Cancer update

On December 23, I had a tumor removed.  It was both a great and terrible experience.  On one hand, I  pulled a chunk of something trying to kill me removed from me.

However, it also meant surgery, half-assed invalidity, and having part of my body removed.

Because I'm beating around the bush about it, and the more I do that, the more people want to know what I actually had done, I'll come out and say what cancer I had.

It was testicular.  It was just one side, but it's kind of life changing.

All my stuff still works, so that's good, and if you're looking at me naked, things don't really look different.

I still know though.

I do have a scar, but where they do the incision is on the left side of my gut so it looks sort of like I had a C-section.  (I call it my c-scar.)

So some other stuff; there's a kind of lab called tumor markers.  They're basically tests for different chemicals in your body.  Two are hormones, and one is a chemical your body gives off if you have a lot of anaerobic stuff going on.  I'll explain what each of these are in a second.

Let's start with the first hormone.  Human corionic gonadotropin, (HCG,) is something women give off when they're pregnant.  It's what home pregnancy tests look for.  I didn't have this drawn before surgery, but I did have it drawn a few weeks after surgery, and again on Tuesday.  If you're wondering why I had that lab drawn, it's because testicular cancer tumors will sometimes release that hormone.

The next hormone is called AFP.  I forget what AFP stands for, but it's another hormone given off by certain tumors.  (Testicular, ovaries, and I'm pretty sure liver.  I just looked it up.  It's liver.)  I didn't have this one drawn before surgery, only two weeks afterward and Tuesday.  (Same as HCG.)

The last lab I had was lactate dehydrogenase.  Ever lift weights or do anything that led to muscle soreness?  That's because when you perform anaerobic exercise, you produce lactic acid.  (Lactate dehydrogenase.)  Tumors don't use oxygen.  All their cellular energy comes from anaerobic respiration.  So, if you have a tumor, the tumor gives off this chemical.

I did have this drawn before surgery.  The appropriate number is between 100 and 190.  Mine was 232 a week before surgery.

After surgery, I had strept and was put on steroids.  The day after I finished my course of steroids, I had this lab drawn and it was 221.  Better, but way higher than 190.

This day I also had the other two tests drawn.  My HCG was less than 2.0, which is normal.

My initial AFP was 5.3.  If you're under 8.5, you're good.

I went to my doctor for a follow up, and we talked about my labs.  He was pretty concerned about the Lactate, but looked really relieved when I told him about the steroids, as they can artificially inflate the number.  He also talked about the pathology report from the tumor.  It didn't involve any of the surrounding tissues.  (Big deal.)

He explained my options for treatment from here on out.  The first is active surveilance.  That means I get frequent lab draws to make sure I'm still cancer free.  These go on for five years.

The second is chemo.  It'd just be one round.

The last would be radiation.  It'd just be one session.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to do chemo.

So, my labs got released to me for my second set of post op labs.

My lactate is 282.  It's higher than before I had the tumor removed.  This is not good.

My HCG is still low.  I'm still not pregnant.

My AFP went up to 7.5.  It's still less than 8.5, but it's higher than I want.

I had an x-ray and a CT done to see if there was anything in my torso, but I won't find out those results until Tuesday.

So, I still have cancer... somewhere.

It's an awful feeling.

Testicular cancer spreads primarily to the kidneys, but then often goes to the brain or lungs.

If the patho report said there was no involvement to the surrounding tissues, how would it have spread that far, you may ask.

Well, with tumors, they sometimes shed cells.  If one of those cells goes somewhere else, they form their own tumor wherever they land.  Kidneys just happen to be upstream from nuts.

So, today I've gone from elated to horrified.  I'm still stuck on horrified, if you're wondering.

Anyway, this was supposed to be my year of abs, and it's so far been the year of the ice cream diet.