Testicular cancer journey so far in Canada

Hi All,

I was unfortunately diagnosed with testicular cancer about a month ago, and wanted to share my journey so far. Since having symptoms, I found the information here very useful and wanted to post my experience if it can help anyone at all.

Oct 27, 2025 - Woke up and noticed in the shower that my right testicle was a lot larger than the left one (about 4 times as large) and it was extremely hard. Called my primary doctor to make an appointment, he said he could squeeze me in on Nov 1 at 8:30am before his other appointments

Nov 1, 2025 - Went to my primary doctor for 8:30am, he was nowhere to be seen and other patients were starting to roll in to wait for their appointments. He shows up at 9:30am, and told me that he thought my appointment was the day before. Asked me at the front reception what the problem was, didn't examine me at all, and gave me a requisition for an Ultrasound suggesting that it's most likely a hydrocele. I was able to get the Ultrasound done the same day, this took about 30-45 minutes

Nov 7, 2025 - Received a call from my primary doctor with the ultrasound results below. He rushed the call telling my wife and I that it's testicular cancer and was trying to get off the phone with us. (I have since switched my family doctor). Told us that he was going to put in an urgent referral to a Urologist.

Ultrasound Report

Nov 11, 2025 - With something like this, I was expecting the call from the Urologist within the next 2 business days. No call from the Urologist. I decided to e-mail Dr. Robert Hamilton at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre here in Toronto as I had seen a thread about him and being one of the best with testicular cancer. To my surprise, he e-mailed me back directly the next day and let me know if I could get my primary doctor to send a referral he could squeeze me into his clinic on Friday and we could take it from there. I had my doctor send a referral to Dr. Hamilton's assistant and was booked in for Friday.

Nov 14, 2025 - My wife and I arrived at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre to meet with Dr. Hamilton and his team. Was examined by a medical student, physician's assistant, and Dr. Hamilton himself. They all took the time to answer any questions we had, and very compassionate. He told us that he's 95% sure that it's testicular cancer cannot determine if it is a seminoma vs non-seminoma based on the ultrasound alone. They told us I would require an orchiectomy to remove the testicle, blood test for tumor markers, CT scans, and pathology for staging.

I was able to take blood right there at the clinic, and got results back on the online patient portal the same night. All my levels were abnormal, which was really scary.

AFP - 16.1 ug/L (Normal range: below <=8.9 ug/L)
HCG - 199 IU/L (Normal range: below <3 IU/L)
LDH - 873 u/L (Normal range: 125 - 220 u/L)

Nov 18, 2025 - Received a call from Dr. Hamilton's physician assistant to review my blood results and told us that based on my levels, it is looking like a non-seminoma and not a seminoma due to the AFP rise. She reassured us that the levels shown are still indicative of a good prognosis. I was able to also confirm my surgery on Nov 25 with Dr. Hamilton and CT scan of chest/abdomen/pelvis on Nov 27

Nov 25, 2025 - Arrived at Toronto General Hospital for my surgery at 6:00am and was in surgery for 8:00am. The procedure went well and took about an hour compete, and then was in the recovery area where the nurses monitored my pain. I was out of the hospital by about 1:00pm, and back at home to recover. Pain post-op wasn't too bad, and was able to manage the pain with only over the counter pain killers by Day 3.

Nov 27, 2025 - Had my CT scan of my chest/abdomen/pelvis scheduled for 8:00pm in the evening at Toronto Wester Hospital. This took about an hour to complete.

Dec 2, 2025 - Results from my CT scans came back, and were all clean showing no signs of metastasis.

Dec 4, 2025 - Had my post-op bloodwork done, and all levels went down, but the AFP was still slightly above normal, which I read is around where it should be 9 days post-op.

AFP - 10 ug/L (Normal range: below <=8.9 ug/L)
HCG - 1 IU/L (Normal range: below <3 IU/L)
LDH - 178 u/L (Normal range: 125 - 220 u/L)

Dec 9, 2025 - My pathology came back, and it wasn't the news that we were hoping for. Based on everything combined I believe that I would be placed in the Non-Seminoma Stage 1B category. In my research, there is a 50-55% of relapse as the tumor is 90% EC with LVI involvement in rete testis and >3cm. This was a tough pill to swallow as everything else was looking good. I believe the treatment options that will be offered to me are either surveillance OR adjuvant 1xBEP chemotherapy (although I read that the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre does a standard of 2xBEP for adjuvant chemo)

Pathology Report

I have my follow-up with Dr. Hamilton this Friday on Dec 12, 2025 where we will go through everything and discuss what the options are. I don't know for sure what will be offered to me, but I am now struggling with the possibility of having to make the decision between Surveillance with 50-55% chance of relapse or adjuvant chemotherapy with 1-2X BEP. Any insight or advice on this would be welcome. I would really like to avoid any chemotherapy if possible, but 50-55% chance of relapse is too much of a gamble to take and potentially need full salvage treatment of chemotherapy. Really afraid of the long term side affects that might arise from adjuvant chemotherapy. Thanks all!