The saga begins...

    Welcome to my cancer blog!  You may be wondering why I would have a cancer blog, and the reason is that I do, in fact, have cancer, and On May 3, 2010 I will start three cycles of chemotherapy to treat it.  If you had no idea that any of this was going on and are angry and/or dismayed that you are finding this out on a website rather than from me directly, I have three things to say to you.  1. I sincerely apologize for not letting you know in person.  2. I have not really found a good way to broach the subject in casual conversation without causing a major stir.  If you think of one let me know.  3. I have cancer.  Can you really stay mad at the cancer guy?  Can you?  I didn't think so.  So when did all this happen, you ask?  Well I'm glad you asked because I'm going to tell you.
     Last November I went to the University health center about a suspicious lump.  After getting "checked" by about every employee in the building, I was counseled to go get an ultrasound.  So, I went to an imaging center to get "imaged."  The girl running the ultrasound machine was about my age and mostly spends her days taking pictures of fetuses with happy couples.  I imagine that this was an atypical experience for her.  When the imager got to the offending lump, it was pretty obvious to both of us that this was something significant.  The "mass" was spherical with a diameter of about 2 centimeters.  Not being European, I found out later that that's equivalent to about 3/4 of an inch.  It was a somber moment for both the female tech and I.  I know it was for her because when I asked if she could tell the gender she wasn't the slightest bit amused.
      The next step was to take the imaging results to a Urologist.  He looked at the images for a minute or two and gave the lump a quick "check" and declared that it must come out.  The surgery was scheduled for the next Tuesday, a mere 6 days after the ultrasound.  Things were definitely moving fast.  I went in for surgery on the 8th.  I came with my Grandfather who stayed with me through the whole thing.  That was really nice to have him there because my Grandpa has had just about every surgery there is to have, at least twice.  I walked into the surgery center after breakfast and was wheeled out about 5 hours later with one less tumor and a prescription for percocet.  The recovery was pretty unremarkable except for a pretty strong reaction I had to the pain killers.  I felt really dizzy and unable to focus on anything.  Even laying in bed I had to keep my eyes open to avoid the sensation that I was falling.  I'm not sure how anyone could get addicted to that stuff.  I decided to stop taking the pills and deal with the pain instead which turned out to be more bearable.  It was about how I imagine being kicked by a horse would feel a few days after.
     My next appointment was with a medical oncologist.  He showed me the analysis of the tumor and diagnosed it as "Stage 1A nonseminoma testicular tumor.  You can see what that means and find lots of other useful info here.  Basically it means that the cancer was found early which is the most important factor in curing it.  One of the options for treatment is to do "Surveillance" which just means monthly doctor visits and CT scans for a few years to see if any signs of the cancer show up anywhere else.  So, that is what we have been doing since December and until April every indication was that I was in the clear.  One of my many blood tests showed a raise in my AFP levels, which is a marker for my particular cancer.  When the test was redone the level was even higher.  As of yet there are no signs of the cancer other than the marker.  This most likely means that the remaining cancer is microscopic which is good news .  Microscopic cancer has a more than 99 percent chance of being cured by chemotherapy, which he recommended I do.  That conversation occurred on Wednesday the 28th, and the Chemo is set to begin on Monday.
     As of this moment I am opitimistic.  My treatment will consist of three cycles.  Each cycle has five days (Mon-Fri) of treatment with two weeks of recovery after.  From talking with my very capable medical team, I have been pretty reassured that the side effects of my particular treatment are less intense than people typically expect.  Mostly I will have quite a bit of fatigue and some hair loss (though possibly not enough to be noticable).    I'll probably be able to function fairly normally during the recovery weeks.  So anyways, thanks for reading this and feel free to ask me any questions (momowagon@gmail.com) or leave comments.  I'll be updating this blog as my treatment goes forward so everyone can know what's going on.  Thanks so much for all the love and support I have already received.  Everyone has been wonderful!