In the Beginning

2 years ago

Dave (my husband) found a lump on his left testicle.  He called me right away freaking out because he knew, without a doubt, that he had, as he was so eloquently calling it,  ball cancer.  He absolutely knew this because he had spent hours already picking the brain of Dr. Google and he knew for a fact that he had ball cancer. Naturally, he was all over that sucker like white on rice until able to get to a doctor.

The doctor thought it was a spermatocele (an infection) and prescribed antibiotics, but recommended getting an ultrasound "just to be on the safe side".  With being an over-the-road truck driver, ultra sound appointments that fit the VA's schedule are difficult to come by.  By the time he was able to even consider an ultrasound appointment, the lump went away.  So obviously it must have been an infection and the antibiotics took care of it, right?

Spring 2014

The lump reared its ugly head again....same place, same size.

Return trip to the VA...diagnosed as prostatitis (a common condition among truck drivers) and sent him home with some anti-inflammatory drugs.  But, again, recommended getting that ultrasound "just to be on the safe side." And, once again, being an over-the-road truck driver leaves little time for scheduling such things as ultrasounds because, lets be honest, ultrasound machines apparently don't function on weekends.

This time, however, the lump did not go away.  It did, in fact, grow in size.

September 5, 2014

Dave has now had a local job for a few months and is FINALLY able to get to the doctor for an annual exam. (Yay for local jobs, by the way.)  While at his regularly scheduled appointment, his doctor notices that he never was able to get that ultrasound, so they go ahead and send him "just to be on the safe side."  He's told the doctor will call him back sometime next week to review the results.

September 6, 2014

A fine Saturday morning interrupted by a phone call from the Urologist at the VA telling Dave that he needs to come in first thing Monday morning to discuss his results.  Uh oh.  Doctors don't call on Saturday's if it's good news...especially VA doctors.

September 8, 2014

Lump in testicle is, in fact, a tumor that is most likely cancerous.  Blood work (tumor markers) and a CT scan will be scheduled for the afternoon, then admittance to hospital, then surgery to remove the testicle the following day. Awesome.

(Speeding ticket on the way back to the VA for admittance:  not scheduled!  FYI: the Georgia State Patrol does not care that you're headed back to a hospital to be admitted for surgery to remove your suspected cancerous testicle...they'll write you a damn speeding ticket anyway.  Bastards!)

Tech doing the CT scan said that (even though he's "not really able to say anything") he didn't see anything abnormal on the CT scan besides, of course, the testicle.

Well he sure was wrong!

September 9, 2014

During morning rounds, we were informed that the CT showed two enlarged lymph nodes in his abdomen...indicative of the spread of testicular cancer.  Whatever was said after that, quite frankly, was a blur.  I have no idea what the doctors said after that.  Surgery was scheduled for that afternoon and, pending the pathology report on the tumor, chemotherapy was imminent. Begin the conversations about fertility after chemo, sperm banking, "were you planning on having more children?", adoption, more sperm banking, insemination....blah blah blah.... (that's a lot of gross words, I apologize!)

Surgery went fine.  The doctors removed the testicle and part of the tubing (epididymis).  Stayed overnight in the hospital (against the doctor's wishes) and was ready to go home the next day.

Cue 2 weeks of recovery before follow-up appointment.

SUPER FUN TIMES!