Diagnosed with Germ Cell Cancer
On Thursday, July 16th, I was diagnosed with stage III germ cell cancer, specifically embryonal carcinoma. I’m still learning about my cancer. Please read What Kind of Cancer Did Lance Armstrong Have? for medically accurate details. Like Lance’s cancer, mine is nonseminoma “which a cure may be possible even with metastatic disease.” My cancer is “very sensitive to chemotherapy.” My doctor thinks I have a 90% chance of my cancer being cured from my chemotherapy over the next 12 weeks.
Unlike Lance, I do not have tumors in my testicles or my brain. My tumors are overgrown lymph nodes primarily in my abdomen. We think that is where they originated and then it spread up by sternum to some lymph nodes in my neck.
We do not know how long I've had the cancer. I did three blood tests for cancer markers. The HCG (sub beta cuantificada) came back positive at 26 mU/mL. I was told that was barely positive and is a good sign that my cancer is spreading slowly.
Reverse Timeline
- 2020–07–28 started chemotherapy
- 2020–07–22 radioactive PET CT scan to see where the tumors are
- 2020–07–21 MRI to see if I have it in my brain (negative)
- 2020–07–16 diagnosed with germ cell cancer
- 2020–07–15 lab work came back negative for lymphoma cancer
- 2020–07–05 checked out of hospital
- 2020–07–04 had surgical biopsy
- 2020–07–03 admitted to hospital
- 2020–06–30 drove to San José and had doctor consultation after 6 days of fever and pain
- 2020–06–24 began 16 days of fever and pain
- 2020–05–22 pain in abdomen for 3 days, felt hot, but no fever
- 2020–04–20 pain in abdomen for 2 days, including fever
- 2020–03–01 Arrived in San José. I felt better within a week of arriving in Costa Rica. I thought I was in the clear.
- 2020–02–22 ER visit in Río de Janiero after 7 days of fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and rash. Enlarged lymph nodes detected in CT scan. Diagnosis was an infection from bad water. Doctor suggested getting a biopsy of a lymph node if things do not improve.
- 2020–01–22 ER visit in Río de Janiero after 10 days of fever, diarrhea, and night sweats. Diagnosis was an infection from bad water.
The image is a screenshot of me and my cancer from my $2700 radioactive PET CT scan. They sent me a report and the raw medical image files. I found a free medical image viewer in the Apple Store named Miele-LXIV DICOM Workstation and Viewer. I'm not a doctor and I'm not exactly sure what to look for, but my doctor pointed out these two black areas that I highlighted in yellow as areas where the tumors are.
My prescribed treatment plan is 4 cycles of chemotherapy, 5 days per cycle, usually Monday to Friday, except for this week due to a national holiday on Monday. After a cycle, I have two weeks of recovery, and then we start another one. It will be 12 weeks total. Tomorrow is my last day for the first cycle. Each day for chemotherapy, I go to the doctor's office and get an IV needle and drip for about 4 hours. I'm being treated with the EP chemotherapy drug combination (etoposide & cisplatin). It is known to be very effective against germ cell cancer.
