Testicular cancer may affect a man in the prime of his life when he is planning to have a family.
Some men that have this type of cancer end up having very few, if any, sperm.
In some cases, removal of your testicle will be necessary, but you may still be able to have children.
Depending on what type of treatment you have, you may want to get some of your sperm banked, just in case. Fertility problems can become complex when you are dealing with testicular cancer.
Early detection is the best thing when you are fighting testicular cancer, and you are worried about your fertility. [testicular cancer detection]
Chemotherapy
When diagnosed with testicular cancer, your physician may want you to go through a series of chemotherapy treatment. Chemotherapy is a very good treatment for this type of cancer. You may not have very many sperm after this type of treatment, but chances are that you will still be able to father children.
The amount of sperm that you will be able to get back depends upon several factors. It will depend upon what the quality of your sperm was like before the chemotherapy. The amount of chemotherapy that you had will also play a part in your fertility.
If you had a great deal of chemotherapy, your sperm sadly may not return. You should not try to start a family while you are going through the therapy, because your semen probably will not have any sperm.
Radiation Treatment
You will not want to have radiation treatment that aims high levels directly at your testicle. This will make you completely sterile. Physicians usually will not do this because of that reason.
Scatter radiation is usually used in minimal doses. These doses will cause a temporary loss of sperm but it will not damage you permanently. Depending upon the physician that you have, they could recommend that you do not attempt to have a family for up to two years.
Choosing to Use a Sperm Bank
You will want to check and see if you have a sperm bank located nearby. It is a good idea to put sperm in a sperm bank when you find out that you have testicle cancer. Your physician will be able to help you with finding a sperm bank.
If the sperm bank is far away, you will want to ask them if they will receive sperm deposits via a courier service. Sometimes it can be pricey to store your sperm in a sperm bank, but you have to consider that if you lose all your sperm during treatment, then this stored sperm will be valuable to you.
Cancer is never a pleasant thing especially if you have to worry about not being able to have children after your treatment. You should go to the most informed oncologist that you can find to make sure you will be fertile after your cancer is treated. Your oncologist needs to be trained fully in testicle cancer.
