Hello Keith1203,

A warm welcome to our forum. How unfortunate that all this is happening when you are in the midst of planning your wedding I imagine. I hope that you are despite everything looking forward to your big day in October.

We have a page on our website on testicular cancer which you can find here. I hope that it will be useful to you and help you prepare for your surgery. More specifically, you will find here detailed information about the surgery, what to expect on the day of the surgery and how to prepare for it. 

Obviously, as nothing replaces hearing from personal experiences, I hope that others who have been through this before will be along too to tell you how it all went for them. I've had a little look on the forum to try and find someone else here who has been in a similar place to you and thought you might like to have a chat with [@JoeH97]‍ who posted his story recently on this thread. He had the surgery last year and hopefully will have some good tips for you for the coming days. 

I hope all this is over soon so that you can focus on your wedding preparations. Should you need to talk to someone at any stage of the process, our nurses are available on this free number 0808 800 4040 - their line is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. 

Best wishes, 

Lucie, Cancer Chat Moderator

Hi Keith,

Sorry to hear that you're going through this, especially as you're getting married soon.

I found the recovery after the surgery to be quite painful especially for the first week or so. Painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen really help, or some stronger ones if you feel the need but honestly those do the job just fine if you keep on top of them. You'll probably need quite a bit of help moving about at first especially with things like getting in and out of bed, sitting on the couch etc. It does ease up into the second or third week I found. Also don't feel pressure to immediately remove your dressing but make sure you allow some air to get to it as soon as you can just ask the nurses or surgeon when you can take it off and shower.

I had the option of chemotherapy too which I chose to have. I guess it depends on the case but my chemotheraphy was one single dose that was done through a drip for an hour and that was it. Minor side effects, I only noticed tiredness and a massively increased appetite! But again this probably depends on how the chemotherapy is given to you and how many times you need to have it, if you end up having it at all. If you go for it you may need to do sperm banking too as it may reduce your fertility. I've also noticed some small changes to my sex drive, nothing major though it has very little impact on sex.

Also I chose to have a prosthetic testicle put in place of the cancerous one. It really annoyed me at first I was very uncomfortable and I had to keep moving it down every day so my body basically didn't suck it inside itself! But that was only really for the first 5 days or so. It definitely takes some getting used to but a year on after having my fake ball, I'm so used to it and it looks normal, and it doesn't impact anything in my life at all. 

I hope this was somewhat helpful Keith. Give it time and you'll start to feel better I'm sure once the surgery and any further treatment is out of the way, plus you have your wedding to look forward to. It's a really quick process overall, I was back to my normal self on holiday only 4 months after my diagnosis! If you need any further advice or anything please let me know. Best of luck with everything and hope your surgery goes well if you haven't had it already. 

All the best,

Joe

Hi Joe,

Thanks for taking the time to post, it's much appreciated. Good to hear that you where all back to normal within a few months! I'll keep my fingers crossed for a similar experience. 

Can I ask how long until you where fully fit to do anything strenuous? I ask because I work for the Police so am wondering how long it's likely to be, if all goes well, till I'm able to strap the kit back on and resume full duties. Or rather, how long am I looking at being stuck behind a desk doing paperwork haha! 

I am booked in for my operation on the 25th of this month with the op on the 26th. Where you able to leave on the same day as your operation? Im hoping to be out of hospital as soon as possible. 

Thanks again,

Keith. 

All the best with your operation Keith.

I had my op around 11 or 12, was back in a bed by early afternoon and went home at 7..but it could have been a few hours sooner tbh, just poor communication at the hospital. But anyway as long as there are no complications, you should almost certainly be able to go home the same day.

Week 1 was very painful, pretty much chair bound the whole time because it was very uncomfortable just getting up or sitting down, so I obviously didn't want to be moving about all that much. You may possibly be more active than I was, but I wouldn't be expecting to do too much at this point.

Week 2 I was at least trying to get about more, started doing a few slow walks around the block, then towards the end of the week a mile of walking, which obviously isn't much, but I just wanted to be somewhat active, without risking damage to the wound as it healed.

Was back in July of last year so I'm struggling to remember exactly the timeframe. July 1st was the op, I had a checkup around the 18th or so, and I was definitely moving about like normal by that point, but I think I waited until the month mark before I started doing my running again. I had my referral to an oncology department in the middle of August for discussion about having chemo, and I'd gotten back into exercise by that point, so yeah you should almost certainly be back to your old self within "a few months", hopefully sooner.

Tbh, I was feeling much more positive about the situation after the surgery, especially once I was back to my old self in terms of routine, so it's good that you don't have to wait too long.

As for the chemo treatment, I was offered no chemo and checks every 3 months, or 1 round of chemo and checks every 4 months, and the chemo would reduce the chance of it coming back to around 4% I believe my oncologist said. Personally I thought it was a no-brainer, so i decided to go ahead with it. Obviously it's your choice and your choice alone, but I think the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks of chemo; I wouldn't change that decision if I had to do it again.

I've always had this vision of what chemo would be like in my head, but the reality was so very different. That could be due to only having one round of it, I suspect it's much more gruelling when you're having it every couple of weeks, possibly for months on end; I only have complete respect and admiration for people who have to go through it for extended periods. But for me, the 1 round was quite manageable. Quite a few different tablets to take for the first week, all a different times of the day, mostly just to minimise any side-effects..seemed to do the job well. The treatment itself was just very boring, no side effects for a few days, at that point I just started feeling very lethargic and tired, sleeping during the day for a few hours here and there. Otherwise, fairly uneventful. I had to deal with balding quite a few years ago and I keep my head shaved, so hair loss wasn't a concern, but I don't believe that was a particular side-effect of carboplatin anyway. I did some sperm banking the week before, which was fine, but again, that was more of a precaution. You'll be able to discuss this with your oncologist anyway, mine was great.

Sorry long post, have a habit of waffling on lol, but hopefully a little help. Once again, I wish all the best with your op and the recovery after, as well as a fanastic wedding, should be a great day for you to look forward to once this is out of the way.

Simon

Hi Simon,

Thanks for your response, again it's good to hear from people who've been through this process already. Makes it easier to be positive about it all when I have more of an idea of what's going to happen. The appointment with the urologist was a bit of a blur after he gave me the bad news so thank you for giving me an idea of what I'll expect. 

I'm staying positive about it all and hopefully be back to my normal self as quickly as you. 

Hi gentleman and thank you for this thread, my partner is due at urology this coming week and im doing my best yo stay positive and supportive and this has helped massively as well as some orher forums so thank you again. 

Due to his family history i think we are exspecting the worse qhilst staying upbeat. 

I was wondering if anyone had information on the support help that is offered in regards to his fertility as that is something he is worried about as we haven't had children yet, i know some places say most men go on to conceive after removeal of one testical but was wondering if anyone had any experience with it please? 

Thank you