June 2003

I had my first appointment with my oncologist this morning to discuss follow-up treatment after my orchiectomy on May 12th. During the appointment I had a very long detailed discussion about what I should do next.
It was confirmed that I had a Stage 1 seminoma that had some vascular invasion.
The option of surveillance was discussed at length as an alternative to getting radiotherapy immediately. The decision was that I should get the radiotherapy now as –
1) Young men are notorious for not following surveillance regimens. Whilst at this minute I would obviously say 100% that I would follow any regimen, who knows what I’ll be doing in a few years time.
2) The doses that are given are very low as seminoma is very susceptible so the risks of causing other cancers are low.
So I have an appointment on Monday to plan the treatment in detail. They will inject me with contrast solution to outline the kidneys etc. then. The treatment itself with last 3 weeks and will be every weekday. As a result of some past history of surgery in my case (that I won’t go into) they are going to irradiate both the retroperitoneal lymph nodes in my back and the left inguinal nodes in the lower pelvic region of my abdomen. As a result I will be banking sperm before the treatment. I can’t get the image of Leslie Nielsen in The Naked Gun 33 & 1/3 out of my mind 🙂 Were he is under cover in the fertility clinic and has to give 3 samples so as not to blow his cover 🙂
The remaining testicle is covered with a lead protection cup during the treatment and sperm production should not be effected. Even so the recommendation is not to father any kids for a while (a year?) after the treatment. Even though it’s covered there is always scatter of radiation during the treatment. The banking of sperm is a precaution just in case something goes wrong and sperm production does not recover. I have no plans for any kids in the near future anyway 🙂
I’ve just got the following from another member of the TC support list about the effects of radiotherapy:
> Btw, when you have RT, you will need to avoid whatever sun you get in
> Belfast, for a year. No problem, I know. :).
>
> Nausea and diahorrea are common side effects of RT and you can expect
> body hair to fall out towards the end of the routine..
>
> Afterwards, you can expect it to be a year before your stamina fully
> recovers.
>
> Itr just means you have to life the Liffey water with two hands !
>
> Good luck with it.
Hmmm. Hopefully it wont be quite that bad 🙁 If nothing else it’s give me an excuse for a sedentary lifestyle with lots of studying.