Testicular Cancer Long.....

[95 LT5]

Hi,

Cliff's......
Had surgury, and complications from it, more medical bills, not sure if its healing right, still not back to work, thinking of getting a lawyer
Radiation or not to radiate?

Here goes, Worst experience of my life.......
I'm 35 and have testicular cancer, had surgury to remove the bad nut on Jan 7th. Everything was ok till about 1 hr after surgury when I had a internal bleed from somewhere they went in (It is removed through the lower abdomen)
I discovered it in the hospital bed when the sac filled up with blood, about 10oz worth ( not fun btw) with more internally in that area and into upper thigh....

The doctor had never had this happen in 20yrs of doing this operation.
They had to knock me out again$$$$, and fix the leak.

Had to stay overnight at a different hospital$$$, and was brought there by ambulance$$$$.
Should have been just about 5 hr deal in and out.

Was in a ton of pain and was draining for 5 days after. Everything turned black/blue or yellow where the blood ended up

Most of that is gone now and in less pain then before, but still having difficulty with getting around easily without pain. Very tight in that area. There is a few more problems but i'll keep this brief at the moment.

The CT scan did not show any spread so it should have been contained to the testicle.
My oncologist thinks there is about a 85% that i'm free of cancer,
He is giving me the option to do radiation if I want to. I'm going for a second opinion about it Friday. Not sure if it's worth it, I like my 85%

Now, I'm not sure if I will have any permanent damage from the complication, but very aggrivated about the additional pain, lost work, and hospital bills that i'm left with. Not to mention that the doctor who did the surgury almost walked out of the room without even saying the results of the biopsy (which was cancerous) untill my wife spoke up. He then said he was going to track the results down, but didnt even know the results were in the file he was holding all the time.

I'd rather not do the lawyer bit, because of the additional cost and time involved but not very happy with what has happened.

Have the same post on the other fourm,
Thanks

[todesengel]

Sorry to hear that, and I feel your pain.

Having twice been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and going through treatments it stinks. I have been "cancer-free" for 21 years .

Once while alternating treatments they accidently gave me back to back mustard gas treatments. It was one of the worst experiences of my life, and almost took it. I was of course angry, like you, and was contemplating suing. Being "cured" put things in a little different perspective for me, and I never pursued it.

I am in no means trying to steer you away from what you deem necessary, everyone believes differently. We all make mistakes, some just have more serious consequences than others.

It is great that you seem to be recovering though, enjoy your new lease on life. Please do not skip out on your return checkups, they can make all the difference. I am still going 4 times a year for mine, even though my doc says I can get away with once a year.

[FU]

Think positive.Hope everything turn's out well for you.

[LGAFF]

I normally would not advise this, but you need to capture the info ASAP.....I would consider an attorney. Problem is you need to capture the info from the people in the room......since you were out, no way for you to testify what was said or done and what mistake might have been made.

Need discovery to start ASAP, good attorney will let you know if you have a case.

Most important is that you are getting better.

[FU]

Been a few day's , Feeling better we hope. Swelling must be going down by now.

[Hog]

I hope you are feeling better. 85% is a good number, usually if caught early most of the cells will be contained within the testicle.

In the future, keep track of your testosterone levels. Sometimes the Dr. will not recommend HRT(Hormone Replacement Therapy) and you can become symtomatic of hypogonadism(low hormone levels-testosterone). Tiredness after meals, weight gain, lowered libido, impotence0 or difficulties sustaining erections are all hallmark low T level signs/symtoms.
Te replacement is a 1 or 2 intramuscular injections a month, or daily creams rubbed onto skin, or pills. I suggest pills the least, but thats just my personal opinion.

This talk of sueing and paying money is unfortunate, these are the types of stressors that shouldnt even be thought about during times of recovery. Recovering from surgury is stress enough, let alone this type of surgury and it's complications.

So far as evidence, there is a written record of everyone who was involved in the surgury(MD's, Nurses, Technicians, Students) who were in the room, and details and times of the surgury are kept.

Every persons anatomy IS slightly different, as is their physiology so things can happen, one of them is bleeding.
Hearing this story just made me happy to live where I live, may not be the fastest, but it works.

So far as radiation, I may opt for a few rounds personally, it is a crappy experience, but does improve the long term numbers. But 85% is a good number, a really good number, but it is just a number.

