How it takes over a month to get diagnosed with cancer… in America
Its November 2014 and I am lying in bed feeling my testicles because that is what guys do to pass the time. My finger glided over a bump and a dull ache emitted out from my testicle. I thought nothing of it at the time.
Finally, after a busy EoY at work and a trip to New York, on January 8th I decided to schedule a doctors appointment to have it looked at. At this point I am starting to get worried as it is very easy to trigger pain in my right testicle and even sitting causes pain.
Two weeks later I get examined and I am told that I will have to see a urologist. At this point the sinking feeling is setting in because I knew this was far from over. I call the urologist office (which I will not identify as it is now run by a different company) and they tell me they will see me in two weeks. So much for Americas lack of wait times… Nearly two weeks roll by and I get a call stating that they have to reschedule me due to their urologist being in surgery on my appointment date. The new date is 5 days later…
Giving up and going to the ER
Frustrated and upset, I go to the emergency room, explain my situation, and 30 minutes later I am getting an ultrasound on my testicles. This was my first time in a hospital and the whole process was bazaar.
Ultrasound
At first I could watch the ultrasound as it was moved on every axis of my left testicle and then up the spermatic cord. Once they got to my right testicle, you could see a large dark spot about 1/4 of the way into the testicle that obviously didn’t match the rest. At this point they turned the screen away from me. SUBTLE. It wasn’t long after that the first of two other technicians came and scanned my right testicle, of course trying to be pleasant and ask me filler questions to pass the time.
Doctors
Once the scan was complete, I was sent back to my room where they told me to wait for a doctor. Soon after a doctor came in, asked me if I had a history of STI’s or have a lot of unprotected sex, probably trying to see if it might be an infection. After about 30 minutes the most honest person of the day came in and said “you will be getting a call from a urologist in an hour”, I then prodded for information and he was like “its probably testicular cancer”. Well at least he was honest.
Billing
Not 5 minutes after you have been told you probably have cancer, the nicest lady in the hospital (with the worst job) strolls up to you with a cart and says “hey I am here to start your billing process”. Okay sure, I expected somewhere around $2000 for everything all said and done. NOPE “I cannot give you a definitive price, but we would really like to collect some money from you.” This was simply amazing to me, a hospital had rendered a service and was unable to tell me a price for it! All they would tell me was “Somewhere between $1000 and $5000” Being an idiot I paid $1000 on my debit card (don’t ever do this) and away I went with a receipt that might as well have looked like this:
It was the smallest receipt you could possibly give someone for such a tremendous amount of drama. Considering all the work that went on to get me through the process, the best they could do was tell me what credit card I had paid with? Not a single line item to be found.
The big phone call
An hour later and right on time my new urologist calls. He informs me that they have reviewed my ultrasound and my only option at this point is to have my right testicle removed via a radical orchiectomy. This is the only way to determine what kind of mass it was. To make things even better he wants to schedule it for Friday, just two days later.
Fuck. That. I decided I was going to have a fun weekend with my sisters in Tampa before going down the rabbit hole.
Fast forward to D-Day (February 9th 2015)
Oddly enough, getting the surgery is the most event free part of the process. You put on a gown, they give you a bunch of drugs, they cart you to the surgery room which is around -10 degrees, and then they knock you out. A couple hours later you wake up, sore from the waist down and slightly nauseous but its all over.
This timeline isn’t unique to me
If there is one thing I have learned from all of this: A month is far from the worst case scenario. People seem to think that it takes just a few days, but due to how backed up the American healthcare system (at least in Florida) is, it is common for people to wait 1–2 months for the final say on whatever cancer they might have. The worst part is, I went to the ER and that was the CORRECT thing to do. If I had waited to go the urologist I would have then had to wait for an ultrasound too (one or two weeks no doubt). I would have been best off going to the ER and never having gone through the rest of the process (don’t do this). This is not a healthy system.
With cancer, surgery is just the beginning
I tried to keep this short, but it seems the process is just not short or efficient. Additionally I want to add more details for other people going through Testicular Cancer to help give a good idea of what to expect. I will have to make another post detailing what followed: Pathology report, blood tests, CT scans, recurrence, sperm banking and chemo.
