A lump

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Ok, I feel odd about putting this on here. It isn't a 'fun' thread so please turn away now if that's what you were looking for. It's something very personal, very serious but as of yet, I don't want to share it with my close friends or family because I don't want to worry them.

What it is is this:
I found a lump on my left testicle. It's fairly large, about 1/6 as big as the actual bollock. It doesn't hurt. It's quite spherical but attached to the ball. There isn't one on the other ball, except maybe a very small one. I first remember noticing this about 7 yrs ago and assumed (and was too scared to do anything else) that it was the sort of 'knot' where the balls attached to the tubes in the scrotum. I remember there being one on each ball though.

I'm absolutely fucking terrified. I'm going to sort out a doctor tonight (I don't have one and don't know where a local one is, or how to sign up) and get it checked out.

Here are my qus:

First off, does everyone have these lumps and are they just 'knots' for want of a better word?

If I do go to the doctor what will they do? ie. just feel it, or want to take a sample with a needle or what?

I'm 25. What's the likelihood of it being cancer? If it is, what are the possible outcomes?

(There has been no history of any cancers in my family.)

Has anyone else been through this, can you give some advice please.

Thanks.

― John., Monday, 21 March 2005 18:01 (twenty-one years ago)

These are all good questions for the doctor.

Don't worry about it until you see the doc & get some tests run. From your description, you will be fine. Really - stop worrying, but do go to a doctor.

― TV Doctor, Monday, 21 March 2005 18:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, don't futz around.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Not to scare you too badly, but men in their 20s and early 30s are actually the highest-risk group for testicular cancer. So hie thee doctorward, and thank Jeebus you've got national health care.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:43 (twenty-one years ago)

try not to be scared. If it is something that needs to be dealt with it's good that you're catching it now and are doing something about it. But remain calm until you have all the info.

(and although I don't know I think they'd do an MRI/Cat scan or something before a biopsy)

― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:48 (twenty-one years ago)

hey dood i have a 3rd ball. mine is right above my left ball sounds just like yours. i got real scurred and went to the doctor. she just felt it and said "it doesnt feel like cancer" i got an ultrasound on my nuts and they said it was just cartalidge! they also said it was common! so dont get too freaked out you might just be 3 ballin like me.

― charleston charge (chaki), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

i had a hernia when i was 14 and didn't even realize it, i just felt down tehre one day (believe it if you can) and there was this enormous extra mass in there.. my body was a-changin and a-movin all over the place those days and it was in a very embarrassing part of me so i kept schtum for months.. at my next doc visit i did the coughing thing and my doctor gave me this stern BAD KITTY look and it got checked out and, well, it was a hernia.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 21 March 2005 18:58 (twenty-one years ago)

. I first remember noticing this about 7 yrs ago

Well, chances are slim it is cancer as you've had it for such a long time. Or do you have a new lump? I always like to believe the saying (doctors always use) that most lumps are not cancer. But of course: check it out.

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Monday, 21 March 2005 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

A member of my immediate family was diagnosed and treated for testicular cancer. He was lucky because his significant other insisted he go to the doctor when he just wanted to ignore it; she probably saved his life. I agree with the others that there's no need to be excessively paranoid, but you wanna get that shit checked out. Any probing/poking they do now will be a cakewalk compared to what might happen if it IS cancer and you wait.

Good luck. Hope everything's OK.

― sugarpants: the luscious ingenue (sugarpants), Monday, 21 March 2005 20:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Don't get freaked out. It probably is the inflated cartlidge thing, or a harmless cyst. But get it looked at. Preferably by a hot nurse.

― A / F#m / Bm / D (Lynskey), Monday, 21 March 2005 20:14 (twenty-one years ago)

what you need is an UROLOGIST. Check the dept of urology at your local hospital. don't know if you're in the UK or US so can't help w/insurance tips. the doctor will examine you manually, ask questions etc before you have to undergo a CT (cat) scan. I have done one and it's painless, only slightly uncomfortable but also nerve-wracking of course because you're worried about the outcome. believe me, knowing what's wrong is better than not and worrying.

go go go go (and don't feel guilty about waiting) just go now.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Monday, 21 March 2005 20:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Relax. It is more than likely a harmless cyst..they are actually fairly common, as any doctor will tell you. Highly doubtful it is something dangerous like cancer, though it is best to get it checked out nonetheless.

