Rplnd

[CanMan]

I haven't had my results come back yet, but I must say reading through these boards and looking at a lot of ppls. signatures, I'd have to say most have had to go through RPLND. Why is that?

Is this a more difficult surgery then the first one? How long is the recovery time before a person can do moderate lifting/work? I'm just recovering after day 6 from my Orch., and I feel good and can do light duties, but I am looking forward to getting well and going back to work and continuing with life, and not towards another surgery! I know I might be panicking too early, but its hard not to. I can't afford to be out 4-5 months. I know health comes first, but I do have to eat too. Hope all I have to do is survaillance. Is it really more ppl. then not that need RPLND?

To recoup., I found a small lump on my left teste about 6 week ago now, turns out it was a solid mass around 1/2" OD on my left teste, and I had it removed. Bloodtest and CT scan showed all clear though. Still waiting for patology exam. HOPING I need survalance and not RPLND!

Thanks guys.

[BREwing]

Hey CanMan,

First off, I can tell you that I recovered much better from the RPLND than I did from the I/O. I still get a sting every once in a while down in that area. The best thing that I can tell you is to do your research on the doctor that you choose to perform the surgery, if it comes to that. I'm not too familiar with Canadian doctors, but I'm sure someone on this site could offer you some info.

The surgery itself has a recovery time of about six weeks, and that goes for not lifting anything more than about 10 lbs. MAKE SURE THAT YOU LISTEN TO YOUR BODY TOO AND DO NOT DO TOO MUCH!!! From what I hear, getting a hernia on the incision is terrible and the surgery to fix that is worse than the RPLND. I had mine done locally here in Philadelphia, PA and I was in the hospital for about a week. Best advice I can tell you is to try and get up and moving around as soon as possible. Its gonna feel like your insides want to come out, but its still the best thing to do. Also try to get off the morphine drip as soon as you can too so that your bowels can get going again. Well even if you end up needing the surgery, you will be fine. Just keep your spirits up and we'll all be praying for you!!!

[Fish]

CanMan:

RPLND was a fairly standard treatment for non-seminoma, the idea being that if the cancer had spread to the retroperitoneal lymph nodes, and you removed them, you could get all the cancer out. In more recent years, however, doctors have dicsovered that some types of TC (embryonal for one) sometimes skip these lymph nodes and end up in the lungs. So, RPLND is slowly becoming less common as a primary treatment for non-seminoma and more guys with stage 1 have the chance for surveillence. RPLND is still often needed after chemo if there are residual masses in the abdomen - to determine if the masses are dead tissue or still contain live cancer cells.

The RPLND is major surgery and you will definitely want to take time to recover if you have to have this operation. BREwing is absolutely right about the hernia. I had one and it was very unpleasant to have repaired. I now have an large gortex patch attached to my abdominal wall.

Hopefully they'll put you on surveillence. It sounds like your found your tumor while it was still small, which is a good sign.

Best wishes.

[Kev332]

CanMan,

Take a look at this webpage that has a good description of the RPLND.

TCRC website

The others are right,, this is major surgery and should only be performed by an experienced surgeon. That website also has a list of experts from all over the country. Seems like recovery can vary depending on the person. I had a tough time after mine, but I'm doing great now

Wishing you the best,

Kevin

[CanMan]

Thanks a lot guys, I'm gonna have to wait and see what the doc says. My doctor seems very knowledgable and everyone says he's very good.

Thanks again.