Testicular Tumor and my story

dendenz

Hello, most of you probably dont know me, I am an occasional user of boards.ie! Just thought I would share my experience with you. About a month ago at the end of July I noticed my left testicle had swollen to twice the size it normally should be. I thought nothing of it and said to myself "probably an infection,give it time and the swelling will go down".Unfortunatley I left it for ten days, went to Carlow on the razz for a weekend and came back the Bank Holiday Monday and went to bed as I was hungover from partying, woke up Tuesday morning and my testicle was sore and killing me. I decided I had to do something about it, I spoke to my parents and I made the decision to go to the doctor, he was closed (my own GP was on a half day) so I took a decision and went to the A and E in Mullingar general hospital. The doctor took one look and said infection. I was relieved but he was'nt happy and got a second opinion, the second doctor wanted an ultra sound done. They did atheultra sound and low and behold what did they find? A Tumor. Luckily it was contained within the left testicle. SO I was kept in over night, done CT Scans,urine and blood tests, X Rays. I was sent home for a couple of days and transferred to Tallaght on the Sunday after the Bank Holiday. They confirmed it was a tumor and the following Monday after being prodded and poked by several different doctors they done an operation and took it out. I have to go for an appointment with the Urologist to find out if its cancerous or benine, they will have all the blood test results but whatever it is its easily treated!Three weeks on I am healthy, I had a slight infection, was in a lot of pain but now I am going out to celebrate my 22nd birthday tonight.

I am not attention seeking or seeking pity merley pointing to all men, please examine your testicles every now and again, people are embarassed to talk about this. The only reason I ever examined myself was my mother always preached about good health and is open minded. I had one testicle removed but trust me my sex life is in no way affected, I am still a normal healthy young man. If you notice any irregularities go to the doctor.

Thanks

Dennis O Rourke

PS If anyone is going through anything similar PM me or see your GP. Dont clam up!

Suaimhneach

Fair play for sharing your story and raising awareness.

Sleipnir

I don't understand why men can be embarrassed to talk (or even think about it)
More common than breast cancer and look at all the media coverage that gets.
Not to mention radio presenters on billboards advertising free screening around the country.

irlirishkev

I'm not embarrassed to talk about it, and neither are most of my mates. There are a lot of people out there who wouldn't know what to look for though, and who wouldn't dream about striking up a conversation about it..

It's quite simple. If in doubt, like everything else, go see your GP.

Good to hear you got through all that Dendenz

Kev.

NeoSlicerZ

Fair play to you for posting about it.. and hope the loss of one testicle doesn't affect you too much 0_o

climaxer

Thanks for sharing you're story Dennis. Great that you were able to talk to your parents and get the support you needed. I have a daughter and son. I already have a very close relationship with my daughter and hope to have the same with my son (who will be 2 in two weeks ). HAPPY BIRTHDAY - have a great time tonight!

jesus_thats_gre

* This is a childish response and I totally appreciate the message you are trying to convey

/I examine me balls all the time

dendenz

thanks people


Jesus that great... not a childish response at all, if it gets the ,message across its well worth it, I am already nicknamed the one ball wonder among my friends lol! Anyways will be hopefully merry tonight

Tippex

Fair play to you for posting this.

I was in a similar situation as you but I was embarrassed and left if for a number of months until I could tolerate the fear no longer. I had to bite the bullet and get it seen to as it turned out I had an epidimal cyst which was minor. No lasting or adverse effects and I would certainly recommend DO NOT LEAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS FOR MONTHS as I did. Anyone in a similar situation Get it seen to immediately (it could well be a matter of surviving or not) don't even think about it get it sorted, Don't let your pride get in the way.

impr0v

I had a persistant pain and a definite hardness in one of them about a year ago, went to my gp to get it checked out. Thought it would be alright getting them out for her, as she's mid-fifties or so (though there was rumours of her liking a bit of younger meat). Imagine my surprise to discover she was on holidays and that the person subbing for her was a fairly attractive recently qualified doctor of roughly my own age. After some mutually embarrassing fiddling, she diagnosed peri-something-itus or basically an infection in the associated pipework, and prescribed a course of anti-biotics. It took ages to go away, leading me back to get the fondling I had originally sought from the usual GP about a month later, but she diagnosed the same and it eventually went. I guess the moral of the story is that there can be other reasons than the worst one for having a pain in your nuts, and that there are cheaper ways to have women play with them.

jesus_thats_gre

Getting a nice female doctor to do it certainly sounds like a good story..

