Hello to all, Today was the day that Keith went back to the urologist for the follow up appt. for the CT scan, and to discuss the biopsy. The dr. assistant basically said.......
CT scan is negative, basically it shows that the cancer has NOT spread anywhere else, however the lymph nodes will not show up that much on this scan.
We don't have the final pathology report, however the Dr did talk with him and he'll discuss that with you.

At this point & time, Keith and the girlfriend are feeling very upbeat that the cancer was confined to the one testicle and that nothing else is going to be necessary. Doctor comes in, and it's like a complete 180.....

"I spoke with the pathologist, he seems to feel that the cancer had gone into or near a couple of blood vessels. There's a 40% chance that it could also be into the lymph nodes. What I'd like to do is surgery to remove about 30 of the nodes from your abdominal area. I'd cut from the breast bone to the pelvic bone to remove them, you'd be in the hospital for 5 days, and off work for at least 8 weeks. It could be one of two things..either they have no signs of cancer, or they show cancer and we'd have to do a couple chemo treatments. Let me look at my book here, it looks like March 5th is a pretty open day on my calendar so we could schedule it for that day".



So by this time Keith is shaking, his girlfriend is in tears..and they'd basically said very few words!!! After they got home, cried for over an hour, discussed things..they came to our house to ask OUR opinion of his decision. You see..urologists are also surgeons..therefore, they're going to think SURGERY, not CHEMO !!! The thought of having his whole chest cut open and being scheduled for the surgery was a complete shock to the system!! What Keith has decided is to cancel that surgery date and tell the urologist that he wants his complete file (which there is no problem getting) and wants a second opinion from a local oncologist. If that dr says yes it IS in the lymph nodes and he DOES end up having the whole chest cut open, at least we'll know that it's necessary at that point. We're kinda hoping that the oncologist will suggest chemo instead of a big huge cut right off the bat. I've received several phone calls from family members that feel they have M.D. after their name and suggest that perhaps the surgery's best. I very much appreciate the concern, the love and prayers, but sometimes people just don't know what to say or how to say it
I'll try to keep you all updated on an additional appt and what we find out, but for right now, all we know is that yes it IS malignant, don't know to what extent.

Marilyn