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The Discovery:	It was July 1th, 1999. I was taking a shower, when I was making an astonishing and pretty disconcerting discovery: There was something at my right testicle, which was normally not there. It was not very big, approximately 1 cm long and 5 mm high. It was directly at the testicle, it was hard and it didn't hurt - not even with pressure. I was sure, it must have appeared suddenly - I was taking a shower every day after all - and yesterday everything was OK or not!? So it would be gone the next day.
It was still there.	My small problem was still there the next day. A few days later it still was not getting any smaller. To be honest, I even thought it got a little bit bigger - Cancer? Not at the age of 28, even more so because I was living outstandingly healthy 'till now. But deep inside I felt quite sure: It had to be cancer. So I asked a good friend who is a medical doctor what I should do. He got a bit pale, started talking something about 'risk age group' and told me to see a urologist as soon as possible.
The Urologist.	I reached for the yellow pages, and then started searching for an urologist - a type of specialist I did not know more about than that it existed. How should I decide which one of all these names I should call? So I took the next one: Dr.Brandl in Grünwald, close to Munich. I got an appointment there the very next day, a Friday, after I described my problem on the phone: Dr.Brandl was examining me with an ultrasound scanner and explained to me, that one would have to lay open the testicle in an operation to make a more precise examination. He did that in a very clever way, he was not using words like cancer or tumor. Even so I understood what he wanted to say. And at least it was the diagnosis I was already expecting. Only a few days later I was told that the results of his ultrasound scan were already very obvious evidence that the swelling indeed was a malignant tumor. So all I had to do now, was to decide which hospital to go to. Dr. Brandl called the Hospital 'München-Harlaching' to book a room and an 'emergency operation' for me, for the following week - I started to take things a bit more seriously from now on.
The Waiting Period.	In reality only a weekend, the time before such an operation easily gets very long. I was lucky that a friend's wedding made the days eventful. I had almost no time to think about my situation. There is only one thing I will never forget: It may sound crazy, but I started to hate my right testicle. I was even longing to get rid of it the next week.
In Hospital.	I was in hospital for the first time of my live. But I was lucky, I got a single room and very nice nurses made the first hours in the strange surrounding easier. On Monday a series of examinations was waiting for me. Another ultrasound confirmed the diagnosis: the testicle would have to be taken out the next day. The structure, as well as its hardness made a tumor most plausible. My blood was also examined, not only to check all necessary things for the operation, but also to screen me for so-called 'tumor markers'. The diagnosis, as well as the operation was explained to me by Prof. Chaussy after that. He was taking things seriously, but at the same time he was doing that in a very reassuring way. No matter what kind of tumor it would be: One would be able to heal it completely. And the small size indicated that I came in time. Of course all that made me a bit pensive, but my mood stayed up. I was sure that it would be healed soon. In the evening I was shaved. And under the shower after that - it was the last one for a few days - I felt ill for the first time: It looked really very sad, so shaven down there!	next page