The Initial Blog

From Carepages to Blogger. Let us begin again.

Now that Maxwell is doing much better (eating like a horse, gaining weight) we've decided to move the chronicling of our lives to a blog. We're very grateful for carepages, but I would like to think that we've earned the opportunity to run a more mundane spot on the web. We'll keep the carepages up for a little bit longer (at least until we download all the posts, messages, and pics for Max's scrapbook!) So, I'm not sure how this works, if you can sign up for email messages if you would like to know when we post something new, or how that happens. Anyhoo, we'll figure it out.

Max had an appointment with the physical therapist at Geisinger yesterday. Angie can tell you more about it, but I guess it went well. He's right about where he should be for a preemie. I'm sure she'll tell you more about it. All I know is that he's 8lbs and 21 inches...about normal for any baby!

So, in the midst of all this excitement of Maxwell coming home, and doing well, and settling into life as parents, I found a lump on my left nut during a routine examination. I scheduled an appointment with the student health clinic here at PSU. The doctor (who is great) examined it, and said "yep, that's something we want to pay attention to." He immediately sent me over for an ultrasound, which indeed revealed a solid mass on my left testicle. So, we had a chat, he explained that while the mass could be caused by something else, the most likely cause is testicular cancer. He referred me to a urologist at Geisinger (because, in his words "if it were MY left nut, that's where I'd want to get it treated"...like I said, he's great) and told my that my prognosis was excellent. Most likely it would be a simple matter of "cut and cure", remove the testical and all will be well. If it's spread to the lymph nodes, I'd most likely get radiation, possibly chemo. But regardless, this is a very curable cancer in his words.

So, I meet with the urologist on Monday at 2 to lay out my treatment for the next couple of days. Needless to say, this is not the way I would like to spend a Monday. Angie is hanging tough, but allowed herself to break down a little bit last night, which was good. She needs to let it out.

I wasn't going to mention anything to anyone until after I had a confirmed diagnosis, but, the support that everyone gave to us during Max's trials and tribulations was so wonderful and comforting. While I would be fine sitting on this information for a while, I feel it would be selfish of me to deny my wonderful wife the support that I know she will recieve. And, yes, I'm a little scared myself. The information I have been finding on testicular cancer is somewhat contradictory, so I don't feel like I'm getting a good gauge of what to expect. And I'm the type of guy that doesn't like surprises.

Ironic, isn't it?

Love to all.

Michael