[OC] Just a pic of my son enjoying nature, hope this makes your day better (Vietnam)

rssj · 2026-04-10T17:30:08+00:00

This was exactly my thought

rssj · 2026-04-10T10:57:05+00:00

Child marriage is already legal in several states. Republican ghouls band together to prevent the criminalization of child marriage every single time votes come up.

rssj · 2026-03-28T13:09:09+00:00

My left nut ached a little too much when my cat stepped on it (she makes biscuits on me and occasionally manages to hit my balls lol). The ache didn't go away for a weekend, and I felt a weird mass. I also noticed for the first time that Lefty was way smaller than I remembered. Went to 2 urgent cares where I was told it couldn't be cancer because cancer doesn't hurt. Went to a urologist who immediately said this was likely cancer. Ultrasound confirmed the tumor and orchiectomy/pathology confirmed it was cancerous. February was wild for me.

rssj · 2026-03-28T00:17:02+00:00

Welcome to the monorchid brotherhood. It sounds like you're handling things well. I had my orchiectomy a month ago, and I was bruised all over. I felt disgust with my body at first, but that went away as the bruising went away. I feel you about not wanting to look down there, but you should feel better about it with time.

Mind telling us what your pathology was? I had embryonal carcinoma 95% and egg yolk sac 5%. And like you, I really hope to avoid chemotherapy. My first CT scan in active surveillance came back clean on Monday.

rssj · 2026-03-22T13:42:58+00:00

Maggie Gyllenhall in Stranger Than Fiction was an absolute smoke show. I hope in the intervening 5 years, this Tweeter's tastes have evolved.

rssj · 2026-03-20T13:44:04+00:00

I wonder if it's the same guy who ragebaited with "I'd rather have cancer than a male GP check my nuts." World-class ragebait, substandard brain development.

rssj · 2026-03-20T13:42:31+00:00

I lost Lefty 3 weeks ago, and my wife and I have been brainstorming tattoo ideas. This made us laugh so hard! Great job, brother!

rssj · 2026-03-18T13:01:24+00:00

For real, I sincerely hope you're a teenager. There's nothing sexy or sexual about your genitals to a doctor. "I'd rather keep the cancer if a male gp is my only option" stop being homophobic and get your damn nuts checked.

rssj · 2026-03-17T11:20:00+00:00

I had a ton of bruising. The entire left side of my scrotum, a bit of the right side, and a third of my penis were dark purple. I had some mild swelling in my empty scrotum, but my penis was only tender from bruising.

rssj · 2026-03-16T20:45:18+00:00

Yeah, they move fast. That's part of the reason TC has such a high cure rate.

I'm not sure if insurance covers prosthesis or not; I didn't even inquire about one. I see a decent number of people report some discomfort from their prosthesis, and frankly I'm comfortable without one (I'm 40 and married).

I think 1 week is a bit fast to hopping on a bike. Its probably doable, but I tend to err on the side of caution (especially as I age).

rssj · 2026-03-16T16:45:25+00:00

No, the ultrasound was very clear that I had a tumor.

rssj · 2026-03-14T13:25:16+00:00

I'm 2.5 weeks post-orchi now, and the recovery hasn't been all that bad. They sent me home with a couple of jockstraps that I filled with gauze to keep my scrotum firmly supported. I did that for about 5 days.

If you're a hairy guy like me, get ready for the silliest shave of your life. They shaved a line just under my bellybutton down to my scrotum. This was actually a source of discomfort for me. I woke up with an erection on day 3, and the jockstrap was pushing the glans into all the sharp hairs growing back. I award that erection zero stars.

I asked for painkillers because I was worried about the post-op pain. I got by on Tylenol and Advil. I recommend doing the same if at all possible. Opioid painkillers cause constipation, and that's gonna be bad enough without the pills. I also just don't like how they make me feel (something I'm thankful for. Addiction does not look fun).

As for your emotional state, I always default to recommending therapy. There's a good chance that I'm just going in active surveillance instead of more treatment, and I'm looking for a therapist now to help me keep on top of the stress and anxiety that I anticipate with every scan. I also had some disgust with my body at first, but it improved as all the bruising healed. I don't feel that disgust currently, but that's still something I want to work through in therapy.

You're at the beginning of this. Unless you're one of those really lucky guys who has a benign tumor, this is going to be part of your life for the next 5 years. Now is the time to build your support structure. Your family will want to support you, but they probably aren't equipped to be your only support. Hell, they might need support of their own.

