Thank you Channel 4 for the excellent fundraising and
edutainment programming “Stand Up To Cancer” on Friday evening:
As you can imagine, this all took a little while to come to
terms with…
I first noticed something felt a bit different “down there” back
in August whilst having a shower – not a noticeable growth, the classic “pea-sized”
lump that you’re supposed to look for, but just a different texture - a certain
hardness in the structure of one testicle compared to the other. Also, once or twice when crossing my legs, I
noticed a painful twinge. Now this particular
ball had a history, having received a direct hit from an egg (or a golfball? –
it was dark at the time and I didn’t see it coming!); anyway, the object was
thrown from a moving car in Abingdon some 8 years ago, accompanied by some homophobic insults, as I was walking home from the pub with another man
after a bellringing practice night ...somewhat ironic that we were both husbands going home to our wives, but the
youths in question obviously felt the need to prove their own status as proud
heteros. I still have no idea whether
this old injury has been a factor, but I suspect that the ball in question had
probably shrunk in size since then.
However, as everything seemed to be working fine I hadn’t ever felt the
need to do a scientific comparison - one is always bigger than the other isn’t
it?
Anyway, next shower time it still felt a bit different so I
mentioned it to my wife (who is a health care worker) and we agreed that I would
go and see a doctor if it still felt “odd”, so after perhaps 10 days revealing nothing
conclusive either way, the appointment was made in early September. Even as I explained the problem to the young
female registrar (which was much easier than I had imagined), I wasn’t sure whether I might be wasting everyone’s time: it was
difficult to point to a visible lump and if I struggled to identify an exact area
with the benefit of feeling it ‘from the inside’ at the same time, then was she
really going to be convinced? However, she was very professional, understanding and supportive and I was referred for an ultrasound scan with the 2 week wait – which I
had to delay as we would not be back from our holiday break in Spain (...a pleasant distraction).
The ultrasound was a relief in a way because it showed
something was definitely not right, the good testicle showed as a smooth consistent
grey, whereas the other one looked like exploring a cave of stalactites and
stalagmites – a weird structure of dark caverns (liquid?) and solid walls. The man (this time) doing the scan took
various measurements and I could recognise coloured bits showing the Doppler effects
of blood flows, but he didn’t give me a running commentary. Anyway, a phone call from the GP surgery told
me that they had found a 2.8cm x 1.8cm growth (more like a grape than a pea?)
which we should assume was cancerous to be on the safe side.
Then another appointment 2 weeks later at the Churchill to
see the urology consultant who explained that removal was the only option. Any questions? ...unfortunately, no sensible ones: all I could
think of was whether I would have a sudden urge to invade Poland, but he had
probably heard that one before. So,
onwards to meet my personal nurse contact who gave me loads of useful info (MacMillan,
Maggies, etc), then off to give blood samples for the 3 markers (LDH, HCG, AFP) and to go
through the pre-op checks: weight, MRSA swab, blood pressure, ECG - I was
particularly pleased have a heartbeat of 49 despite the situation and to
explain that I was a runner, so that they wouldn't think that they might be losing me on the operating table.
Then 10 days to wait which brings us to last Friday and the
day of the op. I signed up for the
100,000 genome research project (apparently I may be one of only 2,200 a year and very much at the older end of the typical age group for testicular cancer) and gave my 3 blood samples which would be DNA sequenced along with the bad ball. Then I met my anaesthetist and one of the surgeons
who drew an incision line, and a big ‘R’ with arrows pointing to my right
testicle to make sure that they didn’t remove the wrong one (a good procedure
in my book!). I hadn’t really
appreciated that they would be cutting through a fair length of groin/stomach
muscle which is why I’m currently grounded for a week… and catching up with
blogs, etc whilst awaiting Friday to come around again for a CT scan and
further blood samples to be taken.
Anyway, thanks for all the prayer support and encouraging
messages. As this blog is primarily
theological, I will conclude by saying that God is right in the middle of this
and on the side of all who are fighting the pure evil that is cancer – not
least those who work in the medical professions. I’m also painfully aware that those with more
serious cancers will look on anyone with testicular cancer as having won the
lottery as it has one of the best likely outcomes – they are in my prayers more
than ever.
“…the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” (2 Cor 1:3b-4)
