Post 1

It started out in the shower, sometime in early 2018. I was taking a shower and I felt something out of place. Men spend a lot of time with our hands down our pants, for whatever reason, so its easy to recognize when something is out of place. I wasnt alarmed or even concerned in the slightest. Which, looking back, is way more concerning and the driving factor of this entire effort. I noticed a lump, on my balls, and I did nothing....

Fast forward 2 months later, I now have a pea size mass hanging out with my right testicle. Its painless and not noticeable, I make a note of it, and decide that its something I should keep an eye on. Unfortunately, as a relatively new entrepreneur, I didnt have health insurance at the current time. A few months later and a few millimeters bigger, i have my first issue with the growth on this ball. It causes a little pain and discomfort but subsides pretty quickly. I decide to do some research and do a more thorough physical exam on myself to see what this possibly could be. I narrow it down to a few things and again, I wait to see what happens next. I feel comfortable enough (or uncomfortable enough) to start talking about this with some friends, everyone is concerned and obviously tells me to go get checked out. We tend to laugh it off, big balls are funny right? Its now mid summer and I have had a few episodes where I was crippled for the entire day due to the pain and associated side effects from the growth. Its becoming more concerning but with no insurance and the possibility of medical debt shaping the rest of my life, more than student loan debt already has,

I decide to tough it out. Its mid summer, this photo is a trip that Claire and I took for her birthday, this is the last time I can remember being "normal". From there on out its dealing with fevers, chills, pain, nausea, vomiting and fatigue all as a result of this growth. It dictates way more of my life than I know. I was convinced it was just a cyst, it was growing too uniform to be cancer, and lets be honest who ever thinks its going to be them. I was a caregiver, I was the one who took patients to appointments, not the other way around.

Its finally December and open enrollment is open for people like me. I jump on getting a policy, make my first payment and wait for insurance to kick in, 1/1/19. Claire and I are excited to get this taken care of and get back to the way things were before this growth made most of our decisions for us. This month is filled with traveling, graduation, weddings and pain lots of pain.

Claire, Stos and DJ