Sleipnir

dendenz wrote:

thanks people


Jesus that great... not a childish response at all, if it gets the ,message across its well worth it, I am already nicknamed the one ball wonder among my friends lol! Anyways will be hopefully merry tonight

Well, at least you're taking it with good humour!

Healio

Tippex wrote:

I had an epidimal cyst which was minor.

what does this look like and how is it dealt with?

alleepally

I'd like to echo the previous posters. Glad to see you are so positive. There should be the equivalent of the breast check service which women have. There's far more awareness of breast cancer than testicular cancer.

Tippex

Healio wrote:

what does this look like and how is it dealt with?

Healio it is essentially a growth around the testicle that should no be there, but it can also be in the vas deferens (spelling) essentially once it is diagnosed the only treatment is removal of the cyst under General anaesthetic.

For more info http://www.medhelp.org/forums/urology/archive/3306.html

Healio

Tippex wrote:

Healio it is essentially a growth around the testicle that should no be there, but it can also be in the vas deferens (spelling) essentially once it is diagnosed the only treatment is removal of the cyst under General anaesthetic.

For more info http://www.medhelp.org/forums/urology/archive/3306.html

Cheers i was hoping there were ways with out surgery, can i ask where the urologist you went to practices?

Victor

Someone I know had a testicular cyst years ago.

Did you get a (plastic?) replacement to keep things balanced?

AdMMM

Ah... another excuse for me to touch myself at night!

On a serious note though, well done for sharing the study and I'm relieved that you got through it okay!

dendenz

I opted against the prosteesis (think thats how its spelt) as it causes infection and might get lost inside me say doctors

Tippex

Healio wrote:

Cheers i was hoping there were ways with out surgery, can i ask where the urologist you went to practices?

To be honest I cannot remember who I was under as its about 10 years ago but I was in St.Vincents.

Jamesobrady

Yeah i had to go get mine checked too about 2 years ago.
It was a male doctor and everything was done very professionally and actually he had me by the balls and laughing. Funny guy...very reassuring and human about it all. That was in limerick....the doctor centre in the city...can't think of the street...there's a motorbike shop around the corner....king st? .......and docks nightclub is not too far away either.

My silly fears were either having a really cute doctorette do it and me get an erection....or have a guy do it and me get an erection...from...nerves i mean, obviously. I get erections when i get nervous.....

Anyway...it was nothing...i was in pain i later found out because a guy kicked me in the nuts in Icon and i was too drunk to remember. Was a guy i worked with. Sound guy.

BrianD3

Good post dendenz, thanks for sharing your experience. I hope everything works out OK for you. I don't check my balls as often as I should, will check them more often now after reading your post.

Sleipnir wrote:

More common than breast cancer and look at all the media coverage that gets

Actually, that's wrong. Testicular cancer is very rare - far rarer than breast cancer in women. However testicular cancer is the most common cancer in males below the age of about 35.

The cure rate for testicular cancer is also a lot better than for most other cancers. IIRC, the cure rate is virtually 100% for tumors that are contained within the testicle and haven't spread to other organs.

BrianD3

DapperGent

Had a bit of a nether region scare myself this month, something wasn't quite right with one of my testicles so I popped myself off to the GP who was sufficiently concerned to send me to a consultant who was sufficiently concerned to send me for an ultrasound. Both kinda going - "It's probably nothing but..."

Cue a couple of days of sick stomach stress before the all clear. Thank fúck.

One thing about the whole process that annoyed me was the cash aspect. I have a really good health insurancy plan thingy but neither the consultant nor the ultrasound were covered. The consultant fair enough I suppose, but having a test for the purpose of trying to detect a suspected tumour not covered by a good health plan is taking the piss. I'm lucky enough to be in a good job and to have spare money and stuff but there are plenty of young men aren't and don't.

I wonder how many young fellas when faced with a proposed bill of €350 for one day and at short notice either:

(a) Couldn't be arsed.
(b) Simply couldn't afford it.

Just a scary thought I had. The money was well worth it for me peace of mind stylee and I think I might be able to claim it back at the end of the tax year, but I just thought what a different circumstance it would be if it was a couple of years ago when I was struggling even to pay my rent.

My girlfriend said it's a sure sign you're getting old when you start complaining about the health services. I indignantly reminded her that I had only just turned 26. But I died a little inside.

mrhappy42

Its great to see such honesty, maybe its easier over the internet.

