Testicular Cancer

[ShadownINja]

Decided to do a bit of research into testicular cancer.

So just how do they remove a testicle?

http://www.urologymatch.com/Orchiectomy.htm

Suddenly, I'm feeling quite light-headed.

[mybrainhurts]

Aaargh...you bastid

You utter, utter bastid...

Stand in the corner and give yourself a hard slap with a frozen turkey...

[Halb]

I fell for blue waffle, I'm not falling for this st

[ShadownINja]

Halb said:

I fell for blue waffle, I'm not falling for this st

I think you can guess from the post what it's about. Besides, it can't be that "bad". It passed through my moderate browser setting. And in a way, it's actually useful. Technically-speaking, it even shows you how to perform the operation yourself.

[hooperpride]

Am I odd in that I found that interesting?!

If I had to go for such a procedure I would find reading that quite reassuring.

[ShadownINja]

hooperpride said:

Am I odd in that I found that interesting?!

If I had to go for such a procedure I would find reading that quite reassuring.

It's certainly interesting, but I'd rather read that after the op. If I'd read it before the op, they wouldn't need anaesthetic to put me out.

Edited by ShadownINja on Sunday 14th March 23:36

[Nolar Dog]

I had a bilateral one of them.

It's (on it's own) not a big operation.

[ShadownINja]

Anyone have any experiences of testicular cancer, then? Prostate cancer seems more common in men so not so much about personal experiences online.

Nolar Dog said:

I had a bilateral one of them.

It's (on it's own) not a big operation.

I should imagine you did!

How long did it take before you were up and about? I am trying to work out if they would cut through a sheet of muscle (abs). That'd make life difficult down the gym, wouldn't it?

Edited by ShadownINja on Monday 15th March 15:13

[Burrow01]

Had one (luckily only one..) of these done, not really a big deal, was less painful than a hernia operation that I had done in the same area. 1 overnight stay in hospital and a couple of paracetamol were all I needed.

Oncologists are now trying to work out if I need to have some lymph glands removed, which is a bigger deal... Only look that up if you have a settled stomach - hoping they can conclude it's not necessary.

[ShadownINja]

Burrow01 said:

Had one (luckily only one..) of these done, not really a big deal, was less painful than a hernia operation that I had done in the same area. 1 overnight stay in hospital and a couple of paracetamol were all I needed.

Oncologists are now trying to work out if I need to have some lymph glands removed, which is a bigger deal... Only look that up if you have a settled stomach - hoping they can conclude it's not necessary.

All the best for the results. Did you discover the (presumably) lump early?

That's the annoying thing about cancer... it can spread so even after the (sometimes major) op, a patient is still not guaranteed to be out of the water.

Did you have a prosthetic testicle? According to my further research (once I'd encouraged my Sunday lunch to stay down), seemed that replacement was the standard procedure in some hospitals, even if the patient didn't ask about it.

[ShadownINja]

(PS I wonder if a mod could rename this thread to "Testicular Cancer" - probably a more useful thread title.)

Edit: thanks.

Edited by ShadownINja on Monday 15th March 18:27

[Burrow01]

ShadownINja said:

Burrow01 said:

Had one (luckily only one..) of these done, not really a big deal, was less painful than a hernia operation that I had done in the same area. 1 overnight stay in hospital and a couple of paracetamol were all I needed.

Oncologists are now trying to work out if I need to have some lymph glands removed, which is a bigger deal... Only look that up if you have a settled stomach - hoping they can conclude it's not necessary.

All the best for the results. Did you discover the (presumably) lump early?

That's the annoying thing about cancer... it can spread so even after the (sometimes major) op, a patient is still not guaranteed to be out of the water.

Did you have a prosthetic testicle? According to my further research (once I'd encouraged my Sunday lunch to stay down), seemed that replacement was the standard procedure in some hospitals, even if the patient didn't ask about it.

