My name is Kieran and I was diagnosed with testicular cancer
My name is Jonathan Aning, I’m a consultant urologist. Testicular cancer is the abnormal
growth of cells within the testicle, and if cells grow uncontrollably they can cause harm
within your body. Testicular cancer is really curable and the
earlier it’s picked up, the better your outcome is likely to be but even if your cancer
has spread outside of the testicle, treatments are really effective.
Symptoms of testicular cancer for the majority of men, they will come and present with a
lump within their testicle. For many men they may notice a change in how their testicle
feels and for some men, they will notice that they have a dragging pain or sensation within
their testicle that is unusual. The important message is that if you notice
something about your testicle which isn’t right, please see your GP and get checked out.
I first noticed that something was wrong when
I was in bed and a pain in my back woke me up on the morning. Subsequently there was
a lump on my left testicle, so I went to the doctors.
Your GP will examine you and if they are concerned in any way that you might have a testicular
cancer they will refer you to a specialist.
When you see your specialist, they will always
examine you and they will arrange for you to have some tests performed. Those tests
will include blood tests, a scan of your testicle, called an ultrasound scan, and sometimes we
will also do more detailed scans looking at your body called either a CT scan or an MRI scan.
So if your tests show you are highly likely
to have a testicular cancer, your specialist will talk to you about an operation to remove
the testicle. And that operation is called an orchidectomy. The orchidectomy will confirm
your diagnosis. For most men the orchidectomy will form the main part of their treatment.
The doctors organised for me to have surgery to remove that testicle. When they tell you
you’re going to lose your left testicle it’s quite a rollercoaster of emotions to
go through, but at the time you’re thinking ‘just get this out of my body,’ so you
just kind opf crack on with it. Surgery went okay. I was in the hospital in
the morning and I was home by the afternoon.
Operation was about 45 minutes and it was relatively pain-free.
Some men may require further treatments and
these treatments will include radiotherapy, chemotherapy or further surgery.
So I was put on three rounds of BEP chemotherapy. Coping with chemotherapy is tough but you
have to think that this is the medicine that’s going to hopefully make you better.
I think it’s really important that you know that it’s highly unlikely to affect your
sex life. So when I met with my oncologist and specialist
nurses they did advise me that fertility could be affected in the future following chemotherapy.
At the time you’re concerned slightly that you
may not be able to have children naturally in the future.
For most men who undergo an orchidectomy,
they will be able to father a child naturally after their surgery.
Some testicular cancer treatments can affect your fertility and for this reason your specialist
will always talk to you about sperm banking at the time of your diagnosis.
Your doctor and the nurses looking after you are really experienced at looking after men
with testicular cancer. If you do have any questions or any worries whatsoever,
do discuss them with the team looking after you.
So I was given the all clear which was obviously
a momentous time for me, and then since then I’ve not really looked back. I’m now in
a relationship with my girlfriend, living with my girlfriend, done a hundred-mile bike
ride for charity, for Macmillan. My advice for any men worried about testicular
cancer would be to go to the GP straight away. It can save you having lots of chemotherapy.