My Story: Cut It Out
Technically, I had nonseminoma testicular cancer of mixed type, but predominantly embroynal. This is a particularly agressive form of testicular cancer, and it had, in fact, invaded the vascular regions. What this meant was that the tumor had the opportunity to spread. I had a CT scan of my abdomen, to see if there were any tumors in the lymph nodes there. There was one suspect mass, but it was hard to tell if it was a tumor or not. I had to make a choice about getting a major operation called a Retroperitoneal Lymph Node Disection, or RPLND. Without it, my chances of survival were about 70%; with it, more like 90-95%. However, this was major surgery. I would be cut from my chest to my pelvis, all my insides pulled out, and the lymph nodes in the back removed. Then all my insides are put back in, I'm sewn up, and I recover for a week as my body learns how to use it's digestive system again. Also, as a side effect, there was a chance that I would not be able to conceive children naturally. After a second opinion, much research, and several deposits at a fertility clinic, I decided to have the surgery.
I had the RPLND on September 1. The following week was one of the hardest times of my life. I was in serious pain but on morphine, I dealt with a Nasal Gastric (NG) tube that went in through my nose and down into my stomach, and I spent the week learning to eat and poop again. The good news: no evidence that the cancer had spread.
My incision
Tubes, tubes, and more tubes
My wife, Allyson, and I showing off the worst tube of
all,
the NG tube