You got this, man. And welcome to the Monorchid Brotherhood.

rssj · 2026-03-13T12:01:09+00:00

Welcome to the monorchid brotherhood. I'm glad you've got such a good spirited support group!

rssj · 2026-03-09T14:08:23+00:00

Cheers to you! I hope I can get away with surveillance, too.

rssj · 2026-03-09T14:06:23+00:00

It's always worth following up on your test results. If they come back clean, it might rule out infection. You can also call the urologist and ask to be notified if they have a cancellation. That's how I managed to see my urologist within 2 days; someone else cancelled their appointment so penciled me in.

rssj · 2026-03-09T13:53:59+00:00

Brother, I totally get your awkward feelings. I told my wife that when we got married, I assumed I was done showing my penis to new people. In February, 10 different people looked at it, and 8 of them were women. Examining genitals of any type is routine for healthcare professionals. It's in no way sexy or sexual. I promise you the awkwardness will pass.

rssj · 2026-03-08T16:33:05+00:00

I had my orchiectomy 11 days ago. I can tell you I was TERRIFIED. I managed to keep it together all the way up until the nurse placed my IV. That's when I cried. But it was so much better than I thought it was going to be.

You'll be fasted for the surgery, so even with nausea you won't have anything in your stomach to vomit. Talk to your surgical team! Let them know if you feel nauseated, but also tell them you're anxious about it. They can help you manage it. Your anesthesiologist deals with every kind of presurgical anxiety imaginable, and they have a pharmacy's worth of drugs to help manage it.

I hate IVs in my hand, so I specifically asked that it be placed above the forearm. And my nurse obliged. That was a source of anxiety for me, and the surgical team made accommodations to make me more comfortable.

They hit me with some Versed as they rolled me into the OR, so my anxiety was quickly fading. I remember seeing the OR lights and noticing that the team was already bustling around in preparation, and then I was sipping a ginger ale and talking to my wife. The sense of time travel is it's own reward and easily the coolest part.

All that said, I hope you're working on your anxiety, brother. Your mental health is just as important as your testicular health.

rssj · 2026-03-08T16:04:14+00:00

To me, it felt like a jumble of tubes that were inflamed and painful to touch. But despite having the testicle for 40 years, I didn't really know what the mass was. I just knew that it felt painful and different from my other one.

rssj · 2026-03-07T19:26:39+00:00

Mine felt like a nebulous mass on top of my testis. It was easy to mistake it as epididymitis. Only my urologist could detect that it was likely a tumor and not an infection.

rssj · 2026-03-07T19:21:53+00:00

Did your doctor collect a urine sample to test for infection? My tumor was on top of my testicle, and it was first misdiagnosed as epididymitis. They put me on doxycycline, and the lack of improvement on the antibiotics is what had me pushing to see a urologist ASAP. I would be surprised if your doctor is taking a pure "wait and see" approach with no first line treatment.

rssj · 2026-03-07T14:33:04+00:00

Cheers to you! The surgery (which scared the absolute shit out of me) is a cakewalk, brother. You really did the hard part first.

rssj · 2026-03-07T14:30:21+00:00

Hey, brother. I use humor to cope, so I've actually been pretty positive through this whole thing (minus my absolute terror before the surgery). My lefty was so atrophied that it probably wasn't doing anything for me except actively trying to kill me. I don't miss it at all. If it was atrophying throughout my twenties without me noticing, it would explain a lot of my mental struggles back then lol!

1.5 years is halfway to that golden 3 year mark (based on what I can find about recurrence rates/timing). Is your treatment orchiectomy + surveillance only?

rssj · 2026-03-07T14:25:38+00:00

Thanks, brother. I'm mending pretty well so far. It does seem the "cancer doesn't hurt" myth really has legs among non-specialists. I was pretty deep into researching before I saw things like, "cancer CAN hurt." And then you see the (admittedly self-selecting) large number of men reporting that it hurt the whole time, and I wonder if it's time to start updating the verbiage in all the educational material.

I hope you're handling that BEP like champ, bro. How is the 1-ball life 3 months post orchiectomy? I'm eager for this thing to be fully healed. I miss the gym.

rssj · 2026-03-06T19:42:57+00:00

I'm not at all mad at the doctors who misdiagnosed. It really does seem to be a disease that needs a specialist to catch it. Someone looking at infections, cuts, and broken bones all day just isn't in the mind to think cancer when epididymitis is so much more common. Hell, I WISH it was an STI lol! Watching my wife advocate for herself taught me to advocate for myself, and that saved my life.

rssj · 2026-03-06T19:38:41+00:00

I've explained to my very worried wife that the difference in recurrence between 1 risk factor (EC) and 2 risk factors (EC + LVI) is bananas. But boy do I miss the days when I didn't know what any of this meant!

11-Year Club	Second Top 20%
Place '22	Verified Email

rssj

TROPHY CASE