Totally confused..chest and shoulder cancer query.

[ItsTheOnlyWayToLive]

Can any of you excellent mn'ers help with this please?

My dh had testicular cancer earlier this year, which was successfully treated (it was the easily treatable cancer, seminoma).

He was given a 95% survival rate, and still sees the oncologist as a follow up patient every 3 months.

On his visit last week, he underwent chest x-rays and the registrar also tested his shoulders, asking dh to breathe in and out as she went along. She explained that if the cancer returned, it would be present in either of these areas.

Why would this be? I assumed (wrongly, of course) that it would return to the same area his cancer first appeared.

Dh is not good at asking questions, and couldn't attend the appointment with him due to work commitments, so if anybody has had the same experience with this, and knows the answer, I (we) will be very grateful. Many thanx

sorry, *I couldn't attend the appointment with him..

maybe they were checking for testicular cancer metastases -where the original cancer cells migrate to other organs in the body- lungs,liver,bones - but testicular cancer could also return as a local recurrance-ie where it originally came from.

Thanks MaryAnn

hope all is well

My nephew had this and it had spread to his stomach lymph glands where they said it usually does as the nearest place in the body to the testicles. Think his was a seratoma, but not sure.
Testicular cancer is very easy to cure even if spread.
Armstrong, the famous cyclist had it spread to his lungs and liver and still was cured.

Shoulders are joints and muscles and are not normally attacked by cancer cells, so don't understand that. Organs and glands are usually the main targets. I doubt that it has spread to his shoulder bones.

Shame you couldn't be there as most men do not ask any questions but wives do.

My nephew had 1 injection of chemo a month for 2 months and was cured. The dead lymph glands did have to taken out.

Wish I had been there, digerd, but I couldn't get the time off work, plus we thought it was just going to be bloods and a review, like the appointment before this one.

He said he was a little surprised when they sent him for xrays, but went along with it without question, as men do.

The registrar said they'll be in touch if anything shows up. And he's going back in December.

I'm definitely going with him then
.