Mike Lish
Home » About Us » Heroes » Mike LishMike Lish has shared his story a few times already in hopes of making other men more aware of the possibilities of dealing with male cancers. He stresses the need for men to pay attention to their bodies and have regular exams so these cancers can be caught early. The following is his story.
“To start with, I am a 46 year old, generally healthy male, slightly overweight but not much. I have gone through life without much of any medical problems. While taking a shower in mid August 2004, I was washing myself and noticed a lump in my left testicle. It was almost like it appeared overnight because I had not previously noticed anything abnormal. It was about the size of a small to medium size marble, definitely firm. I probably knew that something wasn't right but like most of us guys, I didn't do anything right away. I figured I would watch it for a while and see if somehow it might magically disappear. Unfortunately, it never went away or got smaller. In fact, it might have actually gotten slightly larger. So, two and a half weeks later, somewhat on a whim, I dropped into my doctor’s office, without an appointment and asked him to take a look. Immediately, he told me he thought I had a problem.
From there, the whirlwind started. That afternoon, Monday, I saw a sonographer and a radiologist to see if it was indeed a solid mass. The radiologist confirmed that it was solid. I expected that he would not tell me much and refer me back to my doctor for the results. I told him that I was the one paying his bill and that I wanted some answers. He told me that I had testicular cancer and that the normal course of treatment was to remove the tumor which, in my case, meant removing my testicle. My attitude about the whole thing may have been a bit of denial but I found myself thinking, ‘Okay, so how do we fix this?’
The next few days were a blur. I went to see my doctor again. Then I saw a radiologist and had a CT scan completed to see if the cancer had spread beyond my testicle, etc. The CT scan was done on Friday morning. The technician said she could not tell me anything that I would have to get the report from my urologist. This happened to be Labor Day weekend, so waiting to hear from my urologist meant it would be at least Tuesday, three days of not knowing if my body was filled with other tumors or if it was isolated to my testicle. I knew the technician could not tell me anything but I expected that the radiologist could. I made several calls and left several messages but late Friday afternoon, I received a call from the radiologists who told me the tumor was isolated—no evidence of anything else. Hallelujah! For me, that day was the most emotional of the whole ordeal. The not knowing was killing me!
If I can accomplish anything by telling my story, I hope that I can encourage the readers to recognize that we are the customer. As such, you can and should expect the doctors you deal with to treat you accordingly. If they are not giving you the time you feel you need, insist that they do! Ask them to be direct. Ask them to give you answers in a timely fashion, etc. As I said it earlier, we are the ones paying their bill.
My surgery (orchiectomy) took place September 7, 2004. I checked in at noon, was put under general anesthesia around 1:30 p.m., and was back in my car with my wife driving me home by around 3 pm. I took it easy the first day but by the second day I was moving around pretty good. By the third day, I was back in my office... maybe still a bit sore but by no means incapacitated.
After surgery, the pathologists determined that my tumor was a classic seminoma, the kind that generally does not spread much and is not very aggressive. About 4 weeks later, I began radiation. I was told that chances of recurrence were about 15 to 20 percent without radiation and about one to two percent if I went ahead and did the radiation. It seemed like a no-brainer to me. Radiation for me, based on my particular cancer, was a daily treatment. It took place Monday through Friday for three weeks. The treatment itself was no big deal. You lay on an x-ray table essentially, they turned on the radiation for about 10 seconds on my front and then 10 seconds on the back and that's it. The side effects of the radiation though caused me a little grief. After the first session, I felt pretty sick to my stomach. I never vomited, but things were sure churning. The next morning, I asked for a prescription to prevent that from happening. That worked great. I never had another problem with the sick stomach. However, about half way through my treatment protocol, I began experiencing severe diarrhea. The oncologists recommended Extra-Strength Kaopectate and it did the trick.
Other than the one day of sick stomach and the diarrhea, my experience was not all that bad. Mentally, hearing that you have CANCER was and still is the most life changing portion of the whole thing. I wake up with a little different appreciation for the life that we are given. The little stuff sure doesn't seem to matter that much anymore. I never in my life thought I would be considered a cancer survivor; but thankfully, that seems to be the case. I know the rest of my life will involve more frequent CT Scans and tests to make sure that nothing is showing up again, but I will gladly go through that process!”
