Dear Testicular Cancer

Two weeks after the antibiotics ended, the symptoms returned: Reddish color, slightly bigger, uncomfortable to touch. I also noticed the stinging pain in the groins, legs and stomach at various intervals (every three to five hours).

I went to another urologist for the followup. He checked my prostate and thorougly examinated my testicles and my penis. He was not very gentle. I asked him whether there was a chance that orchitis or epididmitis would reoccur? Holding my right testicle between his thumb and index finger he replied: “We have to make sure that this is not a cancer.”

Now I was really concerned and the more I worried the more I started to feel the pain. My girlfriend told me to relax and helped me find some distraction. We went out for a dinner with some of our friends. I did not tell them anything about the desease. I just wanted to have a good time. The distraction worked. The pain disappeared for a couple of hours. I now believe firmly that relaxation and happiness are a very positive medicine for the body.

The next day I was turned down for another ultrasound and ct-scan examination by the receptionist at the hospital, I did not have enough money in the bank account (welcome to America!), I gave up on my search for an acceptable urologist in New York. I returned back to my home town in Switzerland where my parents have found a lead to the best urologist in town.

He gave me a spot a few days later. The sonogram diagnosis took less than twenty seconds. He predicted with 95% probability that there was a tumor in my right testicle. The elevated beta-HCG values indicated that we’re most likely dealing with a seminoma. A highly treatable tumor. The left testicle showed some slight irritations in the epidimis, otherwise it looks like it is in good shape. He signed me up for surgery one week later and told me not to worry. “We can help you and you will be 100% healthy again.” Despite the tumor diagnosis and the slight fear of having a testicle removed I felt relief for the first time.

On the way to our favorite sunday brunch place I felt a sudden sharp pain in my groins. It started to sting in the groins but also in the legs and the lower part of the stomach when I was walking. Needless to say that the eggs benedict were not quite the right medicine at that moment. We took a cab back home and I lay down to take a rest.

The next thing I remember are three doctors checking out my balls at 11pm in a crowded emergency room. Their first concern was that I was suffering from testicular torsion, in which case immediate surgery would have been necessary. A nurse rolled me on a wheelchair into another department where a young doctor took a sonogram of my scrotum. In retrospect I realize that this doctor must have been very unexperienced. It took him almost 30 minutes to do the sonogram and even after all that time he still was not quite able to give me a convincing diagnosis. I just saw him pulling a disgusted face when he looked at the sonogram image. “You picked up one nasty infection” , he said but he didn’t know what it was. I was very irritated and felt somewhat insulted.

After almost 10 hours in the emergency room the main physician subscribed me a dose of antibiotics and a painful shot of Ceftriaxone in the butt. The diagnosis: Orchitis and Epididymitis. “Nothing to be worried about,… I see it all the time here,… follow up on it with your doctor in 4 weeks.”

I bought the medicine at a CVS nearby. I took the first one later that day. The hospital called again and said it might be a little more severe. They prescribed me stronger antibiotics. 10 Days of Doxycyclone, 2 pills a day.

I was less worried than before but the doctors seemed somewhat incompetent. I figure I’ll wait a could of days and see how things progress with the medicine.