Cracking The Nut On Testicular Cancer Conversations

The topic of testicles can be considered impolite, even if it’s coming from a place of education.

As someone who runs a testicular cancer awareness blog called A Ballsy Sense of Tumor, I know first-hand how this can sometimes be construed as a brash topic.

However, one of the primary goals of ABSOT is to get these “private” conversations out in the open, but that’s easier said than done.

So to help, a la Barney Stinson’s Playbook from How I Met Your Mother, I’ve crafted various ways to bring up self-checks and testicles into everyday dialogue, based on some real life experiences.

While mowing my yard a few weeks ago, I saw my neighbour gearing up to do the same. He’s about my age, and we’ve only talked twice.

We started chatting about my upcoming wedding and honeymoon. I said something to the effect of: “after facing cancer this year, I really need a Hawaiian vacation.” It was that easy to weave the topic in naturally.

Knowing his age put him at a higher risk for testicular cancer, I segued into telling him to do a self-check. He looked at me and said, “how? I’ve never even heard of that.”

This anecdote is what sparked this whole blog post. While it was relatively easy to bring testicular health up in conversation, it proves there’s still work to do with raising awareness.

It’s not enough to simply say “do a self-check,” men need to know how to do them too.

I told my neighbour the steps: Place your index and middle fingers under the testicle with your thumb on top. Firmly but gently, roll the testicle between your fingers. Repeat on the other one.

More of visual learner? I promise it’s safe for work…

After sharing this, he actually thanked me, even though it was a semi-awkward third conversation.

I’m not sure if it is because I have become more attuned to news media about testicular cancer due to my personal circumstances, but it seems that more celebrities are speaking out about their testicular cancer diagnoses.

In the past few months, several baseball players have gone on the record about their battles, and HGTV’s Taurek El Moussa from Flip or Flop shared that he overcame testicular cancer in 2013.

Use these celebrities to get a conversation going. Notice them on the cover of People Magazine or on the scrolling banner thingy on SportsCenter (I don’t watch ESPN much!). Point it out and say, “I had testicular cancer, too. Do you know how important it is to do regular self-checks?”

Whoever you’re talking to will now have two connections to testicular cancer – the celebrity and you.

Follow it up with a “how-to” if necessary, it will make that person much more likely to keep up with their self-check schedule.

While on our Hawaiian honeymoon, our tour bus driver, Hanalei (Henry in English), asked my wife Mallory and I what we were celebrating. We said that we were on our honeymoon and also celebrating my good health.

With a quizzical look, he asked, “have you had some medical problems lately?” This question gave me a perfect opportunity to bring up testicular cancer, educating not only him but others who were also on the tour.

It turns out, he is a ten-year stage 4 lung cancer survivor. I would have never known that if he didn’t ask the question!

You might not always have someone asking you a question that segues nicely into a discussion about testicular cancer, but you can ask them a question about their health, if you feel comfortable. Sometimes, it might be as simple as about their well-being.

After truly listening, you can then share your own story, making sure to include the relevant self-check information so that your listener can take action.

On that note, I’ve created a six-question research study that I’d love your help on. It’s a survey about men and testicular exams at the doctor’s office.

Please pass it on to your sons / husbands / boyfriends / uncles / male dogs etc.

The morning of my wedding, one of my groomsmen said, “can’t you get testicular cancer from getting kicked hard in the balls?”

After berating him for not reading my blog enough, I told him the myth comes from people realising something is wrong after getting kicked down there.

I used this as another opportunity to yet again rehash how to do a self-check.

There are a ton of myths and misconceptions (I personally like the portmanteau ‘myth-conception’) and dispelling these can be a way to get a conversation flowing.

After discussing this with him, I gave him a swift kick… obviously to help him remember to self-check.

It’s sometimes hard to have such a stiff conversation, and it’s certainly not a ball to do it, but you would be a nut to not sack it up and do it. Don’t get teste about it.

One of the only good things about testicular cancer is that it lends itself to many puns and jokes. How many did you catch in the opening sentence? Hint: there are at least 5! Words related to testicular cancer all form perfect jokes.

When I write my book, I’m sure there will be a chapter dedicated solely to testicular cancer puns.

Find an opportunity and work it in. The humour will lighten the conversation enough so that you can get serious without making things too awkward.

Case in point: as I wrote this post, I was sitting in an airport. Apparently my carry-on was too large for the overhead compartments. The counter agent said, “Sir, can you check your bag?”

Once a month, my friend. Once a month.

Of all my recommendations, this is my personal favourite. Why? It helps destigmatise talking about testicles (or “TesteTalk” – hold that thought as I run to the US Trademark office).

It’s straight-forward and to the point. It helps make it acceptable to talk about balls in public.

For this approach, lead right off with a direct approach. Around when I was diagnosed and received numerous texts asking if I was okay, I countered with, “have you (or your husband / fiancé / boyfriend / brother / dad / grandfather / male robot) done a self-check recently?”

While it may have initially caught the person off-guard (especially those who were merely being kind by checking in), I had their attention. From there, I explained how to check.

Directly connecting to my (or your) own personal experiences with testicular cancer can be much more powerful than a more socially acceptable, but less helpful, reference.

Yes, this approach is blunt (I don’t think anyone would ever accuse me of subtlety), but it helps get those conversations out there, which is what we really need.

If you’re still feeling unsure about gabbing about your gonads, I’ll just say this to you:

Once you get the ball rolling, I think you’ll find talking naturally about testicular health isn’t a hard nut to crack.