Current Diagnosis

2013 Diagnosis (see separate posts for 2007 and 2011 diagnoses and treatments)
The circumstances surrounding this current relapse are much like 2011 in that I had no idea whatsoever that anything was wrong, if anything I felt better in the last couple of months than I had for the previous 12 months.
The problem was again picked up with a simple bloodtest that showed an elevated  level of betaHCG, which is a marker for my type of cancer. The blood test was repeated a few days later to preclude the possibility of a lab error, unfortunately the second test confirmed that the betaHCG was elevated and climbing.
Given my previous medical history this was enough to confirm that the cancer has returned and for the docs to begin planning more treatment, which goes to show how important those regular blood tests are. As with the previous relapse the rise in betaHCG indicates that it is the coriocarcinoma aspect of the cancer that is active, coriocarcinoma is very often the most problematic subtype of testicular cancer.
I also had a CT scan which showed nothing, this was followed with a PET scan that showed possible enlargement of the lymph nodes in my part of my groin, this may require surgery but a decision has not been made yet. The possible surgery will involve the removal of any suspect lymph nodes and is known as a Retroperitoneal lymph node dissection (RPLND), it's major surgery but the long term side effects are likely to be minimal.
The fact that the scans have shown very little is a good indicator that we have picked up the activity in the cancer early in it's life, this is a good indicator that we can beat this again.
It does need to be said that the treatment I am about to receive is difficult and not without risk. Also, given that this is my second late relapse, there are certainly no guarantees that the treatment will succeed. For me those downsides don't really matter, there is no time to waste thinking about them, nor is there anything to be acheived. Life is too good and the world is too weird/amazing for me to not want to hang around for plenty more years side by side with Robyn. In other words, I'm up for another fight.
I will make a separate post to describe the planned treatment in a bit more detail.
Cheers, Pete