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• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> How it affects family relationships >> How it affects family relationships

How it affects family relationships

• >> Testicular Cancer >> How it affects family relationships >> How it affects family relationships

How it affects family relationships

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• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 41 - 50 >> Interview 27 >> Recalls it was hard telling his wife and children about the cancer and asserts that it was devastating for them.

Testicular cancer (seminoma) diagnosed in 2001; orchidectomy. No secondary tumours but 8 treatments of radiotherapy to prevent recurrence.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 51 - 55 >> Interview 41 >> Explains that his family has found it hard to come to terms with cancer.

Testicular cancer (seminoma) diagnosed in 1998. No secondary tumours found, but 10 treatments of radiotherapy over three weeks to prevent recurrence.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 31 - 40 >> Interview 34 >> Says that he almost felt he was to blame for upsetting the family by giving them bad news.

Testicular cancer (seminoma) diagnosed in 2001; orchidectomy. No secondary tumours found; 10 days of radiotherapy planned to prevent recurrence.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 51 - 55 >> Interview 03 >> Remembers that his wife put on a brave face while he had cancer but was feeling very bad inside.

Testicular cancer (teratoma) diagnosed in 1996; orchidectomy. No evidence of secondary tumours; three cycles of chemotherapy (each cycle over three weeks with three days in hospital) to prevent recurrence.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 41 - 50 >> Interview 29 >> Explains that his wife was very supportive, and that it was tough for her.

Testicular cancer (teratoma) diagnosed in 2001, orchidectomy. No secondary tumours; no further treatment but regular monitoring (surveillance).

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 31 - 40 >> Interview 36 >> Explains that the operation made no difference to his sex life or to his relationship with his wife.

Testicular cancer (seminoma) diagnosed in 2001; orchidectomy. No secondary tumours found, but 10 treatments of radiotherapy to prevent recurrence.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 51 - 55 >> Interview 04 >> Arthur Frank suggests that long term relationships may suffer as the result of cancer.

Arthur W. Frank, diagnosed testicular cancer (seminoma) in October 1985. Orchidectomy followed by chemotherapy for secondary abdominal tumours. Author of At the Will of the Body (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991; new edition 2002), and The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics (University of Chicago, 1995).

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 20 - 30 >> Interview 42 >> Suggests that his brother and sister had less attention because his parents were so preoccupied with him and his illness.

Testicular cancer (teratoma) and secondary tumours diagnosed in 1994. Orchidectomy and 5 cycles of chemotherapy (each with 3 or 4 days in hospital and two weeks at home). In Feb. 1995 major surgery (left thoraco-abdominal retroperitoneal lymph node dissection) to remove a secondary tumour in the abdomen, near to the spine.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 41 - 50 >> Interview 09 >> Explains that the prosthesis made him feel 'whole again', and would make it easier for him to start new relationships.

Testicular cancer (seminoma) diagnosed in 1999; orchidectomy. Some suspicion that the tumour had spread, so 17 treatments with radiotherapy over one month.

• Cancer >> Testicular Cancer >> Age Group 51 - 55 >> Interview 04 >> Suggests that long term relationships may suffer as the result of cancer.

Arthur W. Frank, diagnosed testicular cancer (seminoma) in October 1985. Orchidectomy followed by chemotherapy for secondary abdominal tumours. Author of At the Will of the Body (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991; new edition 2002), and The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness and Ethics (University of Chicago, 1995).