It sucks that people have to sue to get money to cover extra lost income, people trying to help others and they get sued, but if they are incompetent, then they deserve it.

getting the 2nd opinion is your best move IMO.

Good luck.

peace
Hog

[LGAFF]

You would be surprised what is not documented...my daughter was a preemie, went in to put a clip on her heart. When she came out, of recovery, she started to crash....they went to bring her back into the operating room, and could not get back in as they were trying to get a dead body through a door(the normal elevator was broken so they were bringing it through the surgery area in a bodybag).

None of this was in the record...neither was the the type of clip or material they used. So later when she was 2 and we discovered she had brain damage, she could not get an MRI.

They also did not document when the did not check her feeding tube and they flushed forumula into her lungs causing an infection.

We had my daughters records reviewed as there was no documented rationale for her brain damage, no brain bleeds, etc. There was nothing abnormal documented, and I am confident that there was everything done to help her, but with the uncertainy of her future, we thought it was best to have her documents reviewed.

A good malpractice attorney will tell you if you have a case or not, and a good one will not charge to evaluate your case. They then should take the case on contingency.....most good malpratice lawyers do not mess with bogus cases as the cost of discovery is high.

[Hog]

Originally Posted by LGAFF

You would be surprised what is not documented...my daughter was a preemie, went in to put a clip on her heart. When she came out, of recovery, she started to crash....they went to bring her back into the operating room, and could not get back in as they were trying to get a dead body through a door(the normal elevator was broken so they were bringing it through the surgery area in a bodybag).

None of this was in the record...neither was the the type of clip or material they used. So later when she was 2 and we discovered she had brain damage, she could not get an MRI.

They also did not document when the did not check her feeding tube and they flushed forumula into her lungs causing an infection.

We had my daughters records reviewed as there was no documented rationale for her brain damage, no brain bleeds, etc. There was nothing abnormal documented, and I am confident that there was everything done to help her, but with the uncertainy of her future, we thought it was best to have her documents reviewed.

A good malpractice attorney will tell you if you have a case or not, and a good one will not charge to evaluate your case. They then should take the case on contingency.....most good malpratice lawyers do not mess with bogus cases as the cost of discovery is high.

Stories like your's, really drive home the importance of documentation, and being a fully competently skilled nurse. I am in my last semester of nursing, finishing my last clinical consolidation component in the hospital in a busy medical/surgical unit.
Inschool they really drive home the point of documentation, even documenting mistakes. If I was the person who should have checked you daughters feeding tube before feeding, and I pushed the feed causing the aspiration, I should/will document my error/incompetence fully. This will serve several ends:1) Gives you something/one to blame. 2)Helps me to get proper retraining 3)Can help develop new protocols to prevent this from happening in the future. 4)Protects me in case I'm not at fault 5)Protects the patient

Med errors suck, but they do happen. I am going to make mistakes, i will learn from them.

peace
Hog

[LGAFF]

All of this happened at Evanston Hospital.....they are tied into Northwestern Univ School of med. Make no mistake, this is a great hospital, but I was surprised to hear none of it was documented.

Good luck with your schooling.

[WB9MCW]

95LT5 so sorry to hear about your problem.

Glad to hear about the 85% answer not a bad # indeed.

My advice is you should consult with several oncologists and get their opinions on treatment or not.

If I had to make the decision I would get the rad treatments -- not as bad as chemo for sure and no doubt will make your 15% odds less by far I would think -- see what the oncologists say about this.

Keep us posted so we know how you are doing -- support is good and you will get plenty here from us all.

Best of luck to you at this point and make sure you get plenty of multiple opinions on it all.

Don't worry about the $$ now -- plenty of time to figure it all out later -- what is important now is the best decisions about your health.

The medical bills can all be consolidated and a long term affordable payback plan can be worked out -- Usually no interest on medical debt -- worst case is "medical bankruptcy" which is far different than the regular version -- after all you did not cause the debt like charging up your credit cards on a spending frenzy.

BTW 1 in one hundred men between 16-45 get TC not many know this fact as it is not talked about like BC.

Read the book by Lance Armstrong >> "It is not about the bike" -- good inspiration for you right now. Lance had to go the Chemo route with his TC.