botto 

While Mr. Armstrong gets more than his fair share of sychophants on BF, he also has his fair share of critics. I'm somewhere in-between.

In December '01, I started having some odd symptoms, which I initially ignored. It wasn't until I recalled that that I had read about the very same symptoms that it dawned on me that I might be in a 'spot of bother'.

I kept putting off going to get things checked out until the day after Christmas, which lead to a series of Doctors appointments, and blood tests. At one point there was speculation that I might have Male breast cancer, so I was sent for a bilateral mammogram. Not a pleasant experience, for sure.

While they were setting up a biopsy, I suggested that they look lower, and they finally agreed, which lead to an ultrasound on New Years Eve day. Once they found what they were looking for, they set up the soonest appointment for an orchiectomy that they could - January 2nd.

Moral of the story - if you're 35 or younger, rub your balls while you've got them, boys.

rOOster14

i am happy that you are able to say that was seven years ago, and that you are still around to leave comments, whether they are sarcastic sometimes or not haha.
cheers

hammy56

Im glad youre still around...even if its to blast me for not knowing (before now) what an 'orchietomy' was.

...now we know why you get so teste sometimes.


...seriously though, Im happy for you.

jaxgtr

Correct. My brother in law had several fights getting rid of this disease. His options, lose one or lose his life. He opted to lose one, very scary and glad your still here.

Cleave

Hi botto,

Interestingly, a cycling friend of mine had male breast cancer and ended up having a mastectomy in 1999. Unfortunately, his mother and, I believe, his sister passed from the disease. Fortunately, he caught his early enough. He is still riding, but not racing (for other reasons). He's in his early 60s now.

Glad to hear that you're still cancer free.

BTW, my wife is a colon cancer survivor (9 years). That's mostly why I've been wearing this yellow bracelet ever since they came out.

dgasmd

Nothing to add that has not being said already. By the way, it is spelled "ORCHIECTOMY"!

wanders

I saw Dec. '01, didn't register as a year and thought it was last month. I thought "Sh1t, again?" Glad my comprehension caught up. Now...

Post the pic.

Cheers.

botto 

not me, but i have a similar one.


btw, it should be noted that i was one of the lucky few (iirc +/- 2-3%?) to have a benign tumor, a leydig cell tumor to be specific.

dysFTP

If this were not such a serious topic I would laugh at LA saying "my nipples were sore".

patentcad

All things considered, I'm glad you're not dead yet botto.

BigSean

Glad to hear yer still riding among us.

keep the wheels spinning.

waterrockets 

It takes a lot of courage to head in to the Dr to admit your mortality when you're young. Cancer is some scary *****. I'm glad you followed your instinct, in spite of the brief delay.

How'd that affect your W/kg?

botto 

1/10 scale.

ridethecliche

Glad to know you caught it in time!

It's good to still have ya around

big john

My best man at my wedding/best friend passed this week from the big C. Still haven't accepted it myself. He hid from everyone how sick he was and he avoided treatment until it was too late.
I hate doctor visits, too, but I'm glad to hear common sense prevailed for you.

GP

Congratulations!

bostongarden

Happy Anniversary (I wish I knew how to post sounds...I love the unusual version of Happy Anniversary in Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy).

MONGO!

Glad to still have you around b, thanks for sharing.

Beaker

Impressive anniversary, botto, and congrats on encouraging others to think seriously about this.

Good luck with continuing....

Enthalpic

Did you get much faster after the fact?

Metabolic clues regarding the enhanced performance of elite endurance athletes from orchiectomy-induced hormonal changes.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1...ubmed_RVDocSum
This article examines the metabolic performance of an elite cyclist, Lance Armstrong, before and after his diagnosis with testicular cancer....We propose that his dramatic improvement in recovery between stages, the most important factor in winning multi-day stage races, is due to his unilateral orchiectomy, a procedure that results in permanent changes in serum hormones. These hormonal changes, specifically an increase in gonadotropins (and prolactin) required to maintain serum testosterone levels, alter fuel metabolism; increasing hormone sensitive lipase expression and activity, promoting increased free fatty acid (FFA) mobilization to, and utilization by, muscles, thereby decreasing the requirement to expend limiting glycogen stores before, during and after exercise. Such hormonal changes also have been associated with ketone body production, improvements in muscle repair and haematocrit levels and may facilitate the loss of body weight, thereby increasing power to weight ratio.

waterrockets 

...these are the unlucky ones... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYz0MJC7JyQ

AlexTaylor

Congratulations Botto, hope we'll be seeing many many more of these anniversary posts to come!

I have a mae in my LBS who also caught his early and celebrated 1 year cancer free last month. Hope he'll be in the same boat as you.

10 Wheels

Did it make you faster?

rbart4506

Glad to see that you are still around and thanks for the reminder that you need to keep an eye on these things and not worry about any embarrassment when discussing them...

Same thing holds true for Prostate Cancer and the subsequent exams...

Gluteus

... to share the story in a forum like this. I'm glad for you.