More Questions for Your Doctor About Your Testicular Cancer Diagnosis

Video Transcript

"Hello my name is Dr. Susan Jewell. Now in this clip I am also going to address some more questions that you can gather together before you go to see the doctor about your testicular problem and in particular of you have already been diagnosed with testicular cancer. So what are some of the other questions that you could ask? The first thing is when you have cancer the doctor is going to suggest some management options and they are going to suggest having treatment and you can also think about treatment and you can say well what are the side effects of this treatment? You need to really talk to your doctor about your side effects and talk about the risks and benefits of the procedure and those are very important. The next question is what is the recovery time? Each procedure has a different recovery time, some people take longer than others to recover from a particular procedure so you need to ask your doctor and get well informed about that. How long before returning to work because obviously you know you are going to have to take time off from work and then time to heal so depending on each individual's background, health, and particular condition, you are going to have different time factors for going back to work and resuming normal activity so that is something you should write down, address, and ask your doctor. What are the other questions? An important question with this cancer in the back of your mind is even if I have this treatment what are my chances of the recurrence of the cancer and the doctor cannot predict 100% if you are in total remission or if you are going to have a recurrence. They can only go by statistics and so he is going to tell you what are your chances gathered on this particular cancer itself. Then the next thing you can ask is will I become infertile if I have this procedure done and if that is the case should I bank my sperm if you want to have children and you will have that option there especially if you are in your early age and you are thinking of marriage and having children then you need to address this with your doctor. Then you say well how soon can I engage in physical activity or have sexual intercourse? Of course that is an important question and that is something that you should also speak to your doctor about it so write it on your list to speak to your doctor. Obviously you are going to need time to heal and recover. You don't want to engage in physical activity at too early a stage and then it is going to make your recovery time a lot longer. Another question is very important and that is to ask do I need a second opinion and would this second opinion be helpful? I always recommend and most health care professionals to always get a second opinion because you never know somebody could misdiagnose or maybe a second opinion could give you more options to think about so always go for a second opinion, go for a second consult because it would be very helpful for you to acquire more treatment options and different ways to manage your medical condition. So absolutely get a second opinion go for a second consult about your cancer condition or your medical condition. These are just some of the questions that you can think about to compile a list of questions before you go in to see your doctor at your next meeting."