A Very important reminder for our husbands and our sons!

This was sent to me this am from a friend.......Please read and please talk to your son's and your husbands!

Good Morning~
Below is a journal entry from Matty's friends brother's site, he was diagnosed with Testicular cancer stage 3 just a few weeks ago...I just wanted to share with you all that have sons, husbands, grandsons, nephews what the symptoms are and what his Mom had to say.
Have a great day
Cindy

written 6/27/08
I am going to get a bit philosophical on you. I was thinking during the night that with the way Nathan is feeling right now, it is hard to believe he has cancer. I have been asked a few times how we didn't know sooner so I wanted to explain. Testicular cancer grows rather quickly and of course, the first and pretty much only sign for a while is an enlarged testicle. Yes, Nathan had an enlarged testicle for over a year; however, as most teenage boys are embarrassed about being different, he didn't say anything about it. Also, since it didn't hurt him, he didn't think there was anything wrong.
By the time the other symptoms showed up (coughing, pain in the abdomen, loss of appetite and weight, nausea, vomiting) Nathan was already in Stage III. He was only sick for about 3 weeks before we went to the doctor and we had our diagnosis within 2 days. So until he actually got sick, there were not really any other signs. During those 3 weeks we thought he had the flu or mono and that he would get over it. Young men don't want to go to the doctor, so I didn't push it. It was Nathan who then asked me to take him to the doctor that Wednesday (thank goodness I was able to get him in that afternoon and our awesome Dr. G moved very quickly).
My goal (once we get through all the treatments) is to bring more awareness to this type of cancer, so that young men can catch it earlier (if caught early, there is about a 90% chance of cure). I am going to start with the school system and see how much they discuss this in their puberty videos or sexual videos (in junior high). It needs to be stressed to teenage boys that if they feel or see anything unusual they should talk to their parents right away and not be embarrassed.
Nathan often blames himself for not saying something sooner. Mike and I blame ourselves for not taking him for annual physicals. However, this is not the place for blame... we just have to move forward from here with our very positive attitude and know that we are in God's hands and he is going to lead Nate to a full recovery.