I'm stuck at home with a broken leg. Was out paintballing yesterday and snaped my ankle. Spend the afternoon in casualty. Was feeling sorry for myself, however these stories put things back into perspective. Thanks for sharing, really appreciated.

dendenz

Its nice to see other blokes can share their experiences, fair dues lads. I have to go get the results tommorrow of weather its cancerous or benine (the latter I hope)!


Was actually going paintballing next Saturday! Anyways hope the legs gets better!

dendenz

Got the results today. It was cancerous but that has not stopped me being positive. I made a decesion to go back to work tommorrow for a coupleof hours to get back into the swing of things. I had my hopes raised big time and it set me up for the biggst down fall ever. Have a meeting with an oncologist in the next week in Tallaght to find out if I need chemo or not, need to go for blood tests for a month for the next year and scans for the next thre months for the next year.

mrhappy42

dont know what to say. power to you. take some time out might not be bad idea, thats some shock.

dendenz

Just an update, got an appointment from Tallaght hospital after waiting for at least two weeks, we contacted the local TD who got on to them straight away as they were delaying amking an appointment. I got in contact with the Irish cancer society who have put me in contact with another group called MAC, men against cancer, they were very helpful and as a lot of them had testicular cancerI was able to exchange experiences and talk to people who had similar experiences which I have to admit helped me greatly.

ChipZilla

Not being a smartarse to the original poster, but do they give you a plastic ball to even up the symmetry down there?

dendenz

They offered me a prostehesis but I opted against it as they said it might cause infection or get lost inside me !

Scruff

Sorry to hear the result dendenz but stay positive, hope things work out for ye! Fair play to ye as well for posting yer story.

I had a scare myself about 3-4 years ago. On and off i could find this hard lump around my right testicle but it seemed to move, i couldnt tell if it was on the testicle or not. Went to a doctor and he couldnt find anything. was still apprehensive cause i could still feel it so i went to another for a second opinion. He found it alright and got me an appointment to have an ultrasound done in Blackrock clinic the next day. Went in got it done. the lump showed up alright but it turned out to be a small cyst on the tubes going into the testicle and nothing to worry about.
Cost me about £150 to get it done privately but i'm glad i did. Put my mind at ease, no having to be put on a waiting list and it was no harm having a queit couple of weeks to cover the cost.
forgot to claimit back of the vhi as well.doh. :rolleyes:

ChipZilla

dendenz wrote:

or get lost inside me !

Holy crap - I don't like the sound of that.
:eek:

Best of luck with the whole thing anyway dedendz - it's scary stuff alrght!

surfboy

Great to see your post on this! The more coverage this get's the better.

Testicular cancer got my mate, was quite a few years ago, (he was 19 at the time, about 14 years ago) was a time when none of this was mentioned in public really, and he didn't mention it either. Eventually, when he went to the doc (only after he was so sore that he could hardly move), they removed the cancer, but after months of all type's of chemo (sp?) treatment, they found out he was riddled with cancer. He was told that if he had come earlier there would have been a better survival chance.

If he had only read something like this he'd probably be alive today to tell the tale!

dendenz

Well went to the doctor yesterday. The docotor said he believes there is a 70% chance it could reoccur again as it reached into my blood vessels in the testicle. However he said we caught the cancer extremley early, said I wont need chemo at the moment, will need blood tests every three weeks for the next two years and scans every three months for the next 2 years also. The head nurse of the oncology department was someone we knew so she has arranged for me to get the blood tests done i the local surgery with the GP, she will hold on to them an bring them up to the hospital. I was relieved yesterfay to find out I had the all clear for the moment, between thinking of freezing sperm,being left infertile, uncertainty, out of an esablished routine I was wrecked but duly celebrated with a new wardrobe and with family and friends last night (four jd n coke and 5 pints to be exact) !! The tumor is gone for the moment but I have to watch myslf like a hawk so wait and see...

smoke.me.a.kipper

fair play to the way your handling this.

kudos.

adjodlo

Jesus that's so frightening. Just wondering though, with cancer are you likely to know that there's something wrong with you or could the effects be very subtle. Like any reports I've ever heard of have always been of people like you with a lot of pain, or blood turning up in urine/stool etc, but does a lot of cancer spring up silently?

dendenz

It is silent in a way, I only noticed when I started examining myself. Funnily enough I have found out two of my friends have gone in for operations in the past for undescended testis and this is the biggest cause of cancer apparently of the testis.

