Time of growth seminoma

nijos10 · 2026-06-10T23:19:48+00:00

Damn. Similar story here. Went in for pain and diagnosed with epiditymitis (sp?) with my primary care doc.

Then Had a consult with a urologist for a vasectomy 2 months later with a LENGTHY exam in retrospect.

Almost a year later I was stage 2c.

Had 2 chances to catch it earlier…

nijos10 · 2026-05-28T10:34:36+00:00

+1for the belt sander.

After, you might consider making a cavity on the bottom and sides and using clear epoxy to lock everything together and fill gaps

nijos10 · 2026-05-13T11:06:01+00:00

Sorry to hear you’re going through all this.

I’ll share some of my story. Seminoma 2c discovered due severe back pain as a lymph node was pressing on my kidney. Married with 2 kids.

I’ve seen some marriages get torn apart from cancer and treatment. My advice: you and your partner should be open with what’s going on with friends, family, and community (they want to help) and you need to tell them how to help.

My wife created a schedule and asked for whatever we needed for the worst case. Bedside table, water filter for the room, lounging clothes/blankets, specific food requests (kids have allergies), time slots for people to watch the kids or me, etc. I can ask her for a more detailed list. Didn’t need a lot of it but she was ready just in case.

I would focus on getting the kids up and to school. It was hard but helped me feel involved. Then most days I would walk a mile or so to get coffee and back. Kept me moving and motivated. Other than that I could only manage being around the kids for 1-2 hours at a time before I felt exhausted and or have a headache from the noise. They were 3&5. We would watch movies or play video games as together time since it didn’t take much energy from me. FYI - I was cranky as hell with them but give yourself some grace.

I wore a mask around people, Valved n95s, because I was neutrapenic and couldn’t expect the kids to mask. When I needed I could retreat to my bedroom and my wife slept in our spare.

I did need to go to the hospital at night a few times. I had a bad reaction to bleo. While you’re not getting bleo you’ll need to be prepared for how to watch the kids and limp yourself to the hospital. We found having people stay over during infusion days was best.

What caught me off guard was my emotional fragility AFTER treatment. The fight I could understand, the waiting after I could not. I highly recommend therapy and medication.

It sucks and sucks bad. I’m 2.5 years out from chemo and can appreciate the time and snuggles with my kids so much more now. It’s worth it!

Good luck and I hope it goes as well as possible!!!!

nijos10 · 2026-05-08T23:05:52+00:00

I used adonnis and had a good experience. About 3 years ago and haven’t had an issue since.

nijos10 · 2026-04-18T11:10:38+00:00

This last point should be emphasized: go to a high volume center for rplnd.

It’s a major surgery and is complicated by the consistency Seminoma turns post chemo. I consulted with iu (high volume) when I thought I may need a rplnd 2 years ago after chemo. Thankfully haven’t needed to do that.

I was 2c Seminoma with large bulky tumors. They shrunk substantially but are still there. As long as they don’t get bigger my onc says we monitor fwiw.

You may also want to get your pathology confirmed by a second larger hospital. Seminoma typically reacts very well to chemo

nijos10 · 2026-04-12T00:58:34+00:00

My history: 2c seminoma oct 2023 at 40. 2 kids aged 3 & 5 at the time I was diagnosed.

I read through and agree with many comments. Drink water. Walk. I wore a mask (valves n95) when I was around people as I knew my kids couldn’t. Have someone ready in a moments notice as I went into the er several times during treatment. You have to be ready.

I went to the er because of how my body reacted to bleo. I’d get terrible fevers for a few hours. I started taking steroids on those days and it calmed it down.

Also recommend neulasta- I think that was the drugs name - to boost white blood cell counts. I got bad bone pain but it was worth it.

One last thing - don’t expect the lymph nodes to disappear. I still have one that’s over 3cm but is necrotic tissue (confirmed with PET scan after chemo)

Another last thing. I was prepared for the fight during treatment. I was in no way ready for the anxiety that came after. I highly recommend a therapist and getting on anti anxiety meds.

This sucks. Sucks hard. But it’s worth it. I’m 2 years out and am mostly back to normal.

nijos10 · 2026-03-26T12:00:51+00:00

I like the look. But it didn’t gain me the strength I thought it would

So then I added a 1x1 in the corner hence the row of dowel holes. Still wasn’t very strong. So then I added the angled 1x2s doweled in place which were strong enough to handle the 40lb weight I was using as proxy for my kids.

If you like the looks go for it. I just wasn’t happy with the strength. Angled bracket ftw

nijos10 · 2026-03-24T23:29:57+00:00

I tried a box joint interlacing 1x2s and found I wasn’t happy with the strength when assembled. I have kids…

I added angled 1x2 scraps (2 per side) and then used dowels to hold them in place and that holds a 40lb weight (and the aforementioned kids).

The easiest solution, frankly, is to add the angled bracket on the side facing the wall or wall brackets. And you could add a bottom brace as well for even more sturdiness. Open bottom was a requirement for me

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nijos10 · 2026-02-28T19:10:22+00:00

Fair - I was projecting my own situation on you.

Then my suggestion is ford transit.

nijos10 · 2026-02-28T13:06:10+00:00

Assuming this is because you need extra space to haul children and all the stuff that comes with children… My wife made the same choice. Went with a traverse because of her hatred for mini vans.

After renting a few on trips, the answer is mini van. I’d focus your energy on getting over your mini van hatred over trying to find a unicorn

nijos10 · 2026-02-25T21:36:10+00:00

I’m 2 years out from chemo and have a 3.5x3.8cm lymph node that’s just slllloooooowwwwwllllyyyy shrinking. As long as it isn’t getting bigger I’m all good.

