Share review of Mr Rajesh Nair

Mr Rajesh Nair 2023-07-28 Person 5 5 0

Back in February a noticed an ache in my right testicle, the GP thought it was probably nothing, but agreed to refer me for an ultrasound scan which I had privately two days later before work at the HCA healthcare centre in Old Broad Street. There I was told the news that no one wants to hear, that I had a shadow on my right testicle and that I should see a radiologist asap. Some browsing of the Bupa website and another call for authorisation I then booked an appointment to see Mr Nair the next day. When I came out of the gym at lunchtime I found 3 missed called from my GP, which underlined how serious the professionals were taking it that I need to move quickly. Mr Rajesh Nair, is a warm and affable character but lays things out in a very clear way and was more than happy to answer my questions. I walked in there on the Friday fully expecting him to say I needed to have it removed on the Monday. He explained he sees cases where that is absolutely the case, however from my scan, I had options. He told me that there was a 90% chance that it was something untoward, but there was a very low increased risk if we observed it for a few weeks. I also had a semen analysis done by The Doctors Laboratory, which thankfully came out well. I had a skiing holiday booked, so we decided I'd go on that, then have another scan about 4 weeks later, which I did. It did appear to have increased in size by about 1mm. I was also told the tumour markers in my blood were slightly elevated, although that my just be my normal level. His recommendation was to have it taken out and he had a slot on the Thursday of that week, but I struggled to make the decision. He could see I was a bit shocked and upset this time, so we agreed to defer the decision for a few days. I sat and waited for to have some more bloods taken and by then I recomposed myself, knew by this point there was not benefit in delaying and decided to go back to his PA and book the operation. This was done the same Thursday at about 17:30 at the HCA hospital at Guy's Private Wing and as promised by Mr Nair I did walk out of there just after 10pm. Last time I'd had an operation was as a kid and it's clear that general anesthesia has come a long way. Straight to sleep and then woke up totally off my face where I was shouting and laughing in the recovery room for a few minutes before having a gentle come down back in my private room. Quite amazing that I only needed to take the afternoon off work and then was logged on from home by 9am on the Friday. It felt like it'd been shot in the groin for a couple of days, but I didn't need any painkillers after. Not that I had any problems before, but I'm pretty sure all those systems are actually working even better now, if you know what I mean, now that the defective testicle has been removed. It had actually shrunk a few years before which no doctors at the time could explain, so I suspect it was actually dragging the team down the whole time. Took about 4 weeks before I was able to run again without feeling I was going to rip myself open. Maybe a week before that to get back to some lighter weights on the bench. Oddly I also had an ache in what could have been my gallbladder (although scans showed nothing wrong) and bizarrely enough, that pain also disappeared. Apparently there is some theory of pain radiating. There are three criteria that determine whether more treatment is required (i.e. chemotherapy or possibly radiotherapy), but thankfully I did not meet any of those on account of the the tumour being small, not having invaded a specific part of the testicle and no signs of disease spread from the scans. This was actually a crucial moment that Mr Nair caring manner played an important role in my recovery. After going through something like this I think it was taking me some time to digest the impact of the trauma. When do I stop worrying? When can I put this behind me? Mr Nair told me it was now. There is a very low likelihood (he told me the percentage from the study they use) of me ever needing any further treatment for this. There is of course a chance that a few cells escaped, so now it's just monitoring every few months with an oncologist, second appointment of which is coming up soon. I suspect I'm never going to look forward to those, but that's the deal. Certainly glad I took swift and decisive action though. I never thought I'd face anything like this, but if you do it's important to do it head on.