My son, age 22, just diagnosed with Testicular Cancer

[Hannity]

(Not much traffic on the Testicular Cancer Group - thought I could get some help here)

I joined this group 18 months ago when I was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and this group has been amazing with providing advice and support in my Cancer journey. Now this - Cancer sucks.

My son came to me last Monday and said something didn't feel right down there. Made appt with Family doctor for Tuesday. Did an ultrasound and things looked suspicious. Made an appt with urologist for Wednesday, did blood work and said 99.9% sure testicular cancer. Scheduled surgery on Friday and waiting on pathology. Ordered a CT Scan but insurance won't approve till he officially has cancer. What a week. He is 5'11", weighs 170 lbs and works out everyday.

Blood work came back - AFP 697.9, hCG-B 1307.4, and LDH was normal at 189. Based on those numbers - thinking non-seminoma testicular cancer. But I am new to this. 6 days.

Yesterday - he went back to Baylor (10 hours away) for his last semester of college. After the pathology comes back Wednesday - it will confirm he has cancer and will need to get a CT scan done somewhere and we need to figure out where the best place to go for Testicular Cancer treatment. MD Anderson was recommended by the Urologist that did the surgery.

Any help or advice here would be appreciated. Things have been moving so fast - just want to help him make the best decisions he can.

[Jancapper]

While I was a student at the UoU, all students were covered under the university health plan. Try the university hospital.

[BerkshireBear]

Since you asked here you obviously know the importance of support groups. The reality of support groups is that while many organizations may try to provide a platform group discussion it is usual for the "users" to end up in just one or two of the groups while the others languish in disuse. Encourage your son to search on Facebook for "testicular cancer support"; my results showed several groups with >3000 membership.

In my experience with cancer support groups the greatest factor determining which ones succeed has little to do with the sponsor or platform. It seems driven by happenstance: the community of users builds around an individual(s) who provide sound information and empathetic understanding. So you have to hunt all the likely sources to find the one(s) where the right guys made it happen.

[Hannity in reply to BerkshireBear]

That’s a great idea. I will advise him to do so. Thanks

[leach234]

Might want to store and freeze some sperm just in case!

[Hannity in reply to leach234]

This has been discussed. Thanks

[Baldylocks in reply to leach234]

I 2nd, 3rd and fourth the suggestion of donating as much as possible to a sperm bank. It will allow him options for the future.

[addicted2cycling]

Lance Armstrong had his journey -- like-hate-don't know/don't care about *him* -- you/son could read up on his story

"On October 2, 1996, at the age of 25, Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three (advanced) testicular cancer (embryonal carcinoma). The cancer had spread to his lymph nodes, lungs, brain, and abdomen."

[52Mike]

I'm so sorry that your son is facing this diagnosis. I'd connect with MD Anderson as per his surgeon's recommendation. If there is a delay in getting him in, I'd ask the surgeon to make a call to request that they can get him in asap. Sending positive thoughts to all of you! MrsMike