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My husband (age 37) and I have been pretty worried this past week, but I have found a lot of information on this website and forum that has put us at ease.
For several months my husband has been complaining that one of his testicles doesn't feel right. He said it seems swollen and different. I told him to see a doctor, but life has been pretty busy lately with a new business we've opened and the months have flown by without any doctor visits. We took a weeklong vacation that involved a lot of horseback riding and his testicle began to ache and continued to ache even a week after our return. That caused him to get in a hot bath and really try to feel what is going on in there. He felt a large lump in there and it really freaked him out and we were totally afraid it was cancer. He called a urologist that afternoon and the doc said this was an emergency and to come in first thing the next morning. Not what we wanted to hear!
The doctor examined his testicles and said that fortunately the lump was soft and that cancerous lumps are usually hard. He also said the lump was up by the epididymus and that cancer is not usually located there so it probably isn't cancer. That was good to know, but words like "probably" "generally" and "usually" aren't reassuring!! He said to schedule an ultrasound ASAP just in case, and we got in that afternoon (Wednesday). But, we don't have a follow-up appointment until Monday (today is Friday).
For the past few days I have been scouring the internet looking for useful information, but his symptoms didn't seem like any of the non-TC problems (e.g., hernia, infection, etc) I was reading about. We've lost a lot of sleep and have been really distracted-- I burned dinner last night just standing there worrying!
Finally, last night I began reading this forum. It was heartening to read the moderators repeat what the doc said-- cancer is usually hard and not in the epididymus. Finally I read a post from a guy who ended up having a spermatocele. I did a google search on that and found a good picture of it--
I showed the picture to my husband this morning and his face lit up-- "Yes! That's exactly what it feels like!"
So, we are feeling much better now and not nearly as worried. My husband is almost positive that the ultrasound will reveal a spermatocele.
This forum is a great service to all those panicking people out there-- thank you so much!
On a lighter note... my father gave my husband a shower card. On one side it shows how to do a breast exam and on one side a testicle exam. This is a great gift for my husband because a few years ago he had a breast cancer scare and had to have a biopsy of a lump behind his nipple (it ended up he was just starting to grow breasts as a side effect of a medicine; he changed drugs and problem was solved). We got a much needed laugh thinking how my husband has needed *both* sides of the card.
For several months my husband has been complaining that one of his testicles doesn't feel right. He said it seems swollen and different. I told him to see a doctor, but life has been pretty busy lately with a new business we've opened and the months have flown by without any doctor visits. We took a weeklong vacation that involved a lot of horseback riding and his testicle began to ache and continued to ache even a week after our return. That caused him to get in a hot bath and really try to feel what is going on in there. He felt a large lump in there and it really freaked him out and we were totally afraid it was cancer. He called a urologist that afternoon and the doc said this was an emergency and to come in first thing the next morning. Not what we wanted to hear!
The doctor examined his testicles and said that fortunately the lump was soft and that cancerous lumps are usually hard. He also said the lump was up by the epididymus and that cancer is not usually located there so it probably isn't cancer. That was good to know, but words like "probably" "generally" and "usually" aren't reassuring!! He said to schedule an ultrasound ASAP just in case, and we got in that afternoon (Wednesday). But, we don't have a follow-up appointment until Monday (today is Friday).
For the past few days I have been scouring the internet looking for useful information, but his symptoms didn't seem like any of the non-TC problems (e.g., hernia, infection, etc) I was reading about. We've lost a lot of sleep and have been really distracted-- I burned dinner last night just standing there worrying!
Finally, last night I began reading this forum. It was heartening to read the moderators repeat what the doc said-- cancer is usually hard and not in the epididymus. Finally I read a post from a guy who ended up having a spermatocele. I did a google search on that and found a good picture of it--
I showed the picture to my husband this morning and his face lit up-- "Yes! That's exactly what it feels like!"
So, we are feeling much better now and not nearly as worried. My husband is almost positive that the ultrasound will reveal a spermatocele.
This forum is a great service to all those panicking people out there-- thank you so much!
On a lighter note... my father gave my husband a shower card. On one side it shows how to do a breast exam and on one side a testicle exam. This is a great gift for my husband because a few years ago he had a breast cancer scare and had to have a biopsy of a lump behind his nipple (it ended up he was just starting to grow breasts as a side effect of a medicine; he changed drugs and problem was solved). We got a much needed laugh thinking how my husband has needed *both* sides of the card.
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