Testicular lump

[GemmaB78]

Posting on here as I like the anonymity. I'm not sure I want my nearest and dearest knowknowing this just yet.

My husband, after much nagging, went to have a lump on his testicle investigated. Next Tuesday, he's having said ball removed and then it will be examined to find out what the black regions on the scan are. They could be "just" an infection, or they could be tumours. Once we know what's what, we go from there.

Removal seems so drastic, but biopsies aren't the route apparently.

Husband isn't having an implant, and we have decided against a sperm bank at this point as it slows the process down.

I've not told him just how shit scared I am. Like many people, I've already experienced the devastating effects of cancer, and the thought that I might lose my husband of 4 months, and the father of my 2 year old, is just unbearable.

I'm not looking for anything here really; just the opportunity to let this shit out.

This happened to my husband too. They took the testicule out and it was cancer, early stages. Basically removing the testicular removed the cancer but he still had a round of chemotherapy to reduce the chance of any spread. That was about a year ago, he has check ups every three months and scans and there's been no further cancer.

We were told this is one of the 'better' cancers to get. Obviously no cancer is good but it has a low chance of spreading and high chance of non reoccurring. What has his oncologist said? Theres lots of information on the Macmillan website and forums.

I know it's hard and scary too. It's ok to be terrified about it all I think it's really hard to be the other half of someone having cancer too.

Sorry my phone auto corrects everything testicle related incorrectly!

Thank you. His oncologist is saying nothing until the testicle has been tested. I have a pile of leaflets from Macmillan and other organisations on my lap to read but I can't open them.

I'm not intending to tell you this to scare you but to be positive. My H had the same thing, he had the testicle removed but did have an implant and did use a sperm bank before hand. He was 23 at the time. He had 1 dose of carboplatin treatment & all was ok. We got married 3 years later and naturally conceived twins a year later.

Not long after that, he had a check up that flagged something was wrong and they subsequently found it had come back in a lymph node. He had some more chemotherapy. Don't get me wrong, it was tough at the time, but as a pp has said, if there's such a thing as a "good" cancer, testicular cancer (my H had a seminoma) is very much treatable these days.

Two years later, we conceived Number 3 and he's had no other problems for 10 years. A year ago, he was signed off completely, he doesn't even need to have check ups any more.

I just wanted to say it's so hard thinking about what lies ahead but fingers crossed it won't be what you're fearing. If it is, stay positive and trust in his treatment. It really doesn't mean the worst any more.

Wishing you both all the best.

Thank you for posting. It's not scary: I want all the 'he had cancer and is fine 20 years later' stories. My only experiences of cancer so far have involved family members who died within a year of diagnosis.

My dad had testicular cancer. It's 32 years later and he's still here annoying us!

A friend of mine had testicular cancer. 20 years ago. He's fine.

99% of men with localised testicular cancer are cured. The figures are even very good for men with testicular cancer that has spread. You don't know for certain whether or not he has cancer yet.

I know it's difficult but try to keep things in perspective as far as you can.