The phone call that changed my life...

After a long silent time, only sharing the news with my family, I decided to tell everyone what is going on with me.
A brief timeline may help people understand that reason for my attitude towards everyone.
9/19/10 Sunday
Noticed that my left testicle was significantly larger than the right. It was sensitive, almost throbing when I moved, and warm. I told Jacqui what was going on and we got out the computer. We pulled up some sites and alot of things seemed pretty serious. Deciding not to wait, we went to the instacare in Orem. The doctor ordered a urinalysis and a phsyical check. He thought that it most likely a infection, but asked if we wanted to go to the hospital to get an ultrasound. I looked at Jacqui and both agreed that it wouldn't hurt to go get it done. We drove to the American Fork Hospital. It seemed like a abandoned building. There wasnt anyone in there. After a very awkward ultrasound by a female technician, we went into the employee work room to wait for a call from the radiologist. I was hoping that he confirmed that it was an infection and that I could start taking the medication and I would be fine. This whole time my testicle was hurting. I have never experienced that kind of pain. I drove to my parents house after the hospital to try to distract myself from the fear of being diagnosed with cancer. I sat down and was greeted not so nicely by the dog. Buster jumped on my lap, his paw ending up right in my swollen testicle. I tried to hide my emotions, but couldnt keep it in. Everything that happened in the past 12 hours came crashing down.

I know that the power of the Priesthood can be real. In between the tears I asked my father for a blessing. My brother assisted, this being his first blessing. As the hands left my head, a slight relief came over me as I saw my parents, wife, and some of my syblings and their silent prayers. I remember seeing my mother wiping her tears. They didnt know what was going on with me. They just saw me crying, which I dont do very often. As I finally was able to hold my composure, I explained what had happened.


I will never forget the words that the doctor said. 'Its not an infection. Its either pre-cancer or a cancerous tumor.' I don't think that I remember anything else that he said on the phone.

9/20/10 Monday
Had another appointment with a urologist. Dr. Oldroyd at the Urology Clinic in Provo. He suggested that we didnt wait and go ahead and remove the testicle (radial orcheitomy). I didnt quite grasp the severity of what he is saying about what is going on. I thought I would be mentally able to take in all this. I went into work, stayed for about an hour, then went to the outpatient center for some blood work. I spent the rest of the night with my wife, just being together. It was definitely a difficult day. It took me a long time to get to sleep. The shear exhaustion came over me and allowed me to sleep some.
9/21/10 Tuesday
I woke up not knowing what was going to happen. I have never had a surgery. I didnt know what to expect. The surgery went very quickly. I spent a few hours sleeping and itching, probably from the medication. A radial orcheitomy is performed by making a 4 inch incision on the stomach and going down to remove the testicle.

Beta HCG
9/20/10 234 (Pre-surgery)
10/6/10 9
10/13/10 <1 10/20/10 <1 10/27/10 <1 Alpha-Feto Protein 9/20/10 468.4 (Pre-surgery) 10/6/10 33 10/13/10 14.5 10/20/10 8.7 10/27/10 6.3 These are both Tumor Markers. They are used to determine many different things. The main thing for me is to determine if the cancer is remaining inside of me. My oncologist, Dr. Rich, wants to see both of these tumor markers get to zero. If they dont, then there will be additional treatments needed. Both of the treatments are scary to me. They are a RPLND or chemotherapy. Neither is going to be fun.

These are two very real posibilities for me.

RPLND - Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection. A pretty nasty surgery.

Chemotherapy - Cisplatin is one of the most common drugs that I have found that is used for testicular cancer.

I hope that everything works out and that I am able to be cancer free when our little baby comes into the world. I have another appt in few days with Dr. Rich. I hope that I get some treatment options lined up.