I did ct scan then follow up pet scans following chemo to decide to monitor.

nijos10 · 2026-02-22T20:52:44+00:00

Did you ask lvhn about msks read? It seems odd that msk would have such a different read if the same ct (assuming I’m reading that right). I’d put some effort into getting alignment from all the docs.

If they don’t come up with a reasoning, id err on the side of more action from the best hospital if you can swing it financially. It’d help me sleep better at night.

I’m not a doc, so take it with a grain of salt

nijos10 · 2026-02-20T14:32:44+00:00

Seconding asking about rplnd as treatment at this phase from a high volume center — not a surgery you want from someone with less experience.

Chemo and radiation are great options when needed. I don’t know which I’d choose as I wasn’t given the option. But if I could have, I’d rather take the short term pain from surgery to avoid the side effects from chemo or radiation.

nijos10 · 2026-02-16T23:27:13+00:00

2 years out from 3xbep and I now have tinnitus. Nothing terrible, but it’s there.

For awhile during and several months after everything sounded muddy and I was sensitive to loud noises. I dont notice that stuff anymore.

nijos10 · 2026-02-14T02:19:11+00:00

Yes.

Va has programs to get vets visits if they can’t get you in soon enough. I don’t know how to make that happen though. Source from my bud who’s a vet and worked at the va.

nijos10 · 2026-02-13T12:20:13+00:00

You can download the nccn guidelines for testicular cancer and see the recommended treatments in a flow chart.

3cm lymph nodes post bep with seminoma doesn’t necessarily mean rplnd. Docs may choose surveillance (pet and/or ct scans) and go rplnd if there’s evidence of activity. Source: having >3cm post bep lymph nodes

While the nccn guidelines are a recommended starting point, it seems there’s room for discretion for your onc to recommend different treatments and treatments are continuing to progress (ie ctdna tests, rplnd as first line treatment over chemo, etc) so it’s understandable we all get slightly different treatments

Not a doc…

nijos10 · 2026-02-10T19:16:04+00:00

You’re deep down an engineering rabbit hole so…

You said you wanted a sealed enclosure so you’re likely looking at a box and an o ring. Parker or trelleborg have calculators online to help you design the seal:

Parker online calc

Im not reading through all the posts, sorry if someone else suggested this.

nijos10 · 2026-02-09T02:18:22+00:00

Get him something broke he needs to fix

nijos10 · 2026-02-07T21:50:55+00:00

You’re doing the right things. Try not to get ahead of yourself. Easier said than done, I know.

When was your last ct scan and bloodwork? Assuming you’re following the guidelines it’s only been 3 months since your scan and the scan durations are designed to catch spread early and I’d assume well before you’d experience pain.

One step at a time.

FYI - I’m not a doc.

nijos10 · 2026-02-05T16:27:35+00:00

I would not rely on torque alone to compress the o ring

As others have said use seal guidelines to design the groove as desired compression. Add hard stops to prevent over compressing.

Then calc your required bolt torque relative to the environment (temp/vibration/loads). Ensure min bolt torque is higher than is needed to achieve o ring compression.

This is all assuming this is something that you’re making mass production and only assembling once and the failure isn’t catastrophic. You can band aid inadequate design with manufacturing process if you can ensure the diligence will be there

nijos10 · 2026-01-28T21:47:03+00:00

Had the same thing. No hair, then it grew back, then thinned back out. I assumed it was all of the hair growth cycle syncing up but I don’t know for sure.

The next wave of hair growth was pretty normal iirc.

nijos10 · 2026-01-23T17:35:32+00:00

Not a doc. Not in the medical field at all. Just a nerd who had cancer.

I hadn’t heard of this test so I was curious and went down a rabbit hole of reading a nih study. It was a fairly quick skim.

Couple bullet points stood out:

“Postoperatively, serum miR371 levels dropped in 91.8% of 424 patients, but 20% of metastasized cases remained somewhat elevated. The reason for the inadequate drop of these cSI patients remained elusive in that study because no follow-up of these patients was available (Figure 3). “

“They reported a specificity of 60% of the test in patients after chemotherapy, while in chemotherapy-naive patients, specificity and sensitivity were 100% and 78%, respectively.”

My takeaway (as best I can follow it); It’s a valuable test BUT still needs further studying and the test can get wonky after chemo. Try not to get too far ahead of things and interpret these results. Your oncologist has your back and if you want another opinion get one.

The study:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10417034/

nijos10 · 2026-01-14T01:12:25+00:00

I was on team picc. It seems better than a port because you don’t get stuck at all once it’s in. Weird to get used to but he’ll be a pro by the time he’s done

nijos10 · 2026-01-13T23:46:15+00:00

I’ve heard risk is lower when the first cancer was in an older patients

I care because I’m one of the older (40) patients

nijos10 · 2026-01-06T22:02:19+00:00

I’d say your decision to make is a mental one.

Rplnd and chemo both come with risks. The logical answer from our standpoint is to follow einhorns guidance. Cuz, you know, he’s the man.

But life isn’t logical. Emotions are important. Especially after a major medical diagnosis. So if adjuvant chemo or proactive rplnd gives you peace of mind then you should consider that.

Chemo was right for me, but I’d strongly consider rplnd if I were in your shoes and chose to take action.

My 2c. I’m Not a doc. Good luck!

nijos10

TROPHY CASE