greg_oz
01-03-08, 07:32 PM
Hi there.
I posted Here (http://www.tc-cancer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7111) on tuesday, as I awaited my second I/O... I had it yesterday, and it went great. I was at the hospital at 8am, had the surgery at 10am and left for home at 3pm.
Interesting thing before the surgery: the surgical urologist who did the surgery offered to extract the testicle, get an immediate pathology on a sample of the tumor and then, based on that, make a decision whether to keep it in, or to remove it. His and my opinion was it is a very small chance that it is benign. This is due to the fact that I have had 2 ultrasounds, 2 weeks apart, and while we cannot be sure, they show the mass to have grown in that time. Also, psychologically, I did not want to deal with the uncertainty of having the testicle back in there, even if there is a benign mass.
So, I decided to ask him to remove it, as long as there was a mass there, which there indeed was. After the surgery, he told my family that I did a great job in finding the tumor early, as he confirmed that the testicle did not have any tactile lumps on the outside, and it did not seem exceptionally 'hard' to him. Apparently the tumor was growing from the inside.
I appreciated the option that he presented, however. Earlier he also said he wanted to determine if he could spare some of the testicle tissue, but the ultrasound showed that the tumor had overtaken too much of the testicle to leave any behind. I really liked his approach.
The only real problem was that my two-and-a-half year old, who stayed with my in-laws last night, came home today. My wife, told her that 'daddy has an owie and is laying down'. So, my wife brought her in, she saw me in bed, and started crying hysterically for about 20 minutes straight, which completely broke my heart. She would not leave the room, but would just lie on the floor and bawl. This made me break down also. My wife did her best to calm my daughter (and me!) down, and eventually the little one calmed down, and layed in bed with me and ate lunch. So, we called my mom, who came over and picked her up, so she will stay with my folks tonight now instead of being here. This was a complication I did not have to worry about 10 years ago with my first I/O. Of course, I will not be able to pick her up for 3-4 weeks while I heal, which I don't think she will understand either. It will be interesting to see how it goes with her, especially if I need treatment.
Anyone have any advice on how to help a toddler through this? I imagine it's tough for a child to see their parent in an incapacitated state. She probably thinks my wife and I are infallible (until she turns 10 or so and thinks mom and dad are dorks)
Other than that, I'm just sitting around the house, with my wonderful wife waiting on me :)
Thanks
-Greg
I posted Here (http://www.tc-cancer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7111) on tuesday, as I awaited my second I/O... I had it yesterday, and it went great. I was at the hospital at 8am, had the surgery at 10am and left for home at 3pm.
Interesting thing before the surgery: the surgical urologist who did the surgery offered to extract the testicle, get an immediate pathology on a sample of the tumor and then, based on that, make a decision whether to keep it in, or to remove it. His and my opinion was it is a very small chance that it is benign. This is due to the fact that I have had 2 ultrasounds, 2 weeks apart, and while we cannot be sure, they show the mass to have grown in that time. Also, psychologically, I did not want to deal with the uncertainty of having the testicle back in there, even if there is a benign mass.
So, I decided to ask him to remove it, as long as there was a mass there, which there indeed was. After the surgery, he told my family that I did a great job in finding the tumor early, as he confirmed that the testicle did not have any tactile lumps on the outside, and it did not seem exceptionally 'hard' to him. Apparently the tumor was growing from the inside.
I appreciated the option that he presented, however. Earlier he also said he wanted to determine if he could spare some of the testicle tissue, but the ultrasound showed that the tumor had overtaken too much of the testicle to leave any behind. I really liked his approach.
The only real problem was that my two-and-a-half year old, who stayed with my in-laws last night, came home today. My wife, told her that 'daddy has an owie and is laying down'. So, my wife brought her in, she saw me in bed, and started crying hysterically for about 20 minutes straight, which completely broke my heart. She would not leave the room, but would just lie on the floor and bawl. This made me break down also. My wife did her best to calm my daughter (and me!) down, and eventually the little one calmed down, and layed in bed with me and ate lunch. So, we called my mom, who came over and picked her up, so she will stay with my folks tonight now instead of being here. This was a complication I did not have to worry about 10 years ago with my first I/O. Of course, I will not be able to pick her up for 3-4 weeks while I heal, which I don't think she will understand either. It will be interesting to see how it goes with her, especially if I need treatment.
Anyone have any advice on how to help a toddler through this? I imagine it's tough for a child to see their parent in an incapacitated state. She probably thinks my wife and I are infallible (until she turns 10 or so and thinks mom and dad are dorks)
Other than that, I'm just sitting around the house, with my wonderful wife waiting on me :)
Thanks
-Greg