Misguided reassurance

So the next day (Wednesday 9th December) i get a call back from the doctor to discuss what is going on, usual questions; what’s going on, what have you felt, any pain? All I could say is that I’m sure it’s not normally there and it’s feels different, hard and that I have been getting sensitivity with it. So he says come in and I’ll have a look at it, in my head I’m half way there already. But off I popped for my first doctors visit. Due to covid it’s all different at the doctors like i can imagine it is everywhere around the world, I’m waiting outside in the freezing cold to be collected by my doctor. My appointment time passes and I begin to wonder if I’m actually in the right place..another 15 minutes pass and I’m deliberating popping round the corner to the main entrance to make sure they know I’m there, but eventually my doctor arrives and in I go. He asks me the same questions as he did on the phone with the same response provided by me then the bit I’m sure a lot may find embarrassing. ’hop up and I’ll take a look’, only thoughts crossing my mind are ‘Christ it’s cold my penis is going to be shrivelled’ and ‘I hope he doesn’t squeeze too hard’. So there I am laying down, hand trying to hide my penis whilst he feels both testicles, then those magic words come out, ‘right you’re all good, nothing of concern there’. My whole body relaxes as I was relieved it wasn’t cancer, I asked about the sensitivity and he advised to take a mix of paracetamol and ibuprofen to see if that helps, but he was happy and was not concerned. I returned home and had the longest/quietest hug with Ellen that we’d had in a long time, I knew she was there for me. Over the next two weeks I got on with life, working, coaching and playing football, taking the mixture advised by the doctor but the sensitivity didn’t disappear and I was still very much concerned about the firmness of what I could feel. It took me until the Christmas Day walk for me to pluck up the courage to talk to Ellen about it, and common sense prevailed, ‘speak to the doctors if you’re concerned‘ so Boxing Day I filled out another online form with the GP and awaited that call back.