My Cancer Journey: Part 1

This first post may seem a little lame because a lot of the questions I will leave unanswered are kind of spoiled in the title. I want to share my story though. I am going to split it up, just to make it easier to follow and digest. I plan to write a new post weekly.

I hope you take the time to follow along as this is a very important subject that most likely will touch everyone's life at some point or another. It may be you, someone you love, or simply someone you know.

Beginning at the beginning

Around June of last year, I noticed a swelling and mild pain in my "parts down there". It wasn't a sharp pain, just more of a dull ache. I didn't really think much of it, and I probably let it go longer than I should have. Part of that was hoping it would go away on its own, but the other part was because well, it is just kind of embarrassing to talk about. My wife and I visit a female doctor, so I wasn't really super excited about having to talk about and have her inspect my parts up close.

This brings up my first take home for you: When it comes to your body guys(or gals) throw embarrassment out the window. You have to ask the questions, you have to not be afraid to get things checked out. It could absolutely mean the difference between... well you know. My wife and I had our annual checkup in July. I mustered up the courage and I decided, okay, I am going to ask.

My wife came into the room for my physical with me and actually that made it a little less awkward. I brought up the dull pain to the doctor and the fact that is just didn't feel right. It felt like there was a large lump on one of my testicles, but I just couldn't be sure.

This leads to my second take home: Check yourself men and women. Have your partner check you, and check you frequently. You have to know your body and be able to tell when something is different or not right.

Of course, the doctor wanted to take a look see so I dropped my drawers and let her take in the view. She determined that it would be best to get an ultrasound done. That is the ideal way of getting a proper idea of what is going on down there apparently.

The funny thing about ultrasounds, at least where I live is you don't really schedule the appointment. They schedule it for you and if that time doesn't work you can change it, but they prefer you to just come in when they say. So 9:00 PM on a Wednesday night I had to drive over to the hospital imaging building and get my ultrasound done.

The Ultrasound

At this point, my wife and I weren't really that concerned, because the doctor didn't really seem that concerned. I convinced my wife I was fine going to the ultrasound alone and got there a little before my appointment like they ask you to. The whole time I am hoping it is some completely ambiguous person doing the ultrasound since they are going to be messing around "down there".

Of course, it ended up being a fairly attractive lady about 10 to 15 years younger than me.


On top of that, they don't just do the ultrasound, they also ask you why you are there getting said ultrasound. I proceeded to share my story of how I ended up laying on her table in a gown with only a towel covering my "bits". Insecurity on my behalf aside, she was very professional of course and things went off without issue.

Now the first of many waiting games began as our follow-up appointment with the doctor to go over the results was a week or so away.

That is where I am going to leave you off this week. I hope you come back next week to find out the results and continue on this journey with me.

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