DESCRIPTION
On today’s @CancerInterviews podcast, Joe Brennan tells us how he survived testicular cancer. He says in April 2024, he noticed his right testicle was unusually hard, and immediately sought medical attention. His urologist called for an ultrasound, which revealed a cyst on the testicle, which led to a diagnosis of seminoma pT1a, or Stage One testicular cancer. That led to an orchiectomy, a surgical procedure that removed his right testicle and his spermatic cord. Joe said recovery from the surgery was much tougher than the procedure itself, but after two weeks he was back at work as a financial coach. He says these days his health is back to what it was before his diagnosis.
Joe was in the shower one day when he noticed that while his left testicle felt normal, the right testicle was hard, “like a baseball.” He didn’t waste time and scheduled an appointment with a urologist, who made a fist and said a normal testicle will feel like the ‘meat’ part, or soft part of the hand; but said if a testicle has that sort of hardness, like a knuckle, that should be a cause for concern. When the urologist determined Joe’s right testicle had that hardness, he said an ultrasound should be performed on Joe’s testicles. It showed a cyst on the right testicle, the urologist said cancer was likely indicated, and he was right.
The necessary procedure was an orchiectomy, which was surgery aimed at removing the cancerous testicle and Joe’s spermatic cord. Joe said he was under a general anesthetic for the two-hour procedure, which was a success. However, he said what followed was much more difficult. He thought he would be back at work as a financial coach in a day or two, but that wasn’t the case.
Joe Brennan said he was laid up for close to two weeks. He said he experienced a lot of pain “down there.” He had trouble walking, couldn’t do any heavy lifting and needed to take Vicodin for a couple days before switching to ibuprofen. He was eventually able to return to work, could walk normally and could play with his small children, which included picking them up.
Joe says those two weeks were tough. He said he would allow himself an hour each day to be sad, which sometimes involved breaking down in tears, as he still wasn’t certain about his recovery, but other than that hour, he wanted to be positive and upbeat for his wife and children.
Joe Brennan says he is doing fine but advises men to “check their balls” once a month, so that if anything is wrong, the prospect of testicular cancer can be detected and addressed at an early stage, as his was.
Additional Resources:
The Testicular Cancer Society: https://www.testicularcancersociety.org
Joe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsbrennan/
Joe on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.jsbrennan
TRANSCRIPT
Bruce Morton: This is the Cancer Interviews podcast, and I am your host, Bruce Morton. Our guest on this episode survived testicular cancer, and a key ingredient in his getting to survivorship was early detection. He is Joe Brennan of Carmel, New York. His cancer journey was made easier by being proactive, and post-treatment, he is proactive about helping others. Now it is time to hear his story, and Joe, welcome to Cancer Interviews.
Joe Brennan: Thank you so much for having me. I love watching your interviews, your YouTube videos. They really do save lives.
BM: It is our custom to start out by talking about things other than cancer, so if you would, Joe, tell us a bit about where you are from, what you have done for work and what you like to do for fun.
JB: I live in Carmel, New York. I grew up right outside of Syracuse but have been in Carmel since 2020. For work, I am a financial coach. I help families make money and save money, plan for retirement. I also let them know what kind of life insurance they should get. For fun, I like spending time with my beautiful family, my wife, Annie, my two kids and we have a third one on the way. I love doing things with the family. I love going to the beach. I am big on sports. I am huge Yankees fan and I follow the football and basketball teams at Syracuse University. I love hikes, I love playing sports, I love going to the beach, and my wife love going down to New York City to see a Broadway show.
BM: Regarding your cancer journey, when did you notice something was abnormal?
JB: My wife and I were expecting a baby, this was in 2024. In April, she told me she was pregnant, and we couldn’t be more excited about it. In the first week of August, we had just gotten back from a vacation. I was in the bathroom one day, and I noticed that my right testicle was much harder than my left. My left one felt soft and squishy like normal, but m right one felt hard, like a baseball. Growing up, I always had that health anxiety, always worrying about something that looked abnormal when I looked in the mirror. At first, I thought I was overthinking. It was in the middle of the day, my wife was working and I texted my wife. I told her something doesn’t feel right down there. I don’t know what it is, but it does concern me. She told me that we do have an ultrasound scheduled regarding the baby on August 22nd, so why don’t you schedule an appointment with a urologist since we are going to be there, anyway, so that’s what I did. I probably would have just put it off, but because my wife said that, I decided to go in an get checked out.
BM: Once you were checked out by the doctor, what did that examination consist of?
JB: I told him what my concerns were, but I didn’t expect there to be a problem because I was overthinking the matter. Before we started, he made a fist and held out his hand, then asked me to do the same. He told me to feel the soft part of my hand, and said that’s what a testicle should feel like; then he instructed me to feel one of my knuckles and said if one of my testicles felt like that, that is something to be concerned about, and that’s when I began to become concerned. Then he had me drop my pants and he checked both testicles. He said he did feel something abnormal in my right testicle. It feels like you might have a spermatocele. He thought I might have a cyst on my epididymis. My urologist said it can be cancerous, but many times it is benign, and it is merely something that needs to be watched. He said he didn’t think it was anything too bad, but it did merit having an ultrasound done on it, because he felt something. An appointment was made for three days later, and the day after that, he called and said the cyst was not on my epididymis, it was on my testicle and that we needed to get something done to take care of this.
