Olympic champion Nathan Adrian has been cleared to practice and will remain under close doctors’ surveillance after undergoing laparoscopic surgery to treat testicular cancer at the end of January, he announced Monday.
“After meeting with doctors last week and reviewing the results from the pathology we have determined the best route moving forward is close surveillance! I will have lots of doctors appointments and scans for the next several years and if all goes well they will prove to be trivial and uneventful,” Adrian wrote.
“The journey is far from over but I did want to take a moment to thank everyone for their support and kindness through all this. I have been doing my best to get back to normal life but now that this decision has been made we can get moving 100% on achieving my goals in and out of the water!”
As I had mentioned above, this story is far from over and I have a lot more to tell about the whole thing. But for now it is almost noon and I need to go to practice where I belong 🏊 💪🏽. pic.twitter.com/Zxu5b24BWq
— Nathan Adrian (@Nathangadrian) February 18, 2019
Adrian announced January 24th that he’d been diagnosed with testicular cancer and committed to publicizing his experience to raise awareness about men’s health causes. He posted that he was able to do a light workout just one week post-surgery.
The three-time U.S. Olympian says he’s still aiming to make the 2020 U.S. Olympic team despite the diagnosis. He hasn’t spoken on his status for the coming summer, where he is qualified to represent Team USA at the World Championships as a relay swimmer and at the Pan American Games as an individual and relay swimmer.
He doesn’t say wheather the scans were clear of the cancer spreading anywhere else. I thought that’s what the results were supposed to show? Message is kinda vague about what results were?
I think it’s safe to say that if the doctor says “alright, you’re good to get back to training, but let’s keep an eye on it” it means they have ruled that out for the time being. If they thought it was spreading, I’m sure the next step would be further treatment.
Radiologist swammer here:
Pathology results aren’t always cut and dry like that. However the fact that they did an RPLND means that he must have had mildly enlarged peri-aortic lymph nodes on CT scan…this doesn’t necessarily mean the cancer had spread. Lymph nodes can become enlarged for many reasons, including reaction to a neoplasm that is within that lymph node’s “watershed area” (which is the case here) without the cancer cells having actually spread beyond the testacle.
I am not a urology oncologist so I don’t know the current recommendations for treatment based on RPLND pathology results for seminoma (the most common type of testicular cancer), but the fact that they aren’t recommending radiation or chemo means that… Read more »
Early remission does not equal cancer free.
I meant to convey that Nathan should go on with his life as if he were cancer free…not that he necessarily is. Let’s hope for the best.
I can tell you from personal experience that’s easier said than done. He’s still going to have 3-6 months of dr. visits for years. With every visit, test and scan you’re sitting on pins and needles until the phone call. It looks like he has a great support system which is important. Echoing you, wish him the best.
This isn’t remission. He was just diagnosed.
David, as an ancient swimmer radiologist here too, I don’t want to argue with you, but when a testicular malignant tumor spreads beyond the organ something more would be used not only surgery. After US, abdominal and pelvic CT (and/or MRI?), chest X-ray (or whole body CT) were made for staging and after RPLND they corrected, identificated the primery staging.
We know that there are rules about this, but we know that NA is not an average patient.
I woldn’t be surprised if a PET-CT scan was made here, (with diagnostic and not low dose CT plus CM) for the most exact staging.
This is the case buddies, just as in every profession all petrons are equal… Read more »
These algorithms are somewhat institution dependent I am sure. Regardless, I wasn’t trying to provide a detailed layout of the staging and treatment algorythm for early stage testicular cancer…just to let the readers know how these things generally go, and what this news means for Nathan.
I’m sure this is patient dependent, in my country that’s the case.
But this mustn’t be the main topic of Swimswam.
The most important thing here is to wish the best for Adrian.
Didn’t know swimswam limited topics. This can be used as an education opportunity for young men. Men are the worst at getting things checked out.
If he and his doctors are choosing “careful surveillance” his cancer more than likely is not “in situ” but is stage I, which means his lymph nodes came back clean but tumor markers are elevated. That’s just a guess though. The American Cancer Society website is helpful if you are interested. I used that for additional info after my DCIS diagnosis.
Best wishes for a happy return to the pool and for getting the most boring possible post-surgery test results.
Boring? Really?
Best wishes, Champ!
14 days after the surgery came and went without an announcement, and I was starting to worry. I had no idea I was this big of a fan!
Thank you for letting us know. Get back in the water!
Results and the decision making process that goes with those results can take this long. Mine were 10 days plus all the “what do we do now” conversations. You’d be surprised the number of options depending on the cancer you have. Like you, I’m a big fan of both the athlete and the man.
That was a quick turnaround. You’ll be back to your old self soon. May you stay healthy for the rest of your days.
Awesome! Wishing him the best in his recovery.
Best wishes. Is he still planning on going to Worlds for relay and Pan Ams? I assume so.