Testicular Cancer
Bobby’s Story Block
This is Bobby's Story Block
My story started in 2002
Hello everyone, I will start by saying I am a two time Testicular Cancer survivor and the founder of iWarrior Life. This is my story block…
Official iWarrior YouTube ChannelMy name is Bobby Martinez and in 2002 I found out I had Cancer. But wait, here’s my favorite part… Dr’s, friends and family, in one form or another, softened the blow for me. How? They pointed out it was only Testicular Cancer. It was the “in” cancer. The cancer to get if you were gonna get cancer. Sad part was, back then, I believed Doctors. I mean come on, they went to school, so they must know what they’re talking about right? Wrong! Cancer is cancer and all cancers suck balls… no pun intended! (Okay, maybe a bit).
Now, I won’t bore you with all the intricate details but, I had a right Inguinal orchiectomy; meaning for those that don’t know, they removed one of my little buddies. (Excised one of my testicles, if you will). Mentally that excision hurt more than the actual procedure. Mentally I was going to be changed, I just didn’t know how much yet. That’s when my story got good…
That’s about the time I became a Super Hero, I moved to Gotham City and started fighting crime. Batman then called Superman who in turn paid my moving expenses and set me up in Metropolis in order to help him there for 6 months. It was a blast, I wore the coolest cape you’ve ever seen and I could…
Oops, that’s what happened in my mind, not in real life. In real life, after surgery, I was fortunate enough to call myself a cancer survivor. I never really thought about it much. I mean it was only testicular cancer. You know, the one that everyone wants and loves if you’re gonna get cancer (insert SARCASM, if you didn’t catch it). Now at the beginning, I was told I would need chemotherapy after my orchiectomy but after talking with my new Docs at UCSF my wife and I chose the surveillance approach.
I pretty much followed the surveillance schedule the Dr’s set fourth for me and called it a day. I mean come on, I’m in remission and again it was only testicular cancer so nothing to worry about, right?… riiiiighhttt! I went through years of scans and lab work. I was given the all clear to discontinue surveillance in 2009. I was free at last, thank God almighty I was free at last! FCK cancer! I beat it, even though it was the sissy kind of cancer that anyone can beat, nothing special, in fact I probably didn’t even have the right to call myself a cancer survivor more less a warrior? (Again according to everyone that had an opinion on it and never went through it). They had me convinced, especially now, I mean no chemo, no radiation, no RPLND and seven years later I was clear. It was the best cancer to get and I was fortunate to have beat it and now it was gone.
Well it stayed this way for almost 14 years. FOURTEEN FCKING YEARS! In 2016, almost fourteen years after “beating” this easy cancer to beat, guess what? That’s right, it came back in my lymph nodes… the exact path that testicular cancer takes on it’s way to infesting other organs. Here’s the odd part…yes, I’m a crazy old cat lady (dude)…I was having bone pain of all things. Yep, my bones freaking hurt and then my cat decided she needed to be close to me and sit on my stomach and knead at it. You would understand this if you knew my Kitty Gato, she hates affection and rarely sits with me in my lap and never kneads at my stomach. I believe my Kitty Gato sensed my cancer and was trying to tell me something…and she was right!
My wife decided I needed to see my primary care physician about the issue…the bone pain…not my Kitty Gato’s prediction. To make a long story a bit shorter, he decided to throw the kitchen sink of tests at me and see what stuck. Just to be safe, I even got a PET Scan and I’m glad I did! Guess what it showed, yep, an enlarged lymph node that lit up as PET positive. Of course it freaked me the FCK out but, there was no way it was cancer… I already beat that remember?
Now the funny…well not really…kind of scary part. I went and seen my local Urologist (had a great reputation and been around for more years than I could count). Of course he would know what it was. His answer was, there is no way the cancer is back. He said, it’s been too many years since your original diagnosis. He reassured me and my wife that I didn’t have anything to worry about. By this point in the game my wife and I (mainly my wife) started to get a bit smarter about this whole cancer thing and how serious TC was and is.
That’s when my wife (really is my Super Hero) sprung into action. Upon many recommendations from TC-NET and TC Facebook groups, she decided to send an email to the #1 TC (testicular cancer) Dr. in the world, his name… Dr. Einhorn at Indiana University. I guarantee most fighting TC, know who Dr. Einhorn is! Funny part is, I thought she was out of her mind. The Doc was probably too busy… and I was not his patient. So why in the FCK would he answer any of her questions about me in an email? With no examination, no true medical history and aside from all that he was in Indiana and I was in California. Plus if he was a football fan… I’m a Steeler fan and he could be a Colts fan. The odds were clearly against me, so why bother I thought. But those who know my wife know arguing with her was useless… lol.
That’s when something as rare as the hope diamond occurred… I was wrong! Yeah, I said it. It’s in writing now…I WAS WRONG! And I was shocked when my wife told me Dr. Einhorn personally emailed her back. Dr. Einhorn also got my wife in touch with Dr. Foster, a surgeon that does RPLND’s on a regular basis at the same facility. He’s the best of the best in many people’s opinion when it comes to RPLND surgeries. You know…that simple testicular cancer case that was cured almost 14 years previously? Dr. Einhorn said it was an easy decision for him and that I needed to have an RPLND…and the sooner the better, like within the next 4 weeks! This is a very invasive surgery… and I remember thinking, for this being the best cancer to get… it sure does suck.
Then I thought, sounds simple enough, I mean any surgeon with a degree should have been able to perform it…right? I mean come on, in today’s day and age I can watch a YouTube video and probably do it myself. All I have to do is cut myself from my sternum to my pelvic bone, take all my insides out, set them beside me while I locate the lymph node to resect, take it out along with other lymph nodes around it, put everything back in, close myself up with about 30-45 staples and TaDa, I’m cured! Oh yeah, then shoot myself 5 or 6 times for added pain because this surgery can hurt like a son-of-a-(expletive)! Surprisingly, I found that not only can I not do it myself but it is not a surgery that very many surgeons do on a somewhat regular basis, if ever.
Once I came back to reality and realized just how fortunate I was to have the opportunity for Dr. Foster to perform my surgery… reality hit! How in the FCK were we going to pull the funds together to get from California to Indiana? So, I set-up a GoFundMe page and asked people to spread the word. Spread they did, it was amazing, friends, family and everyone in between helped us raise the funds and get to the surgery! It was an awesome feeling to see how much people cared and what they did for me both spiritually and financially.
On May 25, 2016 I had the RPLND and it sucked and to be honest it still sucks today. I found out recently I may have to have an abdominal reconstruction to fix my incisional hernia’s caused by the incision from the RPLND and my fat ass belly! Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I did it, they removed two cancerous lymph nodes (100% seminoma) and saved my life again… but the recovery sucked! I’ll get into more details and talk more in depth about my specific journey through videos on my YouTube channel so please subscribe to it when you get a chance. The channel is not just going to be about me and TC it’s also about other people and other cancers and their stories too.
So, become a part of the journey, join into the conversations with us! I don’t know where we are going with this website, but the journey is the fun part…so please, be part of our journey! Lastly, whilst stressing about the surgery and the cancer, I wrote a song please listen to it and use it if you need it. Let me know what you think about any and all of this…
Well there you have it… a block… a block of Bobby’s story hope you enjoyed it?
