Dear friends and family, it's been a crazy couple of weeks for us. Three weeks ago, cancer was something that happened to "other people". But in late March, Adam felt some pain and went to our doctor. The doctor sent him immediately to radiology and shortly after we saw a urologist who let Adam know that it was likely testicular cancer.
On April 7th, Adam underwent a radical orchiectomy of his left testicle. This last week he's been dealing with the pain from that abdominal surgery but still trying his best to help around the house, raise our two boys, keep our cloth diaper service going, and just coping with his new "normal".
On April 14th, we went to his follow up appointment where we learned some more news. First, they confirmed that the pathology showed it was testicular cancer and secondly, that it had spread, just slightly, outside of the testis (Stage IB so far). This means that Adam now has to go for several CT scans (torso, abdomen and pelvis) to see if the cancer is only localized, or if it has spread to lymph nodes or other parts of his body (lungs, etc). This waiting is the hard and scary part and we're not getting much sleep worrying about it.
Depending on the CT results we may enter a period of monitoring if negative or chemotherapy and/or major surgery if they find something. It's scary and now the bills are starting to add up with the surgery Adam has already had and the scans on the horizon (we're hoping that we're not doing more than monitoring...). We have decent insurance, but as a middle-class family, we're now feeling it at this point.
Folks have asked how they can help and this is one way. Funds from this campaign will first go directly to doctor visits, surgery and CT scan costs. If those are paid for by the campaign, additional funds will go to home bills and food costs to make up for the time that Adam hasn't been able to work at REI. Lastly, the last 200.00 of our campaign will go to help Adam's morale by providing the funds for him to sign up for another pottery class at the Art Center. Pottery is huge for Adam and functions as his outlet for stress and due to bills, it's had to go by the wayside. Adam needs a little self-care in his life at this time.
If nothing else, we ask that you talk to your loved ones about testicular cancer, particularly guys you love between the ages of 15 and 40. Adam's tumor was only about 1.2 cm in size and that was enough to start spreading, but small enough that his doctor had a hard time feeling it initially. Encourage loved ones and friends to act quickly on lumps that they may find as it may well save their lives.
Lastly, we're so thankful to you, our friends and family, who are supporting us on this journey through your positive thoughts, prayers, offers of help and support. We love you and are so happy you are in our lives.
