what a scrotal mass

We enjoyed the Saturday rogaine... and yes, I was tired at the end. A post-event check of where we went shows -- as I suspected -- that we had been within 100m of a final -- easy -- control when I gave up. It may be out there, I said, But I don't want to look.

Well, I've done that before. Been so tired -- and navigationally uncertain -- that I preferred to give up rather than risk further confusion. This time it happened after a much shorter time, after walking a relatively short distance.

On the bright side: No hurt from over-stretching of the groinal scar. In fact, I believe that the long but gentle walk has loosened it up. On Friday, too much leg movement would make the scar ache. This morning there is no ache when I move. Good :-)

However... This morning did bring a new ... side-effect?

First, I wake up with a slight tingling in the toes. That's been happening since my first hospitalisation. A feeling as though my toes have been squashed and the blood is now rushing back. Very minor but a worry because it is new. Is it lack or exercise? or a more permanent change in circulation? What I really mean is: Is this a side-effect of cancer, of surgery, of treatment? Or will it go away as I get to do more walking, more exercise.

And then over breakfast the tendon in my left thumb starts to lock up. I rub it, stretch it, it gets no worse. Until all the tendons controlling all the fingers of both hands -- start to lock up. Claw hands are a sign of leprosy... I don't believe that I have leprosy... :-) But why are my fingers aching, curling up... It has never happened before.

Is this a new side-effect? Of cancer, surgery, treatment? Or is it too much keyboarding? Will it happen again? Get worse? Never happen again because it is just that I have been typing too much?

Strange symptoms. Too little explanation.

Then there's the general tiredness. Yes, I'm sleeping less, that's part of it. Sleeping less due to drugs? stress? something I haven't considered? Was the rogaine exhausting because I haven't done much more than sit & sleep & eat for over a month? Today I could be tired because of yesterday's physical exercise. But...

Promised side-effects of the chemoradiotherapy include fatigue. So what is it that could lead to that fatigue, that tiredness? I'm not expected to rogaine every day, am I ?! What part of the cancer -- or the treatment -- causes fatigue? If fatigue is caused by "x" then can I do "y" to counter it?

I've been guessing that surgery under general anaesthetic has made me feel very tired. If that's it then I will gradually get less tired. If tiredness is caused by one of my tablets then I shall be just as tired for a long time... So which one -- or what else -- is it?

This morning's paper reports that patients leave hospital without a clear understanding of the effects of their drugs (and with a lot of other unanswered questions). Not surprising, really. Because (a) there's a lot to absorb. And (b) the information provided is not very specific.

I have plenty of questions. I shall be asking.

Today, Sunday, I'm tired. I spend a lot of the day sitting, sleeping... eating. Recovering. When I mention over dinner that I am knackered, one of the boys has to remind me that I am definitely half-knackered... Which shows just how tired I am. Sigh...

But that does remind me... I may have mentioned that I have brain cancer? Oh yes, I would have. That's the one that will kill me :-) I have also mentioned that I have testicular cancer. I feel that the testicular cancer has not had the clear explanation that it deserves...

====

In the words of the neurosurgeon, "He also complains of a scrotal mass on presentation to ED."

The brain tumour gave no signs, no symptoms, till I collapsed. The scrotal mass was... definitely noticeable. So why did I do nothing about it? I was... I was about to do... something!

Late in May I visited "my" new GP. I wanted blood tests, heart tests, assurance that I had no signs of the heart problem that had just sent my elder brother to hospital. Every test was clear. I was happily smug :-)

My new GP is a woman. I said at the time, I have no embarrassing diseases, no problems that I would prefer to not discuss with a woman. Mind you, if I did have ... something embarrassing... I would have been just as embarrassed with a male doctor. Still, the conscious decision was made: nothing embarrassing, woman doctor is fine.

So in May 2017 I know that I had no suspicious "scrotal mass".

In July 2017 I was driving north. Did I already have a scrotal mass? I can't remember. On that trip -- I definitely had a scrotal mass.

It's the sort of thing a bloke notices: I scratch myself and it feels ... different. A hard lump rather than a pleasantly soft... ball. Not a pleasant feeling. Scratching is no longer done just for fun.

The left ball is normal. The right ball is hard. And large. Not so large that I can guarantee that it is larger than normal... Isn't the right ball always larger and lower? Doesn't every bloke need a wheelbarrow to carry his right nut?

Just two months earlier, all blood tests were fine. Now I'm away from home. There is no pain, no ache, no really enormous growth... I worry but I wait.

Home again and I prepare to make a GP appointment. Just another month to the City to Surf fun run. Regular training runs, no rush, I'll see the GP after that run.

Except, of course, that I don't...

Because my brain tumour knocks me into hospital. And the "scrotal mass" -- my testicular tumour -- is only really discovered because someone took the trouble to ask, Do I have any other odd signs?

By itself, having my right nut -- and its cancer -- removed would be a big thing. I'm a bloke, that's my right nut!

Since I also have brain cancer -- which will be killing me -- the testicular cancer is pretty trivial. Comparatively. With treatment... testicular cancer would hardly affect my life expectancy. But it has spread.

There seems to have been two months at most between a detectable hard nut and a urologist having a test squeeze. Is that a very short time for a lump to develop? Or is that a long, don't-wait-that-long delay? I don't know. (More questions!)

Would an earlier check of my balls have kept the cancer from spreading to my abdomen? I don't believe that it would have saved my right ball... But an earlier check -- by a doctor, that is -- could have simplified the next stage of treatment.

"Luckily"... testicular cancer is over-shadowed by brain cancer. The major impact seems to be, Oooh! *two* primary cancers... that's unusual! No need to kick myself for entirely avoidable delays... Lucky, eh :-?

And on another bright note:

The hard and not-nice-to-scratch right nut is gone. I still have a perfectly normal left nut. Which it is now a pleasure to scratch.

Half-knackered... but feeling much better :-)

=======

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
=======

​Hollywood actors are, "vivir en una nube de pedo"... Rita Panahi, The West, 11 Jan 17

====

Now much more than a clever name for a holiday journal:

 https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/  :-)