― Aramyr, Monday, 21 March 2005 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

If you're in the UK remember that even if you're not signed up to a doctors you can get an emergency appointment - just go down to the nearest surgery.

― A / F#m / Bm / D (Lynskey), Monday, 21 March 2005 23:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks everyone, I feel a bit better about it. I will sort out a doctor this week. I didn't know about the emergency appointment thing, I'll sort that out asap. Again, thank you.

― John., Tuesday, 22 March 2005 13:24 (twenty-one years ago)

John, I freak out every few months. Cysts seem to form every few months. I asked my doctor who said that if you feel a lump, it's usually something *good*. Another doctor says it's common to have lumps. But of course it's not always benign, so check out. Better to know (and cure). :-) Hope it's a good cyst. Let us know when you have the result. :-)

― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd go with the cartilidge. I noticed mine 9 years ago, and hey, still here (in my darker moments, I like to think that the gods are f*cking with me instead of just giving me the fatal accident right away). I thought nothin' of it at the time till we were in a lecture about testicular cancer and I got freaked and confessed to a mate a day later. He told me to hie me down to the school doctor and it all turned out copasetic.

― BARMS, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

But yes, good luck and holler back soon.

― BARMS, Tuesday, 22 March 2005 14:24 (twenty-one years ago)

hey dood i have a 3rd ball. mine is right above my left ball sounds just like yours. i got real scurred and went to the doctor. she just felt it and said "it doesnt feel like cancer"

this sounds like a total result.. extra ball, lady doctor feeling your balls and giving you the all clear! woot!

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

i tell chicks that "only direct descendents of SAMSON have the magikal 3rd ball" nad they feel it and go "ooooh!"

― charleston charge (chaki), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

haha "nad"

― charleston charge (chaki), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I find it absolutely fucking impossible to tell what's going on down there. There are so many, like tubes n shit. And you can't see any of it! I'm sure this is nothing at all, John.

― Ally C (Ally C), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 19:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Chaki, I must sleep with you! I have slept with two guys who had one ball (each) and I must raise my average back up.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 19:53 (twenty-one years ago)

http://expn.go.com/media/lifestyle/2000/photos/tubes.jpg

The doctors are flummoxed by Ally C's seminal vesicles.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 19:55 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.ear.fm/Encyclopedia%20P/presidents.jpg

It's lump/
It's lump/
It's lump/
It's in my naaaads...

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 19:56 (twenty-one years ago)

(That was the other joke I considered making.)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 19:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I win! Um... or...

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Tuesday, 22 March 2005 19:59 (twenty-one years ago)

two years pass...

whatever happened to John's lump, or chaki's 3rd ball????

― gershy, Saturday, 22 December 2007 04:12 (eighteen years ago)

One of my testicles grew to the size of a peach once. It was fucking terrifying. I think it ended all right, though.

― Autumn Almanac, Saturday, 22 December 2007 06:53 (eighteen years ago)

Why am I not even surprised Chaki has 3 balls?

― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 December 2007 06:57 (eighteen years ago)

Anyway, I had a testicle scare once. Turned out it was just an infection. They gave me some antibiotics and it went away.

― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 December 2007 06:58 (eighteen years ago)

Mine had to be invaded, drained and stitched to the sack. No I don't have photos.

― Autumn Almanac, Saturday, 22 December 2007 07:20 (eighteen years ago)

ctrl+f "she's in my head" and ctrl+f "might be dead" returns NO RESULTS. wtf dudes

― 69, Saturday, 22 December 2007 08:17 (eighteen years ago)

It's lump/
It's lump/
It's lump/
It's in my naaaads...

-- sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Tuesday, March 22, 2005 11:56 AM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

― The Reverend, Saturday, 22 December 2007 08:29 (eighteen years ago)

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