Advice
You Think You Might Have Testicular Cancer?
- Don’t drive yourself crazy. Go see a GP or a urologist immediately.
- The doctor should perform bloodwork (HCG, AFP, LDH) and an ultrasound (to determine if mass is solid or fluid-based). If the doctor sends you home without doing these tests go to another doctor.
Relax
- Testicular cancer is a very curable disease in 95% of all cases if detected early.
- Testicular cancer is the most curable form of cancer.
- Life after TC will be just like before, except you will appreciate it more.
- Paniking does not help, it might in fact make things worse. Distract yourself. I watched a bunch of comedies when cancer panik started to kick in.
Meeting Doctors
- Most GP do not come across TC very often. It is important to speak to a urologist if your GP is not experienced enough.
- Prepare and research a set of questions you have.
- Take notes during all meetings. Cancer is full of treatment options and terms you haven’t heard of before.
- Do your own research. Sign up with cancer forums online and get advice from other cancer victims. Chances are that someone else has the exact same syntoms or tumor as you and is undergoing the same treatment.
Feel comfortable with your doctor
- Make sure you feel comfortable with all your doctors. Do not hesitate to ask for a second opinion or switch the doctor or the hospital. No one cares more about your body than yourself.
Common Mistakes Made By Doctors
- If the inital diagnosis is epididymitis or orchitis, make sure to follow up with another urologist. This erroneous diagnosis happens far too often aparently.
- If the sonogram operator takes more than 5 minutes to examine your scrotum, get a second opinion. Determining if a mass is solid or fluid is not rocket science. Chances are your operator is not experienced enough.
- If the doctor tells you to do your job and let him do his job, walk away! You should always be taken serious and be treated with respect, especially when it comes to cancer where you will be making a lot of choices based on information given by your doctors.
Testosterone
- This is an often deglected blood test. Do have your testosterone levels tested at least once before undergoing the operation to get the base levels.
Fertility
- Undergoing chemotherapy could in some cases affect your fertility.
- In most cases both the operation and chemotherapy will not introduce any fertility problems in the long run.
- If you intend to have children it is advisable to sperm bank before undergoing treatment.
Treatment Options
- After the operation you most likely will be faced with treatment options. Most of the time these involve surveillance, chemotherapy or radiation.
- Making the final decision will be left up to you. It helps to get multiple opinions from doctors you trust, as well as your family and friends. Every decision has some drawback and some advantage which makes it nervewracking to make a choice. I wish I had a better advice here … 
Follow-Up
- After a successful operation and treatment you will need to follow-up with your oncologist on a regular basis for at least five years. The intervals between CT-Scans / X-Rays, blood work and physicals depend on your tumor type and the staging.
- Usually the intervals will depend on standards in your country as well as with your doctor. I noticed that my oncologist in New York has a much more aggressive protocol than the one in Switzerland (go figure…).
- A good reference can be found here.
