Choices

Yesterday, my wife and I traveled to the urology department at the UVa Medical Center. The purpose of this trip was to discuss what options I had in my treatment for my cancer. My father-in-law, who works in the cardiology department there, joined us. Basically I had three options:

1. Surgery: Testicular cancer is very predictable. From the testicles, it travels up towards a set of lymph nodes near my intestines and kidneys. There are actually two sets - one associated with each testicle. Although my blood tests and the markers the doctors looked for came clean, there is still a chance something microscopic got through. By removing the lymph nodes, they can biopsy and see if they are clean. If they are, great, I close that particular door and proceed to be observed. The observation segment would involve CT scans every 6 months for a few years, followed by yearly scans and at year 5, just doctor's visits. If the biopsy finds something, it's still good because we removed it already, and my observation schedule would be more frequent.

2: Observation only: I could avoid surgery and choose to be monitored only. I would submit myself to frequent blood tests and CT scans, with the amount decreasing over time. The downside to this option is if they find anything during one of these tests, I still have the surgery and start over with the observations.

3: Chemotherapy: Basically I was told that because of my situation and the type of tumor I had, this wasn't a recommended option. This of course, relieved me to no end.

Given the options (mainly between surgery and observation), I elected to have the surgery. It seems more finite to me and will allow me to return to a normal life sooner. Obviously, with all surgery, there are risks - the biggest one being that it can cause what is called retrograde ejaculation. What this means is that when I release sperm, instead of traveling the normal route, it gets redirected to my bladder. I won't feel a thing, but when Mer and I try to conceive, we'll need some help from medical science. This risk occurs in less than 10% of cases, so I thought that was acceptable. Anyway, the surgery is set for Feb 12st, with a pre-op date set for Feb 5th.