Tesicular cancer with no tumour/lumps found in testicles

[ivannabanana]

Hi Im new to this forum..A big hello to everyone.......
...My husband after months of feeling unwell was finally admitted to our local hospital (we live inScotland) he had high calcium levles in his blood and was feeling very tired all the time... In recent months he had gone to A&E with dull aches in his right side which i thought was Kidney trouble but they assured me he was constipated and sent him home with a bottle of Lactolose.... A chest x ray showed a shadow on his lung.... devestated we were told then it was a lesion... he was sent for a CTscan this showed that his right kidney was double its size and it looked likethere was a tumour here as well..... Absolutely devestated i couldnt function...But i had to keep a face on for my husband... visiting times were very hard... i would come away breaking my heart and cry myself to sleep.... my man was a good man every one loved him... noone ever had words with him, i was the mouthy one George was always the diplomatic one the quiet one and the positive one.... anyway days went by and the consultant told us george was being transferred to another local hospital who specialised in Uroligy... He was transferred and straight away sent for all types of tests... Ct scans, Needle biopsy, bone scans....Then we got told that George needed Stents in his kidneys to help them drain away.... Without these stents he couldnt get Chemotherapy... One day a consultant came to see my husband and explain to hym that the needle biopsy taken from the area of the kidney had shown that the cancer was a Teratoma...Stunned we had never heard of it.... he told us it was usually found in testicular cancer... and that he was sending him for an ultra sound on hys testicles the next day....the result showed NO lumps or bumps or tumours!! but he ws still saying this was testicular cancer... He explained to us that when a baby boy is forming in the womb his testicles are in his abdomen and when they are born the testicles descend... on doing this sometimes they leave cells inthe abdomen that in later years can become cancerous... We had never heard of this but was not about to argue with this guy as he knew his stuff.... So on being told this and also being told that testicular cancer is one of the cancers with high cure rate i felt a slight relief... then we were informed George was being transferred to the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow And there George was told it wasnt a Terratoma but a Seminoma and it was in stage 3..... He has to undergo 4x BEP and has just done his first week which meant 5 days on his drip.... 1st and 2nd day on cisplatin and etopiside , 3rd day on bleomycin,etoposide and cisplatin, the 4th and 5th day same as 1st and 2nd.....he is now at home for 2 weeks rest and visiting the out patient clinic one day to get a single injection of bleomycin... so far he been not bad, tired and shocked at how tired he is but it is only frst week so we taking it day at a time....So thats the story so far, sorry for rambling on, but i just wondered if anyone had known or heard of Tesicular cancer without it being in the Testicles?.......My husband is certain he gonna conquer this thing and when he talks to me about it i feel the same way....its when im alone i start to think about the other!!!... Ive read a few threads on here and they have inspired us also.... Please anyone if you want to contact me about anythyng in my thread please do.... kedibayan@aol.com is my email adres.... thanks everyone for your stories and advice....:-)

[dadmo]

ivannabanana:
Welcome to the forum. What your husband has is termed an "extragonadal germ cell tumor" this type of tumor occors in less then 5% of the people who have testicular cancer. This type of testicular cancer can be troublsome for the doctors to treat because it doesn't follow the predicted path. It is curable but I would certainly get in contact with someone who is a world class expert in this treatment, a list of those doctors can be found here. When treating any cancer it's best for the the patient to have as much knowledge as possible about the disease being treated, it will help you in the decision making process and make the disease less frightining. You can get some great information about EGC here. Good luck and keep us posted, everyhing should be fine.

[Lori]

Ivannabanana, my husband (in our first year of marriage) was diagnosed with testicular cancer. I completely understand how you want to be happy and controlled in front of him, yet cry when you are not. I was the very same way for many weeks following his diagnosis. Now though I don't cry alone (as much). Some how the body and the mind learn to adjust to the situation. This is a great forum, so please use it in the way that will help you most. Also, make sure you take care of yourself. Even it is just 30 minutes a day - do something for you.

[Scott]

Welcome to the forums. Seminoma responds very well to chemotherapy. George definitely has the right attitude! Hang in there, and keep us posted.

[Fish]

Sorry to hear all your husband and you have been through. As Dadmo says, extragonadal tumors can be bothersome, but it's encouraging to hear that it is seminoma.

Best wishes.