Could a TC survivor please describe their lump?

[yosh88]

Hi again,

just wondering, could some people who have had TC describe what the lump felt like? When they say painless, do they mean painless even when squeezed? Mine is large and hard, but hurts when squeezed firmly (feels the same as squeezing a testicle but its a more concentrated pain).

Also, were your lumps smooth or rough? Spherical or crazy shaped?

Going in for ultrasound next week. Goddamnit, pretty frightened now.

[dadmo]

yosh88:
You did the right thing setting up an ultrasound. The lumps are not always painless and if squeezed it will be painful. Size and shape are hard to describe, I think the most common shape is like a pea attached to the teaticle but in my sons case his testicle was rough and begining to collapse on one side, not smooth at all, others have the tumor completly enclosed within the testicle. I guess the answer to you question is that the come in all shapes and sizes. What say do you get you ultrasound?

[wjhall]

Mine ached alot just, but yes very painful to the touch especially at the lump. The testicle still felt soft but the lump was hard and felt like it was coming out of the testicle. The size was a little over a inch in diameter and was somewhat oval shaped. I guess the best way to describe before I know was crazy shaped. Seemed to be half in and half out of my testicle.

Believe me, I know how scared you are. I went through all of this this week. I went to doctor for a cat bite on Monday July 16 and got the doctor to look at them while I was there because of the nagging pain and lump. Went to ultrasound on Wednesday and had removed on Friday. I was a basket case for 3 days.

Get in touch with God and let him take care of all the pain and worry. Thats what made me feel the best.

Hang in there.

Jay

[toomoody]

My whole testicle felt harder and I couldn't feel a lump, it just was enlarged. Also I had the same sort of pain when sqeezed that you describe and sometimes a dull pain, which is what really sent me in to the doctor. I actually ended up in the ER with severe pain from an accompanying inflammation and it was there that I got my diagnosis.

[stevenh77]

Painless?

My lump was far from painless. Sometimes it was just a dull pain, but there were a few days when I woke up feeling like I had been kicked in the testicles.

I actually had to deal with it for 3 months while doctors insisted that it was epidytimits and tried to treat it with antibiotics before I finally decided to walk into the E.R. at Los Angeles County/USC hospital and tell them to do whatever tests were necessary to find out what's really going on.

An ultrasound confirmed that it was a tumor and bloodwork confirmed that it was cancer. I had my orchiectomy on June 28th of this year, and was informed that the cancer was embryonal / yolk sac and it was caught very early. I was told there's a 70-80% chance that it hasn't spread and an 80% chance that if it has spread, it can be cured with chemo and/or RPLND.

[dadmo]

An 80% chance of cure after spreading is a very low number. I believe the real number is over 90%.

[stevenh77]

That's good to know. I thought 80% sounded like pretty good odds, but 90% is even better

I was told at my first follow-up appointment (a week after the surgery) that the cancer was in stage T3NxMx. I have no idea what that means, but the doctor said it equates to what would be "stage 1" in the information I've read online.

[Scott]

I was told at my first follow-up appointment (a week after the surgery) that the cancer was in stage T3NxMx.

pT3: Tumor invades the spermatic cord with or without vascular/lymphatic invasion
NX: Regional lymph nodes cannot be assessed
MX: Presence of distant metastasis cannot be assessed