I am choosing surviellance for stage1 seminoma

[JAYHAWK]

I am 3+ years into surveillance for Stage 1 seminoma, and for me the mental aspect still exists. Not daily, but I go every six months to have CT scans and blood tests, and the anxiety begins to build before the tests. My last tests were on Thursday and all is still normal....so my anxiety has subsided. Fortunately I have the scans and blood work in the morning and get the results from my oncologist in the afternooon so I do not have to wait several days for the results. I too have had a couple of "scares" which proved to be false alarms.

For me the decision to opt for surveillance was one of the most difficult decisions I have ever had to make and I changed my mind many times. During my decision making process I was able to get great advise from many others through the TC-NET at the Testicular Cancer Resource Centrer which was extremely valuable. The treatment option is a very personal choice, but the use of all available resources allows you to make a much more informed decision.

[GAH]

I too chose surveillence. I'm 17 months into it now and everything's going great.

I had significant anxiety leading up to the Dr. appts, but that has diminished. The last one, a few weeks ago, I had practically no anxiety at all.

I think the biggest issue I've faced is the anger and depression that followed. It wasn't pretty.

Best of luck, rhoon, I hope it goes well.

G.
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[rhoon]

It is so good to hear people on surveillance with clean follow-ups! Congrats to you guys.

I met with a medical oncologist yesterday and was totally impressed with him. He is not a tc cancer expert, but he was so knowledgeable and positive that I asked him at the end of our meeting if he would follow my surviellance and he was happy to.
He told me current research supports three approaches to the management of stage 1 seminoma, and all are valid. He offered me two doses of carboplatin instead of the radiation if I wanted it, but said I would have to decide within the next month. Appearantly the window of treatment opportunity for this option closes at three months post orchiectomy. He thinks the long-term risks with this approach are lower than the radiation but he said we would need more years of follow-up in those studies to be sure. He thinks in the future this may supplant adjuvant radiation as the prophylactic treatment of choice. It was good to hear that he was aware of all the current research and even had an opinion as to the direction of future treatment trends! In short, I really like this guy!
If anyone in the north Florida area needs a name of a good oncologist I would not hesitate to recommend him.
I still am choosing surveillance as my treatment plan, and now I feel so much more confident in this doctors hands. What a good feeling!

[Scott]

That's great news, rhoon!

Single-agent carboplatin made the most recent NCCN guidelines, with a "category 3" classification, meaning, "There is major NCCN disagreement that the recommendation is appropriate."

[Fed]

Rhoon,

It is awesome that you have been able to click with your med onc so well. I particularly liked how he placed all options on the table and made a solid effort to stay on top of his game. As it turns out, I may end up switching to surveillance pending a second opinion. It seems the preferred guideline for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for cases like ours is surveillance, so if the new path report confirms the first, I will switch over. Keep us posted!