BM: And those appointments led to a diagnosis?
JB: Yes. The urologist said that based on the ultrasound, this is very likely cancerous. He then said appointments would have to be made to get blood work done, to get my tumor markers, a CT scan was necessary, and then surgery would be scheduled to my right testicle removed and spermatic cord removed as possible. After blood work and a CT scan, my surgery was scheduled for September ninth to get a right orchiectomy, which is the removal of a testicle.
BM: We are confident you will be able to learn some tips and tools to help you through your cancer journey, but first we would like to invite you to give us a ‘like,’ leave a comment or review below and share this story with your friends. Kindly click on the Subscribe button below and click on the bell icon. That way you will be notified the next time we post an interview. We also want to remind you we are not distributors of medical advice. If you seek medical advice, please contact a licensed health care professional.
Joe, you have gotten this disconcerting news regarding your diagnosis. For any of us who have received this news, quite obviously it is a bad day, but each of us, with a diagnosis comes a bunch of variables. Against that backdrop, how did you handle learning of your diagnosis?
JB: My first reaction was that I was in shock, but I handled it much better than I really thought I would. Again, I always had health anxiety. I always thought about something like this happening, but when it did happen, I just told myself that I would have to deal with it. I was doing a lot of research on testicular cancer. I know how curable it is if you catch it early, and I just kept having a positive attitude about it, hoping that I caught it early enough. Based on the blood work and the CT scan, it looked like I had done so, but we wouldn’t really know until after the surgery and they were able to take a look at it. It was tough, dealing with the unknown. Not knowing what was going to happen was really the hardest part. And because it is a private part, it is really hard to talk to people about it. My wife was really adamant about it. She said I really needed to talk to some of my friends about it. That’s what I did, but it was hard to do because your talking about a sensitive area and you are talking with other men. Sometimes men like to hold things in, but I thought it was important to talk to some of my closest male friends abut these things. It also helped me get to all of my appointments in those first few weeks because I was doing the appointments by myself. My wife was working, and she was pregnant at the time and I didn’t want her using up the days off she would eventually need because of me. So, when you are on the road going to these appointments, it gets lonely. I didn’t want to feel like I was going through this alone, so I did reach out to a lot of friends and that really did help. Another thing that helped was, I gave myself one hour a day to feel sad, and that was it. I am not ashamed to admit that at times I cried, but after that hour, it was time to be positive and be there for my family.
BM: Around the corner for you was surgery and your treatment regimen. If you would, describe what that was like, as I suspect men watching or listening would want to know.
JB: The surgery, it went pretty well. I went in early on a Monday morning. I met with the urologist, and he went over the procedure. Basically, what they did was, they cut through my groin on my right side, and they took out my right testicle and the spermatic cord, and the surgery was pretty simple. I was sleeping through the whole thing. I think it took an hour or two. I was home by early afternoon. My wife was with me the whole time. To be honest with you, recovery was tougher than anticipated. I figured I would take a couple days off and back seeing clients by Thursday. I really couldn’t do it. I ended up taking two weeks off. I had trouble sleeping, I was really uncomfortable. I was really sore down there. I had ice on me about every half hour, a half hour on and a half hour off. It was tough for me to walk the first two weeks, and I couldn’t do any heavy lifting at all for six weeks. I was really taking it easy, I couldn’t pick up my kids. I was pretty much in bed for the first couple weeks. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad. I had a great support system. My parents were able to come down from Syracuse. They helped me out with the kids and around the house, and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.
BM: You mentioned the ice, but beyond that, were you taking any medication?
JB: I definitely took some pain medicine. I took Vicodin, which helped with the pain. I was nervous about taking it because I had heard stories of people getting addicted, but in terms of taking it, the pros outweighed the cons. I took it and I was totally fine, but I definitely needed it for the first week, I definitely needed it because I was very sore down there. After that, I was just taking ibuprofen for a couple weeks.
BM: Along the way, though, you found yourself on the road to recovery. How did it feel knowing you were trending in a good direction?
JB: After the first ten days, I was still obviously sore and not feeling 100 percent, I had a followup with the urologist. He went over the results from the surgery ad what came back and he said I was diagnosed with Seminoma pT1a, which is Stage One, which is very slow acting cancer. I knew I had to still meet with the oncologist, but my urologist said this was the most best case scenario one could ask for; to me, a best case scenario would have been if I had told it was benign, but my urologist was very honest with me from the beginning and said based on what he was seeing, the chances of my having cancer were very high of it looking like cancer; but I was thankful to learn it was Stage One and that we caught it very early. From then on, I was feeling very good that I was going to keep on getting good news. About a week later, I met with my oncologist who said pretty much the same thing my urologist said. The oncologist said I would be under active surveillance and would need to come in once every three months for the next year, then for the following five years, once every six months, I will have to be checked, which would include a CT scan, but they both said I should be staying cancer-free.