Emerson

dendenz.. hows your diet?
Cancer feeds off sugar, and its equivalents so its best to avoid particularly refined sugar containing foods and any refined grains (white rice, breads etc). This will hugely improve your immune systems ability to fend off the cancer as sugar almost completely shuts it down for about an hour after its eaten in any reasonable amount.
http://www.mercola.com/2000/oct/8/sugar_cancer.htm

I'm sure you know the drill.. plenty of fruits and raw/lightly cooked veggies (emphasis on green veg.. e.g. broccoli, cauliflower, boc choy) to replace the above. They're packed with antioxidants, phytochemicals, vitamins & minerals that your body needs to kick the cancer out. Garlic/Onion are especially good for stimulating the immune system. Also, things called Broco-Sprouts.. relatively a relatively new thing on the health scene have been shown to be 100 times more powerful than broccoli in fighting cancer. I've started seeing them on the veg shelves in Tescos here:
http://www.mercola.com/2003/may/24/broccoli_cancer.htm
http://www.satevepost.org/issues/2004/0102/broccolisprouts.shtml

Cod Liver oil is also great to help treat cancer and for general health. The omega 3 fatty acids are anti-inflammatory/anti cancer agents and the Vitamin D (of which most of us are lacking, unless we get at least 15 mins of sunshine every day) boosts the immune system.

This will all help... unless of course you're doing these things already..
Hope you make a speedy recovery, wish ya the best of luck & good health!

adjodlo

dendenz wrote:

It is silent in a way, I only noticed when I started examining myself. Funnily enough I have found out two of my friends have gone in for operations in the past for undescended testis and this is the biggest cause of cancer apparently of the testis.

Yes but you had umissable symptoms. What I mean is does a lot of cancer occur without any noticeable symptoms? Or would you always know that something is seriousl wrong with you?

dendenz

Emerson cheers for the advice... the doctor told me to go on as I was, I do eat a lot of garlic and onions however I should include a couple of green leafy vegetables .

Adjo.... I am not sure toi be honest , maybe there all the sympthoms with cancer are obvious, I would'nt know about any other cancers to be honest ! (not coming across smart)

dendenz

Just an update, have been clear for three months now but have an appointment with the oncologist tommorrow afternoon. Am sh1tting bricks !

Rang the Irish cancer society,as there is only 90 cases a year on average roughly very few people have this cancer. Asked about the support group but got the impression that they would rather older men than some 22 yo bloke .

Went to a mens health seminar, my father hyped it up and said I would meet like minded people. Quite the opposite in fact, mostly over 60 with heart disease , diabetes etc.

Bri

Fair play to ya for taking the time out to post this.

Just out of interest - did you keep your mobile in your pocket the whole time? I don't wanna get into the mobile debate I'm just interested cos I realise I keep mine in the same pocket all day every day for years...

chrismon

good luck with it tomorow mate.
hope you get the all clear

dendenz

Funnily enough I always did(stil do force of habit) but would I not get affected in other areas aswell though? Good point !

Healio

Just to inform everyone, i posted some stupid comments in this thread before, but someone recognised me and informed my family, and now i have been to the doc and have an ultrasound due in january, so fingers crossed it wont be too bad, and thanks for all those who tried to help me, i was ignorant before but i am thanking you all now, and if anyone reading this is in the same position get it checked!! trust me the weight off the shoulders is worth it.

P.s. BEST OF LUCK DENDENZ

patrickmooney

Hey all, just noticed this thread. I too discovered a "lump" on my testicle only a few weeks back, did nothing for about 2 weeks, worried a little, but was made go to the doctor by the better half. Last week I went for my ultrasound (went private as it was quicker), thankfully it only turned out to be a cist. I won't be get the full results until next week. It's a little frightening to hear of so many men in their 20s finding lumps etc. This is certainly not something for "older" men to worry about. At 24 I certainly didn't think I'd be getting a testicular ultrasound.

Healio

you can get it quicker on private, eh?? the doc never said nout to me!!

patrickmooney

yep.....beaumount private do it....you just need to phone them, they make the appointment over the phone. I had mine within 5 days of making the appointment. Costs €100, which as out patient VHI won't cover. But your MED1 might...have to look into that.

Healio

ah feck it im in no distress, and it'll be better for a day off after christmas!!
P.S. im only 18 withthese problems.

Victor

patrickmooney wrote:

yep.....beaumount private do it....you just need to phone them, they make the appointment over the phone. I had mine within 5 days of making the appointment. Costs €100, which as out patient VHI won't cover. But your MED1 might...have to look into that.

I was able to get a next day appointment for a liver ultrasound in the Charlemont clinic. (IR£80? about 3 years ago)

Didn't get a copy of the picture though.

Healio

in all fairness you need a liver more than your balls!!