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Comment by saboot | Hacker News Reader

A commenter talked about his experience with testicular cancer and encouraged other 20-34 year old men to check themselves.

So I did, found a lump, and because I found it early it was removed with no further issue. So that's definitely one of my favorite comments!

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7120102

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I had TC at 27. A few notes for people reading:

* Mine was discovered super super early, on a scan related for something else

* This was actually so early that it didn’t make sense to operate. The main treatment for testicular cancer is orchiectomy, i.e. total removal of testicle

* If you find a lump, it is by definition much bigger than mine was, and the above doesn’t apply. But if you find a marginal, tiny spot on an incidental ultrasound, ask a doctor about what sizes are risky and consider a second opinion.

* I had something called a frozen section sample. They take the testicle out of the body, but leave it attached. They quickly biopsy part of it. If cancer, remove. If not cancer, put back in. I had this, it was cancer, but I’m nonetheless glad I did. My lesion was so small even then that it plausibly wasn’t cancer

* I had a seminoma. They grow slow, and are benign. It took three years to have a notable changes. If yours is growing faster than that, the odds are much higher it is cancer and a worse kind. Most benign masses are stable and tiny.

* Bank sperm before the operation! You may find fertility significantly impaired. My FSH went through the roof after the operation and my sperm count is like 0.01% of normal. Probably still viable with IVF, but almost zero. I likely had viable sperm before based on the normal fsh

Please don’t be pigheaded about this with your doctor. I did have cancer after all. But I plausibly didn’t, and my urologist recommended waiting + a frozen section sample. This is common in big centers for incidental detection, less common in hospitals that don’t see too many orchiectomies.

Ha! Same here. But don’t stop at 34. I had it at 40. Found it because of that post. They say I could have walked with it for much longer as it was the extremely slow one (there are at least two types). No side effects further; just a tiny lump.

Woah, the same post? That's really crazy, good to hear.

Testicles are naturally lumpy. How can you tell the regular lumps apart from a potentially harmful one?

I was once told, “as long as you check regularly you’ll know it when you find it.”

I’ve also been told it’s very hard and dense feeing. Sometimes rough feeling.

I think this helps a lot but it sure feels like insufficient training.

This also gave me an app idea. I have very mole-y skin. Doctor said to keep an eye on new ones of significant size. I have a terrible memory. Maybe I need an app that I can snap photos of my major moles and it will tell me if future photos match or are possibly new, based on my mole constellations as pattern matching.

Added a calendar reminder to check my round boys every week. Thanks mate.

In my case, the limo was hard, dense, and the tissue around it was sore.

That mole star map idea is a really nice one.

A good dermatologist will take photos, measure, and track your moles. You should visit them every year.

Are there any other checks that one could easily do that could help with detecting these kind of random diseases early?

I don’t think so. Early in this context means “less than 1cm”. Males need to check themselves every 6 months to one year. The standard check is a triplex still the urologist. Additionally, I would add that it’s a good practice to use a bank sperm while young. You never know what is going to happen in the future.

When you are in your thirties, get a colonoscopy. Screen for cancer. The screening isn’t very accurate unfortunately, it’s easy to miss. But it still way better than nothing.

That's a fantastic life story.

HN saves lives! That’s so awesome!!

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