BM: I think another question to which guys would want an answer is this: If pre-diagnosis, your health was 100 percent, what is it now? What can you not do now that you could do before your diagnosis?
JB: I can do anything that I could do before my diagnosis. It did take me a while to get back to 100 percent. I have a four-year-old daughter. and she likes daddy to pick her up, likes me to put her on my shoulders. I have a lot of fun with my kids, and that was really tough for about two months of having to take things slowly, I couldn’t do any heavy lifting around the house, but I am 100 percent back to normal now. My wife and I, we have a baby on the way, and I do a lot of work around the house, so I am back to doing things I was doing before my diagnosis.
BM: In terms of support, you had mentioned your wife, and you had mentioned your parents, but another source of support has come externally from the Testicular Cancer Society. Could you tell us what it has done for you and what it can do for others?
JB: What really made me reach out to them was when I was going through the diagnosis, going through the checkups and the surgery, it was a scary time. I really wanted to talk to somebody about it, but that can be difficult because they are going through what you are going through. So, I was really looking for a community, people I can talk to who are going through the same things I am going through. I was on the internet and found the Testicular Cancer Society. I was looking at their website and found out what they are all about. I not only feel like they can help me out, but I want to get involved with me because I want to join them in helping others. The Society raises awareness and they offer support for people who are going through what I am going through.
BM: And the web address for the Testicular Cancer Society is very simply, https://www.testicularcancersociety.org. Now, Joe, we are going to wrap up, but before we do, I would like for you to talk about the aspect of your financial coaching that has relevance for those who one day could be diagnosed with cancer.
JB: Among other things, I educate my clients on getting the right kind of life insurance, because it protects your income and protects your family. I tell people to buy life insurance while they are young, and they are healthy because you don’t know what is going to happen later on. You can be diagnosed with cancer or some other serious disease. I have warned clients to get life insurance, they held off, became diagnosed with a disease and now they are uninsurable. I am so thankful I bought life insurance when I was young and healthy, because now if I tried to buy it, I couldn’t.
BM: Joe Brennan, Carmel, New York, thank you so much for a story that is inspirational and underscores the importance of early detection, which in your case was achieved through a group effort involving you and your wife. So, thanks for being with us on Cancer Interviews.
JB: Thank you, and if you want to follow me on Instagram, my Instagram handle is@jsbrennan. I post daily content. A lot of it is financial education and post content for the Testicular Cancer Society as well. On Facebook, I can be found at facebook.com/official.jsbrennan, so you can follow me there as well.
BM: Great, Joe, and we will be sure to put all these links on our Show Notes, which people can check out when they go to www.cancerinterviews.com. So, that is going to wrap up this episode of the Cancer Interviews podcast, and as we always say, if you or a loved one are on a cancer journey, you are not alone. There are people like Joe Brennan and there are organizations like the Testicular Cancer Society that can come to your aid. So, until next time, we’ll see you down the road.
Additional Resources:
The Testicular Cancer Society: www.testicularcancersociety.org
Joe on Instagram: www.instagram@jsbrennan
Joe on Facebook: www.facebook.com/official.jsbrennan
SHOW NOTES
TITLE: Joe Brennan, Testicular Cancer Survivor – Carmel, New York, USA
After Joe Brennan noticed that his right testicle was unusually hard, he immediately sought medical attention. An ultrasound revealed a cyst on the testicle and a diagnosis of Seminoma pT1A, or Stage One testicular cancer. He underwent a successful surgical procedure which resulted in the removal of the testicle and his spermatic cord. Joe said the recovery was much rougher than the procedure. It caused him to miss two weeks of work and left him in pain that he addressed with Vicodin and ibuprofen. Joe rallied, recovered and says his health is very close to what it was before his diagnosis.
Additional Resources:
The Testicular Cancer Society: https://www.testicularcancersociety.org
Joe on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jsbrennan/
Joe on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/official.jsbrennan
Time Stamps:
03:30 Joe noticed his right testicle was abnormally hard.
07:01 His urologist wanted an ultrasound done on Joe’s testicles, and it revealed a cyst on the right testicle.
07:42 The urologist said Joe had cancer and that surgery was necessary to the remove the right testicle and the spermatic cord.
10:00 Reax to the diagnosis.
12:29 Joe allowed himself only 60 minutes a day to be sad.
15:28 Describes treatment regimen.
16:33 Recovery was tougher than the procedure.
18:53 Joe sensed he was on the road to recovery.
21:37 Compares his present health to what it was before his diagnosis.
KEYWORDS (tags):
testicular cancer
ultrasound
ct scan
spermatic cord
orchiectomy
vicodin
seminoma pt1a
spermatocele
epididymis
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