Originally posted by: oboeguy
Required reading
^^^^^^^ Lance Armstrong went through the same disease when he was young too. Best of luck to you and may you become a survivor like Lance!
Edit: spelling grr
This was the first thing I did. My mother came in town, this is after the surgery, and we had gone to the mall. She ended up picking this book up for me and trust me, it was a great read. It really helped comfort me as a lot of what he wrote about, I was going through as I was reading it. It was nice to hear the same vocabulary that the doctors were using. I'm not an avid reader by any means, but I finished that book within a week. I just couldn't let it go.
Something interesting that I'd like to mention is this: Back in November my dad surprised my brother and me with laptops (he also treated himself to one, too). Which ones you ask? HP Special Edition L2000. These are the LiveStrong laptops (great laptops with AMD Turion processor!). I can't help but believe that this was more than just a coincedence (sp?). I have worn my LiveStrong bracelet almost non stop since I had gotten the laptop (it came with one. $50 was also donotated to Lance Armstrong's foundation for each laptop).
Originally posted by: Chrono
hm..... how did you notice you had testicular cancer?
To anyone that might get squimish, skip over this next paragraph or so.
My urologist told me, after I told him my story, that he had never heard of anyone having a similar story like mine. It all started on a normal Sunday. I had a friend over and he and I were watching TV and chit chatting. I had gotten up to do something and then I went to sit back down and just as my bottom hit my seat I got the sharpest pain in my groin, as if I had just been kicked there by a NFL punter. I remember grimacing and trying to avoid giving my friend any hint that I was in pain as I was somewhat embarassed. I had no clue what had caused it. Did I sit on them? I had no clue. So I sweated out the rest of the visit as I knew he had to leave for work in not too long. Just after he left I dropped my pants to investigate. I saw nothing. No redness, no swelling or bruises. I was still in pain though. I would continue to be in pain that night and the rest of the week. It was so bad that I pretty much had to waddle. It hurt to have my boxers rub against them as I walked.
Throughout that next week it began to swell. I wasn't absolutely sure that it was swollen until it was nearly twice the size. I didn't see a doctor until a 10-12 days after that first Sunday because I, for whatever reason, just figured or hoped that it would go away. It wasn't until I hopped on WebMD.com and typed in "swollen testicle" and became absolutely freightened to see testicle cancer, hernia etc. etc. as possible culprits. The very next day I went in to the university health services center. That doctor kind of put some false hope in me that it was just an infection. He ordered an ultrasound and put me on antibiotics. Let me tell you, after each exam and ultrasound the pain got worse. It continued to grow until the point that I could cup the entire thing in my hand from the tip of my middle finger to the base of my hand. By that time I had already been sent to the Urologist who eventually performed my surgery. The first meeting with him he kind of knocked my hopes down but I'm glad because it gave me time to prepare for the inevitable. He told me he knew it was cancer. The ultrasound showed that only the testicle was swollen, not the epididimus which the "infection" would have had to go through before getting to the testicle. So for the testicle to be infected but not the epididimus, it just didn't make sense.
Anywho, sorry I don't feel like making a cliff notes for that. But thank you to anyone who does infact take the time to read it. And thanks to everyone who has given me their support!
). I don't think they did chemo with him, I'm pretty sure he got radiation treatment.
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