Forgive me, family and friends for my very late post about our visit to Dave's oncologist,
Dr. S, last Tuesday Dec. 2nd. Since you've waited so long, I'll give you the good news before I get into a few details. Dr. S. is not recommending any treatment for Dave's diagnosis of Stage I testicular seminoma.
A little background -- seminoma is found in only about one-third of all testicular cancers, and rarely found in men over 35. There is a type of testicular cancer that is found in older men, but that is not what Dave had. He had the young man's cancer (fist pump from Mr. Howell).
His testicle (but not scrotum) was removed and the 3 cm. tumor - almost 1.5 inches - was intact and no cancer cells were found in the rest of the testicle or in the spermatic cord. In other words, he had clean margins.
The treatments available are radiation and chemotherapy. Because testicular seminoma is nearly 100% curable by surgery and Dave had clean margins, Dr. S. felt there was no need for radiation, and was absolutely opposed to the chemo prescribed for seminoma. This type of chemotherapy inhibits your immune system, whereas the 6 months of chemo Dave had for melanoma was meant to greatly boost his immune system. None of us want to undo whatever good was done with Dave's 6 months of tough interferon treatment.
Dave's next visit to MD Anderson is in mid-February. Dr. S. said he would like to hear what the Houston doctors have to say, as in all his years of practicing oncology, he has never had, or heard about a case where a melanoma patient develops seminoma. Knowing this occurrence had to be very rare, he requested additional tests run on the tumor to make double and triple sure this was not metastatic melanoma. His final declaration to us was, "This was bizarre."
Dave has healed amazingly quickly. Both Dr. S. and Dave's urologist were impressed at how well he is feeling and how well his incision healed. And in case curious minds want to know, all his parts are working just fine, thank you.
And yes, Dave did dance, all night long, at Libbie's wedding. We really put the thanks in Thanksgiving this year!
