how is this treated? chemo or radio? what are the side effects? i know a testicle is often removed, but is a prostetic one put there in its place? would look a bit odd with just one?

It can be treated with surgery, chemo and radiotherapy - whichever combination the medical team consider appropriate for the individual cancer.

My dad had it at 29; he had surgery and radiotherapy, went on to father three more children and lived for 47 years with just one testicle - no prosthetic - before dying of something unrelated.

My Uncle Jhon Had It................
Even Thogh He Has One Bolluk
He Doesnt Fire Blanks

It's a mainly teenage cancer which is very curable. Normally a prosthetic replaces the removed one.

In the vast majority of cases, the diseased testicle is removed, normally during a day case procedure in what is known as an orchidectomy. This is a simple operation. You will see a specialist nurse, or your surgeon will discuss the different types of replacement you can have, lots of different shapes and sizes to choose from, to make it look and feel as normal as possible.

After the testicle has been reviewed under the microscope to find out the histological type, normally teratoma or seminoma (or a mixture of the two) then the case will be discussed at an MDT (Multi-disciplinary team meeting) so that your local team can make a joint decision on future care. Key to this will be the histological staging, and radiological staging to see if there has been any spread to local nodes or other organs. Blood tests, the AFP, LDH and HCG (don't worry what they stand for, i have just mentioned it in case you have heard the terms mentioned) will be checked pre and post op, and then the next stage will be either...clinical follow up, where it was caught early and no further treatment is needed except to monitor the blood tests, and also the other testicle (as soon tumours have a tendancy to appear in both), or oncology referral for either chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or both.

The cure rate for testicular cancer is very high, and many tumours, even though which have spread to distant organs can be cured as they normally respond very well to chemotherapy. I wish you all the best. If you have lots of questions, then find your local testicular cancer nurse specialist and i am sure they will be happy to answer them for you.

My testicular cancer blog can help you out. Read my first post.It's on my own treatment with testicular cancer in the summer of 2006.

http://wwwlumikancommycancerbattle.blogspot.com/

In my case the damaged one was removed and I then underwent radio therapy - 15 sessions. The surgery was no better or worse than any other that I have had but the anaesthetic was a blast, I wish they could legally sell that feeling. The radiotherapy effects different people in different ways. In my case it simply meant that about three hours after it was given to me I would start to feel nauseous and very, very tired. I never actually threw up and it would be exaggerating to say that it was a terrible experience. I have felt worse than that from food poisoning but what got to me was that it was every day but it was only three weeks and the side effect only lasted three or four hours. I also got to see some really gorgeous radiologists every day which is not one of the side effects published widely enough.

They offered me a prosthetic when I had the surgery but I said no. I could not see the point in having an artificial piece of material stuck in my body. Does it look odd? Well I never spent a great deal of time looking at my bollocks when I had two and don't do now. As for when other people get close, well the first time it happened I was a bit apprehensive but it was OK and subsequent times with partners it never bothered me at all. The remaining one worked fine and who the hell wants to stare at those things anyway!

Yeah, first point of call is removing the affected testicle. You have the option of having a fake one put in its place to make things look even. The treatment itself can be various, depending on whether the cancer has metastasized (i.e. spread to other places)

It's one of the most common male cancers, and also the highest success rate.