that afternoon/evening) and normally the recovery is very simple. My husband had his surgery on the Thursday and was back to work, no problems, by Monday. I even had to tell him to take it easy on the Saturday as he was trying to help out around the farm.

Once you have your surgery, they'll examine the testicle to find out exactly what kind of tumour is there, and this will inform them as to what further treatment they might offer. For instance, my husband's tumour was found to be slightly more aggressive (a mixed germ cell) and therefore had a greater chance of relapse. For this reason, they originally offered 1 round of BEP chemotherapy. Sometimes, you may be offered 1 round of Carboplatin (a gentler form of chemo) and on rare occasions, just surveillance. It really does depend on the make up of your tumour.

On blood markers——these are just proteins tumours can give off. Many types of testicular tumours don't give off any blood markers at all, so they don't really tell much of a story on their own. In fact, I've read stories on this forum of men with tumours measuring 10cm+ with no blood markers whatsoever. My husband's markers were elevated prior to surgery, and 2 of his 3 markers fell back to normal post surgery. 

My husband is set to start some chemo next Monday, so I'm still very much in the throws of this journey myself, but I'm really happy to help you with any queries or questions you have about surgery, blood markers etc. In the mean time, get on with things as best you can (easier said than done), spend time with friends and family (they'll get some normality back in your life!), and check with your urology team if you have any questions. A quick phone call can really alleviate your worries, so best to ask than stew in silence! 

WOW!! thank you soo much for this response, this has been amazing and gave a lot of positive reinforcement I needed. Especially with the x ray as they never mentioned a stage for it so it very reassuring that by getting the surgery the worst of it is over for now. that you for all the information.

I wish you husband all the best with the chemo treatment and can't believe how quickly he got up on his feet. I was recommended 4 weeks rest with working with 3-5 year olds so I'm definitely taking that time to recover properly. 

You’ll get your official staging once they examine the tumour/testicle and take all into consideration, but stage 1 is defined as no spread to lymph nodes or anywhere else. So if your x ray is clear it’s looking good! But as others have already told me on this forum, no matter your results, this disease is extremely curable! 

Thank you for the well wishes and keep us updated on how you’re getting on :) best of luck!! 

Hi bud,

I haven’t been on in a while and just seen your post. I know exactly what you’re going through. I was diagnosed in April, and had my right nut out in June. My chest scan was clear and bloods also slightly elevated but nothing major. I’ll tell you straight your worrying is the worst part of all of it, well it was for me. I couldn’t sleep or focus on anything. But the whole process was actually really smooth. After the op I was quite sore for about 4 weeks but nothing major. It was mentally that was so hard for me. Being on here is good as we’ve all been through it. I’m coming up to my 6 month check and fingers crossed everything’s ok. I had a single dose of chemo also which was my choice as it’s not a really heavy chemo so was pretty much back to normal within 3 weeks. My advice would be to write all you questions down, don’t be afraid to ask doctors anything. Half the time I felt silly but they’ve seen hundreds of not thousands of us in the same boat. My urologist literally told me than my anxiety is more likely to kill me!!! Keep your head up mate you’ve got this.

I was stage 1 classic seminoma btw, no spread anywhere apart from a little rete invasion. 

Thanks so much for sharing James. Yeah it’s absolutely the worry for me also with lack of sleep and giving high anxiety the last couple of days. It is reassuring to hear similar clear X-rays and markers that’s making me comfortable that I am still in early stage of it all. Think that’s my main worry with every tickle and feeling that I think it may of spread and the unknown.

but thank you so much again James. Will keep in touch. 

Yea tbh I’m still like that now! The main reason I came back on here tonight was because I thought I could feel a lump in my other ball!! I’m pretty sure it’s the epididymis though. Will go get it checked out anyway I think. But generally it’s such a curable cancer. Even in late stages it’s really curable. Amazing what they can do now! Take care mate

Yeah the amazing success rates is what I keep reminding myself about! Take care of yourself and fingers crossed all is well with the other ball 

Hi Lewis

You’ve had some great advice on here which I would echo. You’re going through an obviously anxious time but once you get your head round it and into survival mode you’ll be surprised how strong you are! I was shit scared of needles, operations etc but now I’m a super hero (well my wife said so = must be true). 

My diagnosis was similar to James (classic with  Rete invasion). I’d done so much research after my op that I already knew I was taking one shot of chemo before I met the oncologist for the first time. Hopefully you won’t need any further treatment but if you do you’ll be fine. 

It was pretty much this time last year that I found the lump in my right nadger. 3/4 weeks of denial and white wine later I went to the doctors. The rest is history. I had my 3rd all clear checkup bloods a couple of weeks ago. It did take me a good few months to feel almost back to normal but I was functional a few weeks after the chemo. Feeling tired occasionally during the day is the only the real symptom I have left now….oh plus a small scar and a half full ball sack.

Good luck buddy and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask!!