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Hi, my name is Chris
Watkins, from Seattle, Washington. I
was diagnosed with testicular cancer, pure seminoma, in October 2003.
How did I find out? How
did I know I had it?
The first time I noticed something wrong was when I did a regular
self-exam of my testes, and I noticed that one of them was half the size of the other! I
thought it was weird but I didn't think much of it at the moment. Some
time later — maybe a month? — the next thing I noticed was that the
testicle had grown bigger (not yet normal size again), but the center
was hard.  That's when I was
worried, and in the back of my mind I said, "Oh, *$%*, it's testicular
cancer!" But I was in denial, and I was going through a very difficult
time in my life, and to top it off I had no health insurance at the
time. I didn't immediately go to the doctor because I was worried it
might be nothing and I'd pay big medical bills for tests that would
reveal nothing. I was so wrong! When I look back, I realize that I was
slowly walking towards death. I had a time bomb ticking inside my
scrotum!
Finally, in October 2003, I had a new job and health
insurance. By this time the cancerous testicle was completely hard, and
it felt heavier than the healthy one. But I figured that if it were cancer, it would have been
very large, like a grapefruit! Years ago, my doctor had told me that a
testicle would grow really big really quick if I had TC. He said it
could double in size in just a couple weeks, and that stood out in my
memory. Until I found TC-Cancer.com, I had known very little about TC.
This web site helped me find out sooo much more. I realized that
there are many types of cancer and various signs and symptoms of any
given cancer.
On a Monday in October, I finally went to the doctor. He
said the size was normal, but agreed the hardness was noteworthy.
Tuesday, I had an ultrasound on the scrotum/testicles. Wednesday, I was
at the urologist, and he asked me, "Can you come in for surgery
tomorrow?" By Thursday, I had surgery to remove one of my testicles. It
was all happening so fast, it was crazy. Looking back, I am glad the
process was very rapid.
After surgery, I stayed home from work for one week. The
surgery went well and I had one of the best urologist surgeons. I didn't
have any swelling. My scrotum didn't turn purple or anything wild. It
was only painful to laugh, cough, sneeze, flex the abdominal muscles,
and lift my legs. (This is because of the location of the incision in
the abdominal muscles / inguinal canal just below the "bikini line.")
What kind of treatment
did I have?
Pure seminoma only required radiation. I had 18 sessions. It made me very tired — exhausted. I had some
vomiting about 1 hour after the first 3-4 sessions. After that it just
made me really tired, and I lost hair in the field of radiation on my
abdominal area (no navel hair), but it comes back just as fast as if
you plucked the hair out. The urologist was confident that my cancer
was gone simply by the removal of the cancerous testicle. There was no
edivence of metastatis. I am so very thankful for this: remember I
waited 8 months to go to the doctor! Maybe it was a small miracle…
How did cancer affect
my life?
I was back in the gym working out only a couple months after surgery! I
would like to share more than just the physical, medical side of the
story. The story for me has a happy ending, and I believe that we don't
simply need a doctor to heal us physically. The year that I had cancer
was one of the worst times of my life. I had a horrible job, and I
contracted mono only 6 months before I first noticed cancer. About a
week before my diagnosis, I was depressed and wanted to give up on my
dreams and my life. Something changed after I was treated and cured of
cancer. I was so excited to pursue my dreams in life. I didn't think
about whether I could or could not achieve them. I simply decided to go
for it! I never went back to school either. Now I am a living a healthy
life and working for myself full time as a portrait photographer.
About a year after my experience with TC, the idea came
to me to create inspirational portraits of cancer survivors who are
athletic. I wanted to show the antithesis of what cancer makes you
think. The motive behind this project is to provide an inspirational
tool to motivate people and inspire them to be stronger after cancer or
whatever their adversity may be. Check out these illustrative portraits
and survivor stories at www.therealsurvivors.org
I have a quote that inspired me, and this is what I want
to convey with the portraits.
"Life is a grindstone, and whether it
grinds a man down or polishes him up depends on the stuff he's made
of." –- Josh Billings
Sincerely,
Chris Watkins
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