This is the thread where you tell me I'm crazy and/or give me testicular advice

Go to a doctor. You might be frightened - but the longer you wait, the scarier it will be. And riskier, obv.

It could be a testicular cyst. They are benign and very common and can grow to be rather large. Look them up on google but don't read anything that causes you to panic. Good luck. Get to the doctor as soon as is practicable.

My advice it don't waste your time posting to message boards over something as serious as this! Fuck your work, go straight to the doctor, today. You won't be able to study properly with this hanging over you anyway.

I think I have read somewhere that scrotal lumps which are cancerous aren't actually painful (at least, not until it has spread).

The chances are that a small, painful pea-sized lump will probably be an epidydimal cyst. These cysts are small, fluid-filled cavities, which can grow inside the part of the testicle that stores the sperm after they are produced. They feel quite hard and are often approximately pea-sized, and they can be painful when touched. They are quite common, and it's a very minor operation to remove them.

I'm not an expert though, so go and see your doctor please :)

xpost etc

Voice of reason otm. Chances are it's probably benign, but if there is even a tiny risk that it's not you don't want to hang about.

GSADYFT

go see a doctor and get your deadlines at school extended on the grounds that you might have cancer! they have to be reasonable about that.

You need to go to a Doctor ASAP like now, the quicker the diagnosis and treatment begin the more likely recovery is.

If it's sensitive it's very likely to be something else, however you're not going to concentrate on your work if you don't go and get it sorted out NOW.

Are you gone?

GO, LEAVE NOW.

See a doctor NOW.

Also don't browse the web about it, INSTANT HYPOCHONDREA.

I think you should take pictures of it and make a nice myspace page.

jarlr'mai otm. i hate webmd.

totally go to the doctor, and look at the bright side. Even if it is cancer, our phalocentric society has insisted that enough money went into research on this one that cure rates (if detected early) are 80-90 percent. On the other hand you can leave it till it spreads, then survive, and win Le Tour five times in a row.

re lukey & dan perry's ghost

TS: Diffusing a scary situation w/humor VS sneering at somebody or something that makes you uncomfortable.

TS: being an idiot VS being a presumptuous idiot

FWIW I had a major cancer scare two and 1/2 years ago -- a false alarm thank god but the experience was the most terryfing thing I've gone through. At first you're overwhelmed by the sudden knowledge that something's definitely wrong and the realization that you don't know much beyond that. As other have posted, the Internet can be a useful source of medical information and also a scary hall of mirrors that stimulates your imagination in all the wrong ways.

Once you do go to the doctor the fears subside somewhat but there's still a devastating lag between being tested and getting the results. And dealing with medical specialists or surgeons is a trip, let's just say they don't always have the kind of "bedside manner" that GPs do. But it really is true that feeling like you're at least DOING SOMETHING contains the worries to some extent. One post-diagnosis positive for me has been a renewed commitment to maintaining my health, diet, exercise, frequent check-ups etc.

This thread really hit where I live, my heart goes out to loggedout and hence my humorlessness toward Dan Perry & lukey.

loggedout: good luck, chances are you'll be fine, and if you're OK with talking about it let us know what happened.

dan perry lays down pwnage once again.

yeah, get your bollock checked. when i had a pain in my bollock, i had my balls in a doctor's hand quicker than you can say "now cough, please". and i didn't even suspect cancer, just concerned about my joy department. not even an issue, get it checked. no biggie.