Yep found it pretty early, initially they were not sure it was a tumour, but recommended to have it out - which was the right thing to do as had been malignant (although it had already stopped being malignant apparently)

I did not bother with the prosthetic - did not seem worth the hassle and potential infection etc and I like the idea of telling tailors I "dress in the middle"

I've had a couple of CT scans post op, and one of my lymph glands is enlarged. They are not sure what the cause of this is, but it is where testicular cancer spreads to. It's not changed over 3 months and so they are trying to decide if an operation to remove it is necessary - have to go for a PET scan to see if the gland is metabolically active - if so out it comes... If not then we are drawing straws to see what to do - the lymph gland removal op is pretty nasty ( cut open stomach, move bowels etc to one side, remove glands hopefully not severing any important nerves, put everything back...)so not a straightforward decision

[ShadownINja]

Burrow01 said:

Yep found it pretty early, initially they were not sure it was a tumour, but recommended to have it out - which was the right thing to do as had been malignant (although it had already stopped being malignant apparently)

I did not bother with the prosthetic - did not seem worth the hassle and potential infection etc and I like the idea of telling tailors I "dress in the middle"

I've had a couple of CT scans post op, and one of my lymph glands is enlarged. They are not sure what the cause of this is, but it is where testicular cancer spreads to. It's not changed over 3 months and so they are trying to decide if an operation to remove it is necessary - have to go for a PET scan to see if the gland is metabolically active - if so out it comes... If not then we are drawing straws to see what to do - the lymph gland removal op is pretty nasty ( cut open stomach, move bowels etc to one side, remove glands hopefully not severing any important nerves, put everything back...)so not a straightforward decision

Jeez. That's pretty heavy as operations go! Good luck with the scan. Let us know how it goes.

Yes, from reading about it, the prosthetic can be a problem. I guess if you're happy with not having one, then who cares.

[Davel]

It misses out the bit about inserting a pickled onion to replace it!

[Shaw Tarse]

On a serious subject. always Check yourself

[Mark34bn]

I had an Orchidectomy in 2008, post op it didn't hurt at all. About a week later I coughed and it felt like the scar was trying to rip itself open...
My cancer had spread to the lymph (sp) gland, i had a grape sized growth beside my spine but 500ml of Chemo and two weeks of radiotherapy put paid to that. It just disappeared.
Been clear nearly two years now.

[ShadownINja]

Davel said:

It misses out the bit about inserting a pickled onion to replace it!

I'm not checking my original link as I've just had dinner but I did recall reading how (brace yourself if you didn't know this already) they invert the scrotum and push it up the inguinal canal (the thin "tube" through which the spermatic cord links to the testes), stitch the prosthetic testicle to the bottom of the scrotum and push everything back down through the inguinal canal.

Suddenly, I'm feeling a little light headed again.

I can't help thinking this whole technique was invented by a woman.

[ShadownINja]

Mark34bn said:

I had an Orchidectomy in 2008, post op it didn't hurt at all. About a week later I coughed and it felt like the scar was trying to rip itself open...
My cancer had spread to the lymph (sp) gland, i had a grape sized growth beside my spine but 500ml of Chemo and two weeks of radiotherapy put paid to that. It just disappeared.
Been clear nearly two years now.

Ouch! And phew!

[Acehood]

I don't know about the testicle removal but I have experience of testicular cancer and thought I'd just vent a bit because I haven't got the energy to actually talk to anyone. Somehow mine ended up in my chest as tumour. Had surgery in December and have just had the first bit of chemo. It's called BEP chemo and you get 3 days of chemo in hospital, go home, then go abck in 6 days for an injection, then go back in another 6 days or so for one more injection. Week off and it starts again. It feels like I'm constantly at the hospital/doctors having stuff done.

I'm only 23 and probably had the tumour for well over a year before it caused any symptoms. I still don't really get how it ended up in my chest - but it's apparently a very rare form of testicular cancer.

Chemo is really ripping my body apart though, it's tough to deal with only weeks after being bed-bound from surgery. Unfortunately it's the only option for me now as they couldn't take all of the cancer cells out with surgery. Above all I'm finding it really hard to stay motivated. I was pretty positive before but it really hits you hard once you start chemo. Never expected it to be this bad and it's not even the end of the first cycle yet - I've been told the 2nd one is almost always worse.

There's another guy who's on the same treatment as me in hospital, similar age but he's had the testicle removal operation. From what I can gather it was just an outpatient procedure and he didn't really find it that bad. He said the scar on my chest looked far more painful than having his ball lopped off.

[ShadownINja]

Acehood said:

I'm only 23

!!!

That must have come as a shock to you. I'm confused as to how it's related to your chest - not saying you're lying; just curious. Thought it could vaguely be related to the kidneys as that's where they start off in the foetus, don't they? Where abouts in the chest did they find the tumour?

If you find you're not coping as well as you'd like, have you tried speaking to anyone at your local Macmillan centre? You might be able to speak to a friendly ear, or perhaps a trained counsellor.