Balls to the Wall

Last Wednesday night, when I showered after coming home from the gym, I discovered a lump behind my left testicle (henceforth, to be known as Leftee).  


After seeing my GP, a radiologist, and a urologist, everyone seems to agree that it's time to say "So long Leftee."  Rightee is sorry to see his old pal go, but excited about getting a new roommate (more on this later).  Surgery is scheduled for this Thursday, May 24th.  

Testicular cancer is the most curable type of cancer.  My urologist, who is also the surgeon, says that in a year this will just be a crazy story to talk with my friends about over wine (it's unclear how he already knows that my friends are the kind of people who discuss man parts while getting boozy, but that's another question for another time).


On that subject, my friends have been amazing this week - they've held me close, kept me from feeling the full impact of this on my own, and have been everywhere I've needed them to be through a series of doctor appointments and follow-up debriefings in bars.  In short, they have been like an emotional jock strap, and I can't imagine having to do this without them.


My office has also been unblinking in its support, and has pointedly encouraged me to not worry about work while I focus on dealing with this.  For a woman-owned business, we have talked about testicles an awful lot the last few days, and those dames have been total pros about it.  


My family, too, has been wonderful - while my parents and siblings each offered to jump on a plane, for the time being, I think this is covered by the DC Tribe.  


We won't know much about the type of cancer this is until after Leftee has been removed and biopsied.  Apparently, you can't do a biopsy on a ball that's still in you without potentially spilling cancer cells all over your sack (and we are wholly against that plan).  The radiologist says that it's still possible that this tumor is not malignant, though statistically most of them are. 


There will be more information about what (if any) post surgical treatment is needed after the biopsy results come back.  For right now, the strong bit of good news is that my cat scan showed no signs of other tumors elsewhere in my body.  For perspective on this, just a couple of days ago, I was freaked out that I had a tumor.  After having had the scan, and seeing all the other places that I could have tumors projected on my doctor's computer screen, I'm thrilled to only have one.