Dear Testicular Cancer

About one week after the operation my urologist set up a ct-scan meeting for me. The ct-scan takes x-ray slices of the body and allows the radiologists to examine the lymph glands which could have been affected by the tumor. The seminoma tumor spreads almost exclusively through the lymph system.

The main purpose of the ct-scan after the operation is to determine the amount of spreading of the tumor across the body, this is referred to as staging.

The ct-scan procedure took about 10 minutes total. I lied down on the platform, the nurse hooks my arm up to some contrast liquid which allows the ct-scanner to highlight the blood and the lymph system. Then the platform goes back and forth about 4 times and a recorded voice tells me when to start and stop breathing. At one point the voice says: “… and now the contrast will give you a warm feeling across your body.” I felt the liquid pumping through my entire blood system in about twenty seconds… what an uncomfortable and unexpected feeling. I guess I was not prepared for it even though they have explained it to me.

My scan was clean! No apparent spreads visible. Yes! The doctor said that I was lucky. Loosing a testicle is not the most pleasant thing in the world, but if he had to pick a tumor he’d probably pick mine.

So I am officially a seminoma stage I patient.