Testicular Cancer

The doctor came round, marked on my left thigh what testicle it was you know that they were going to be operating on. Then a consultant came in, he said that did I know what the operation entailed? I said, "Yes removing the lump." He said, "A radical orchidectomy," I said "No removing the lump," he said "Yeah." 

My girlfriend commented on the look on my face, when he used radical I knew that it wasn't probably just going to be removing the lump. So then my doctor came round with a consent form and said, 'Did I have any questions before I signed it?' I said "Yeah one big question that's burning inside me what are you actually going to do?" He said, "We're removing the testicle." And I just looked at him in amazement. 

And I remembered back to the Monday that I was told that I was going to have the operation and I remember his exact words "We are going to remove the lump." At no point did he say that we are going to remove the testicle. So I sat there in amazement. I signed the form. I wasn't going to go back. I knew that it was the best thing for me. He said that operating on a testicle with a lump on it, if it was cancerous that would encourage the cancer to spread. So I then went on to ask him if it was cancer what would then be the procedure. He said that I'd be asked back in for a CT scan and then obviously further treatment if required. So again I just, it all came to me, it was three hours till the operation and they tell me this. It was not good timing.
 

Because I had the double orchidectomy, when I woke up I was in quite a bit of pain, just because you can't even favour one side or the other. And that was another thing that surprised me is that nobody said is that the incisions are actually taken on your lower stomach  where you'd think if you've got testicular cancer you know you'd go through the scrotum. I, I just assumed that it would be through that, so that surprised me afterwards.

So basically you gave him permission to remove both testicles?

To do whatever, whatever he thought was necessary and the upshot was that my left testicle was completely removed and my right testicle was partly removed. The reason for saving part of the organ is to allow the body to continue to generate some hormones otherwise, then you might as well take, take the pair of them off. So he, he was very pleased with his, his work and I then got referred to a cancer specialist at a different hospital.

And I think it was about a, about a month from when I first felt ill to when I had surgery for the second time. Which was quite strange. I, I think it, my blood tests were normal, my blood tests were, they had taken a number when I first went to hospital, all the way through and it wasn't until, I think the week before my operation that my cancer markers went up again. And then the week after my operation they went down. So it was quite strange. But that was a, a bit of a shock.
 

So after a, sort of a few hours of sitting about in the waiting area I was taken through for my surgery. It was quite bizarre because I'd never had a general anaesthetic before; I was quite fascinated to see what it would feel like. And it was quite peculiar, I was taken to the sort of preoperative area, spoke to the anaesthetist, we discussed you know allergies, that sort of thing. 

They, they put a drip in my hand and then took me through to the operating theatre. He was then discussing with me what he was gonna do. He, he injected the anaesthetic into my, into the drip and said 'Just you know, breathe normally,' and I could feel, I could actually feel the anaesthetic actually, it was almost like I was inhaling it, I could feel it in my lungs almost. And then there was just ' You know, lights out. 

So I came to some time later, to be honest I'm not entirely sure; I was still quite groggy from the anaesthetic, to be offered tea and toast from the, from one of the nurses. I thought that's a great swap one testicle for some tea and toast! The urologist you know came to see me in the post operative area and said the operation had gone very well, you know she was very pleased with it, with how it had gone and that was quite nice because you know it was nice to see that person so soon after the operation and you know and get that, even just that small nugget of reassurance, just to sort of see you through that initial period after the operation.
 

I was, I came out of the hospital on the Thursday - and I like to swim a lot for health reasons - and on the following Monday I was swimming and by the end of the week I was back to my swimming my usual mile a day. There's no, there was no pain whatsoever and in actual fact things like swimming and having hot baths helps it to heal up. As I said the only thing was a nuisance was when the pubic hairs were growing back, that was the only thing that caused me any - uncomfortable. And they seemed to catch on to your underwear and everything else so all that, so that was basically the only thing. No, there is nothing to worry about. There is really nothing to worry about.
 

Yes after I had the day surgery I was possibly going to get home that night but I was still too groggy from the anaesthetic. I was getting a reasonable amount of pain and I could've either come home or been given morphine for the pain I was having, and I decided to take the morphine, which they wouldn't let me go home with, so I stayed in overnight and I was allowed home the following afternoon. 

Now the way the surgery left you, it was explained to me by the surgeon beforehand that I would be extremely uncomfortable afterwards and he was right, there's no doubt about it. I had 15 staples, yes 15 staples which, metal staples in the area of the surgery er from on the left side a couple of inches below the belly button, stretching down to the area of the tumour. Now that, there was, the area of the wound had to be dressed every day, which involved the local nurse, practice nurse to come out to the home and bathe the area and change the dressing. Which again is another part of the illness, a complete stranger is coming round to your house and changing dressings in a very private part of your anatomy but again you get used to it very quickly. 

I found it difficult to sit up for a couple of days. You can't really bend over, put your shoes on, put your socks on, it leaves you a little bit immobile for a few days. But after that I found things came back quite quickly in terms of I'd say about a week later I was walking around, certainly wouldn't have considered (laughs) running or doing any sort of exercise for sort of, for three weeks to a month but after a week you're quite mobile.