Finding Inspiration Through Others

It all happened quickly - it came, and it went. Life does go on, and…for me in particular, life is better than before! This is due to the lesson you learn about life. This valuable lesson is, "Life is precious, so live each and every day to the fullest!"

I am in my mid 20's - never had any medical problems. When I noticed something was wrong, my fiancé immediately took me to ER. What my initial symptoms were was; kind of a "ache" pain and a larger/hardened testicle.

An ultrasound proved that it was a "mass" - but not only that, they found another mass on the OTHER testicle. Needless to say, an Orchiectomy was in store for me. More Information on Orchiectomy

The right testicle was removed in October - pathology reports showed that it was a mixed germ cell tumor (70% Seminomatous and 30% Yolk-Sac Tumor) with no apparent invasion outside of the testicle. Tumor markers were 258 before the surgery, and 2 weeks after dropped to 50. This meant, because my AFP was still elevated, that the other spot was probably cancerous as well.

In December, I went for my second Orchiectomy. I was upset initially, that I was going to need hormone replacement and feared that it would not "work" anymore. How untrue!

Tumor markers dropped to 3 after the second surgery. GREAT!! That's in the normal range. I now am getting monitored monthly, so far - my doctor thinks I will need NO chemo or radiation! Just think - Bilateral testicular cancer, stage one with no apparent invasion. Yeah I lost some parts that I would have liked to keep, but life is too short to dwell on it. My hormone replacement, Androgel has regulated my body just as it was prior to my surgery. Learn More

Follow-ups are very important!! I go every month to get blood drawn to check my tumor markers and every 3 months for Cat-Scans. I have my fiancé to thank for giving me the strength and will power to get through this AND not let it effect our lives more then it has to. The power of love really surfaces at a time like this. I also would like to thank my little boy for being such a sweet and caring kid, as well as my parents, sister, future in-laws and the rest of my friends and family!

More stories can be found on www.tc-cancer.com

All textual information courtesy of www.tc-cancer.com