Testicular Cancer: I Am a Survivor

X00099_9 by Chris Anderson
Portland, Oregon, United States

I survived it in 1994. The same thing Lance Armstrong (multiple Tour De France winner) had. Personally, I dont care for his public service announcements, making him sound like he did something great by surviving it. I was lucky enough to have the head of oncology at Chapel Hill, N. Carolina as my primary physician when I was admitted and he told me that there is a 95% cure rate. If it was 50/50 and Lance survived, that would be something. But not with a 95% cure rate.

Anyway, I was diagnosed in mid ’94 by a local doctor who told me that if I didn’t do something soon, I wouldn’t see Christmas (about 3 months away). I had lived with the symptoms for maybe 6 months. Hoping it was nothing serious and would go away on it’s own. (I didn’t know what it was at that time)

Long story short, I was told that if the cancer had reached my kidney, there would be no stopping it. And about every inch up my ureter was a nodule.

Well 4 rounds of chemo and 12 hours of surgery later, I walked out of the hospital.

I never thought about my sex life afterward but in a way, this has made it better. Everything works fine for me. The only difference is that I have no discharge, and it takes a little while longer to reach ******.

But on a lighter note: Remember all those things you said you’d give your left *** for? Well, I did, and I’m still waiting

If you’re in this situation, don’t put it off. Get checked out. It won’t go away on it’s own. The symptoms are pain/swelling in one or both testicles. Usually it strikes men in their late 20′s to mid 30′s.

Note: whatever side you lose, try carrying some spare change in the opposite pocket. It’ll balance you out and stop you from leaning… lol.