Posts by Scott Kelly3

Angela Wright said:Your post really hit me hard😳, this damn disease😠 !. I honestly wouldn't know which oncologist to recommend—I don't have any real experience or insight when it comes to this specific type of cancer. What I would suggest instead is having a serious talk with your doctor about the future—specifically, your ability to father children down the road if you haven't already. I assume radiotherapy plays a role there, since tissue damage is a real concern and it leaves you wondering about fertility. I'm not sure if there's a sperm bank nearby, but I’d highly recommend looking into that before the radiation starts, just to be safe.
By all means, get a second opinion—if nothing else, just for your own peace of mind. You might want to email your test results to some of those big-name global clinics. John Smith did exactly that with her husband's records, sent them over to Houston, and they got a response right away with some incredibly interesting suggestions—totally different from what they were claiming at Mayo Clinic. It's all part of the fight, and it would be great if someone close to you could shoulder some of this burden, because you're going to need to save every bit of energy you have.
My mom is doing very poorly, and the only thing worse than this would be a coma. I can see it's coming to an end, and at the same time, I'm feeling this weird, conflicting mix of sadness that it's happening and relief that she won't have to suffer anymore.

I truly think you can beat this. Even though we haven't met, I just have a gut feeling about it. You're going to pull through this episode stronger than before—just believe in yourself and in the one above.👍
Hang in there, man.

Thanks for the advice and the support. My treatment starts next week with Dr. Griffin. Honestly, I couldn't do any of this without my wife—she's absolutely breaking apart for me. It hasn't metastasized to the organs yet, but they found some thickened lymph nodes... looks like I caught it just in time before it settled into the vital organs. I'm lucky.

Angela Wright said:I feel like you really need to lower the count of tumor cells circulating in the blood by physically removing the mass—but honestly, how much does that actually help, and how long does it take for the blood to be completely "cleared"? Who knows. That’s probably why they push chemotherapy or radiation after surgery when a tumor is partially or fully removed; those methods are meant to kill off any lingering cells left behind in the body to prevent a relapse or metastasis. After an operation, doctors run marker tests just to get a baseline right before oncology treatment kicks in, so they have something to compare against once everything is done.
In my view, CT scans and MRIs are the most precise diagnostic tools we have—even if they don't catch everything. Cancer can still exist at a cellular level and develop over time (which is where markers come in, though let's face it, they aren't 100% foolproof). I think the goal in diagnosis is to layer different methods together to ensure the diagnosis is as accurate as possible.

Thanks for the response—after reading that, my confidence in your expertise (based on your experience) is definitely stronger. You help so many people, and I'm sure you can feel that coming back to you... keep it up. How is your mom doing? Your fight for her really touched me. You've become someone special.
I found out today that my cancer (testicular cancer) has metastasized to the lymph nodes in my abdomen—tomorrow I find out what stage we're dealing with, depending on how thick those nodes are. What I'm struggling with is which type of therapy is actually better. Some people say to avoid radiation because of the risk of complications from damaging healthy tissue. But then again, you hear that radiation is the most effective option specifically for testicular cancer. Can you recommend an oncologist for my specific case—someone you know is actually good? I've had some pretty bad experiences with doctors in the past, so finding a decent one is my top priority right now. I've already decided I'm going to seek second and third opinions once I have all my results in hand. Thanks in advance, and sorry if I sound a bit jittery while typing this...

I’ve been wondering—if you get those tumor markers tested right after surgery and the numbers come back significantly lower, does that actually mean the tumor is gone and the threat is over? Or... is there still a chance it's lurking somewhere in the body? Basically, which diagnosis is the most precise way to know for sure whether it's out of the system or not?

Be a Fighter for your life!

Hey everyone,
Here’s my take on things:
I was diagnosed with testicular cancer (on the right side), and they removed it 13 days ago. The surgery went down at the Mayo Clinic, performed by Dr. Castellan. Honestly, the doctors just cycle in and out—they don't say anything concrete. It’s the exact SAME thing every single day—absolutely nothing. I’ve been sitting here waiting for my results, but they haven't arrived—it makes zero sense to me how two weeks can pass without a single word regarding the CT scan or the markers, and then I'm told I have to wait until the third week because they're "too busy." And what if I don't have that kind of time?
Wouldn't it be more decent if they just told me to go get it done privately and then follow up once I had the results? Or better yet, send me somewhere where I won't be stuck waiting three weeks—or who knows how long... this kind of attitude toward patients is irresponsible and dangerous.