Last night while I was surfin’ the net I came across an article about what to say to someone who has cancer. The article was very interesting. For the most part I think it was right on. The article talked about how sometimes people don’t know what to say to a cancer patient. I know I feel that people treat me differently at work but I know its because they don’t know what to say to me. I’m sure every cancer patient and their family has had someone who didn’t know what to say and ended up saying the wrong thing, I know we have! In fact, just today I had someone tell me that “at least its not stage 5 cancer” in which I replied “you’re right, its stage 3 and in testicular cancer stage 3 is the worst”. I know she didn’t mean to upset me but it did. Here is a link to the story:
CNN cancer etiquette
Now, since it was brought to my attention earlier today that since testicular cancer is not a commonly heard cancer I thought I would talk about testicular cancer a little bit.
Two main types of testicular cancer are seminomas (cancers that grow slowly and are sensitive to radiation therapy) and nonseminomas (different cell types that grow more quickly than seminomas).
Testicular cancer has one of the highest cure rates of all cancers: in excess of 90%; essentially 100% if it has not metastasized. The cure rate for testicular cancer that has metastasized depends on what stage it is. Although testicular cancer is most common among men aged 15-40 years, it has three peaks: infancy, ages 25-40 years, and age 60 years.
The Stages of Testicular Cancer:
• Stage I: Cancer is found only in the testicle. Removing the testicle alone should cure the patient, though many will choose some form of additional treatment just to be sure…
• Stage II: Cancer has spread to the lymph nodes in the abdomen. Removing the testicle alone will not cure the patient, and more treatment is necessary.
• Stage III: Cancer has spread to areas above the diaphragm such as the lungs, neck or brain. There may be also be cancer in parts of the body such as the bones or liver. In this situation, chemotherapy is absolutely required. Surgery may also be needed.
Josh has been having a few good days but today is not one of them. His Bleo has kicked in and he has been sick and is even having trouble breathing. The Bleo has the side affect to affect the lungs. Hopefully it will just last a day or two.
This post was posted on Tuesday July 8, 2008 at 6:53PM
