The memories are so clear in my mind. 6 weeks prior to August 12, Diogo had told me he found a lump in his testicle. He said i think i need to go see the doctor. Diogo gets sick or sees the Dr probably 1-2 times a year if that. So when he said that. I knew something was definitely wrong. I said yes of course. Let me find one asap. I started calling all of the Top rated Urologists in Gilbert and the surrounding areas. All of them were booked out 5 weeks plus. Call after call and everyone was booked or out of town- since it was summer. I was stressed out and hoping we could just find a good Dr with one opening. After tons of phone calls. I feeling so frustrated. I finally found a Urologist that had a last minute opening. We anxiously waited our 5 weeks until Diogos appointment. Trying to live life as normal as we could while we waited. We didn't tell anyone what was going on. We didn't want to stress anyone out unless there was something more significant to know.
The date arrived and we went went to Diogos appointment. It was the entire family. I couldn't find a sitter for that day. I remember the Dr coming in and checking Diogo, he asked a million questions. Then he said, You have Testicular Cancer. He said you will need surgery to take everything out, we will need to biopsy your lump to determine how severe this is. We need to see if the CANCER has spread anywhere else in your body. He then asked are you guys done having kids?! We replied no. He said well you guys will not be able to have anymore kids. He explained we would need to Sperm bank if we ever wanted the chance to be able to conceive again. He then chatted some more with Diogo. I just sat there with tears rolling down my face. I was in complete shock. I was still trying to process. Diogo was 29 years old. Healthy and living a good life. How could he be sick?! How could my dear husband, my best friend, my children's father, our protector and provider be sick with CANCER??! I did not know what Diogo was thinking. As i looked over he seemed to be very calm and composed. He continued to talk to the Dr. Thank him for his time and then they took us to schedule his surgery. The surgery scheduler informed us that our Dr was going on a 3 week vacation and he was leaving that night. So he couldn't preform the surgery until after he returned. I was said absolutely not. You will do the surgery now. I was so mad and angry that they would even try to push something so serious off. I told Diogo we will schedule it. But we were going to get a second opinion...
We loaded the kids in the car. Our drive home was very quite. We got home and right away tried to figure out a SECOND opinion. Diogo went to the Urgent Care. They sent him for a ultra sound right away and found a Urologist that excepted EMERGENCY cases. I was so thankful. He came home and told me he would have the ultra sounds results tomorrow and that I need to call true dr with this referral. I called and got an appointment with the next few days. I remember calling my mom to relay the bad news. I could barley talk. I was crying and trying so hard not too. I asked her to tell my Dad. I also asked if we could plan a family fast. She said of course. We then called Diogos parents. We explained to everyone that he would have surgery and then we would know more.
That night we had to talk about trying to have another baby or if we wanted to try and SPERM bank. We needed to call insurance etc. There were so many things to do. Did insurance cover SPERM banking, was Diogo going to be able to work, how expensive was surgery etc?! There were so many questions we needed answers for. But, we had to wait for our appointment with the new Urologist.
Thank you for reading part 1. I will continue posting on this major life event.
If you have a friend or a family member with Cancer. Please reach out to
them. They need you more then you know. Even if it's a note, a text, a picture or a small gift. Or just sit with them in silence.
Xoxo,
CorreaMommy
