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**stevenh77** · 08-01-06, 04:34 AM

Actually...

I do have one question about the RPLND.

According to everything I've read, they go in from the front and cut you open from your sternum to just above your groin. My urologist told me that they go in from the back, does this mean he's considering laproscopic surgery? In a way I'd prefer this if I know he has experience with this type of surgery, I think the recovery time would be faster and the scar (scars?) would be a lot smaller.

**dadmo** · 08-01-06, 06:33 AM

stevenh77:
Doing an RPLND through the back is certainly not normal, how many has your doctor done? The two doctor's who do them most often are in Indiana and New York, they each do over 100 per year and all of those are from the front.

**Scott** · 08-01-06, 08:17 AM

Originally posted by stevenh77

My urologist told me that they go in from the back, does this mean he's considering laproscopic surgery?

I've never heard of such an approach. Even with laparoscopic surgery, the incisions are from the front of the body.

**Scott** · 08-01-06, 08:20 AM

Originally posted by stevenh77

I know I'm looking at RPLND and possibly chemotherapy in the near future and I've pretty much done my homework on that so I don't really have any questions that can't wait until my next appointment with my doctor.

What did your chest x-ray, abdominal CT scan, and blood tests show?

**Mom** · 08-01-06, 09:52 AM

If this doctor is really planning a RPLND from the back you need to get another doctor right away! You may have misundestood. The lymph nodes that they will take out are "in the back". They have to make their way from the front to get to them.

**stevenh77** · 08-01-06, 02:13 PM

I may have misunderstood my doctor about the RPLND, I'll have to ask him again when I go in for my next appointment on the 11th.

My chest x-ray before the orchiectomy was normal and I haven't heard back from my doctor about the most recent blood tests (taken at my post-op followup appointment, about a week after the surgery). Maybe that's a good sign? I'm sure if the tumor markers were high, he would have called me and tried to get me in as soon as possible. I know he did tell me that I would probably still have tumor markers in my blood for about a month after the surgery, and that they were only "slightly elevated" prior to the surgery. He didn't give me any numbers, but he said it didn't look bad.

**petep** · 08-02-06, 12:27 PM

knowing the CT scan results would be helpful...I had 95% embryonal....

and typically from the testis the cancer, if it has advanced via the empididymis or blood, will hit the lymph nodes then the chest...so a clear chest xray is positive news...as you have probably read, sometimes embryonal will jump to the chest via the circulatory system.

it sounds like you are in the good risk category anyway...with low blood markers, nothing in chest...and possibly nothing or little in the lymph nodes.

keep us posted and be certain to ask questions...if in doubt, it is worth a plane ticket to one of the leading centers...I know I traveled to indy b/n xmas & new years to see einhorn after my orchiectomy and it was the best $ I ever spent...

**stevenh77** · 08-03-06, 02:14 AM

I doubt I can afford a plane ticket anywhere, but I'll definitely ask my doctor for more information (and take notes).

I had my orchiectomy at Los Angeles County / USC Medical Center. I'm comfortable with the doctors and nurses there, but it's a very busy hospital and I sometimes have to wait a few hours just to see my doctor. I also donated the tumor and a blood sample to a USC Medical School study, I figured it probably won't help me but it might help a lot of people in the future.

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A couple odd questions

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