When you finish your radiation therapy for testicular cancer the next step is simple rest and recover for a while. Once a week for the next few weeks you will go and meet with your radiation oncologist just so she can run some labs to make sure you are recovering ok, she will also look at the radiated area to make sure that your radiation burn is getting better. After a month of weekly visits you get to start doing an appointment three months later for the next 2 visits, then every 6 months for the next year and then … Continue reading →

When you go into the radiation room to start radiation therapy for cancer you really do not know what to expect. You see this room with thick lead walls all the way around you, a giant machine that rotates around you and a metal table that you lay on. With testicular cancer they place you belly up on this table and put the lead egg on the testicle and penile area to protect it from the radiation. They line up the radiation machines guiding lights with the tattoos that you now have and then they go out and hide behind … Continue reading →

Ok well the pathology results are in and my husband definitely had testicular cancer. They sent him to have an MRI to make sure there was no enlarged lymph nodes in his body this was how they were going to stage the cancer. We lucked out his cancer was caught at stage one. I say lucked out because it could have been much worse. We made an appointment with a medical oncologist who would go over the treatment plan for him but the urologist felt pretty sure that he would not need chemotherapy but that was going to be up … Continue reading →

My husband did have some of the same questions that most guys will ask when you hear the diagnosis of testicular cancer now again I am going to warn you that these are direct questions so just be aware. First like any man his first question was if everything was still going to work if you know what I mean. The long and short of it is that the testicles are basically the sperm makers. He already had a vasectomy so we did not need to worry about that part. Everything else is and does work just fine. The doctor … Continue reading →

Ok so the man you love has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and you are wondering what to do next. I can just tell you what we did. My husband noticed his “problem” at night on a Wednesday and we called the same urologist that had performed his vasectomy 6 months before and he got him the very next morning. Again IF your man is in pain go to the ER and get checked because it could be the “tubes” going there are twisted and if they untwist quick enough you will avoid damage. When we saw the urologist he … Continue reading →

If your male loved one was doing a check on himself for testicular cancer and they noticed something. The first thing is stop don’t panic it could be something as simple as an enlarged lymph node. You still need to call the doctor and make sure they are checked as soon as possible. The good thing about testicular cancer is that when it is caught early it is very treatable. When you call the doctor the first thing they will do is a physical exam. The physical exam will be a basic exam where they will feel for enlarged lymph … Continue reading →

This is going to be a blunt conversation about testicular cancer. I will be using correct terms just wanted to give you a heads up. You may not know yet but my husband had been diagnosed with stage 0 testicular cancer in 2004. He was only 33 at the time. If you read my last entry he was right in the target area for testicular cancer. Testicular cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis among men 19-34. So if this is the case why it that doctor is are not talking to men and boys about how to check them … Continue reading →

Why is it when people think about breast cancer they automatically think that it is about women only? The reality is whether you are man, woman, child or dog if you have breast you can get breast cancer. It is true that women are 100 times more likely than men to get the breast cancer diagnosis. With women 1 out of 8 will get the diagnosis in their lives. OK think about that for a minute if you have 16 female friends 2 of them will be diagnosed. That is a very scary fact. Every year 1970 men in the … Continue reading →