THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF A MYSTERY

We've had some highs and lows in the last two weeks.  Dave had his annual checkup with our internist on Monday 10/20, and all his standard vitals looked great.  Five days later, Dave felt some discomfort in his groin and at first considered his pants were too tight.  By the next day, Saturday, he had some swelling and pain radiating up toward his hip.  He resolved to call the internist first thing Monday.  Sunday I told Molly about this turn of events; Chad talked to Dave then immediately spoke to a urologist on call who promised to get him in to see a doctor asap.  Dave got in Monday morning.

By then, one of Dave's testicles was swollen to 3 times its normal size, and all he could think about was some old National Geographic pictures of guys with elephantiasis of the testicles carrying their 'private parts' around in wheelbarrows.  Not so private.

The antibiotic Dave was given provided almost instant relief, but with Dave's history, the urologist scheduled an ultrasound just to be sure there was nothing going on besides the infection and ordered a blood test to check for markers that would indicate a couple of types of testicular cancer.  Much to our dismay, the next day's ultrasound showed a small mass "suspicious for malignancy."  This low was followed by a high when the blood test was negative for the markers they were looking for.  So what is this mass?

Dave had a PET scan yesterday 11/4.  We have the preliminary results - the bad news was the mass showed activity consistent with cancer, the good news was that there were no other signs of cancer in his body.  We were very concerned that if this were metastatic melanoma, and traveled to his testicle, where else had it traveled?  So we are relieved, but know this is the preliminary review and the radiologist will be going over the results with a fine tooth comb.

Next steps - Dave has been in touch with his MD Anderson surgeon who agrees surgery is necessary.  He just spoke with his urologist this morning;  the surgery will occur early next week to get rid of the offending testicle (no worries, we've been told one testicle provides more than enough testosterone so he still gets to be Mr. Howell).  We need to find out what kind of cancer it is, as it may or may not be related to his melanoma.  It's a small chance of not being related, but however small, we'll take it.

And I'm back to blogging to keep you informed.  I'll post again when Dave's surgery is scheduled, and in the meantime, we would appreciate you joining us in our gratitude for the fabulous support we've received, our smart and proactive doctors (especially Chad) and we'd also appreciate your prayers if you pray and your positive energy otherwise.  And now, I need to find one of these t-shirts for Dave.  I wonder if they could drop the last 's'.  Joke.