When I was a freshmen in college, I tried out for my college's football team. I played football in high school and was pretty good, but not good enough to be recruited... so I was required to try out for the team. Since the season started in the fall, new freshmen were required to show up for summer training 3 weeks before the start of the season. Because of this, I was allowed to move into my dorm early before anyone else in my hall. I had the whole floor pretty much to myself. The other freshmen trying out for the team were in other dorm buildings scattered around campus.
On the first day of tryouts all of us freshmen met at the field at 7am and met with the older teammates. The sophomores, juniors and seniors were very intimidating and clearly better built for football than us freshman. They looked like professional football players, and were extremely built. When the coach showed up he introduced himself and the team, as well as mentioned his role as the dean of the college's veterinary medicine department. He also introduced his assistant who was the head of sports medicine assigned to our team. He would attend all our practices and assign us personalized meal plans and workout plans.
After a grueling first week of practice, I was really struggling. I was determined to make the team, but I along with the other freshmen were way behind in development; even compared to the sophomores. After Friday's second practice of the day, coach sent out an email to all freshmen tryouts to have us sign up for our initial sports physicals. All new freshmen were required to undergo a first year's sports physical. Attempting to show promptness and make a good impression I signed up for the first available timeslot, after Monday's afternoon practice.
Monday's practice was no less grueling then the previous week's. And with practice being twice a day, I was exhausted. When the afternoon practice ended, I quickly took a shower in the locker room then headed to the Sports Medicine Center next to the football field. I walked in and realized it was the nicest sports medicine building I have ever seen. There was a fully functional doctors office on the left-hand side of the room and massage beds and ice baths on the adjacent side of the room. In the main entryway, I was greeted by coach and the assistant. I must have looked exhausted because the assistant offered me a cup of Gatorade and let me sit for a few mins to cool down, while they gathered all the paper work.
They began by asking me about my any previous injuries and about family history of illness. I noticed that after a few minutes of questioning, I was beginning to get light headed. I must have been more exhausted than I thought. After a laundry list of questions they directed me to walk over to the scale so they could weigh me and take my height. Walking over, I could tell I was swaying and almost felt as if I was drunk. They weighed me, then asked me to drop my pants so they could examine me for any hernias or past injuries. The assistant noticed that I was unstable and about to fall down, so he asked me to lay on one of the medical beds to finish my exam. The assistant took a seat at the foot of the bed and continued examining me.
After a few moments of feeling my testicles for injuries the assistant got up of the chair and walked over to coach and they discussed something, almost whispering. I couldn't make out what was said, but then coach walked over and told me that everything looked normal, but they found something and I needed a small procedure. It would be a minor procedure and the assistant would be able to preform it here, and shouldn't take longer than 15mins. As he was telling me this, I was so dizzy I didn't even realize the assistant had already put a curtain over me, hiding everything from my view waist down. Coach handed me a form to sign, but my vision was so blurry at this point I couldn't read it. He handed me a pen and I signed on the line as best I could.
Once I signed the form, the assistant walked over to a cabinet in the doctors office and came back with a tray holding a vial, a syringe, and some medical tools. I got really nervous and wanted to leave, but coach looked up from behind the curtain and said it will be fine and should only take a few mins. The assistant sat back down on the chair, behind the curtain and out of view. I felt a sharp sting in my right testicle followed by a sharp sting in my left testicle. I squirmed and tried to move my legs, but I realized they were strapped to the legs of the table. The assistant ensured that would be the extent of the pain and it would be smooth sailing from here on out. After a few minutes he poked at my balls and asked if
I felt anything. I was so light headed and dizzy, I could barely squeak out the word "no." "Good to hear" he said and I felt something run along the middle of my scrotum. As I laid there unable to move, with my legs spread and bound, I began feeling a tugging on my right testicle. Then I felt a tugging on my left testicle followed by a tightness and then a dull aching pain in my lower abdomen. Coach looked up from behind the curtain and gave me a thumbs up. I could feel the assistant patting my scrotum with a cloth. "We are almost done" coach said.
Coach then walked over to the doctor office room carrying a tray with two white-pinkish balls on them and a few mildly blood rags. He then returned with a new tray with larger white ovals almost the size of chicken eggs. He handed the tray to the assistant behind the curtain and I began to feel my scrotum getting stretched tight. It felt like they were stretching my scrotum paper thin over something. The whole procedure was so brief, it only felt like a few mins before they were done.
The assistant pulled my underwear back over my crotch and allowed me to lay there a few minutes until I wasn't dizzy anymore. He stood me up and walked me to a cabinet and pulled out a box of androderm patches. He told me the procedure was a success and they only needed to correct a twisted cord in my scrotum. I was glad that it was successful and they caught it during the physical before any permanent damage was done. They explained that the twisted cord may cause me to have lower testosterone levels then normal, so he recommended that I wear the androderm patches everyday. Coach told me to wear them on the inside of my thigh and showed me where to put the first one on. He then said, they weren't technically supposed to give these out so I should keep it a secret. Other members of the team didn't need to know either. He offered for me to take a week off of practice and come back the following Monday. But he wanted me to continue to wear the patches everyday and come back to the assistant once I ran out for a refill.
Outside there was a senior from the team waiting to give me a ride back to campus. When I arrived at my dorm I instantly passed out and didn't wake up until the following morning. When I tried to recall what happened the day before my mind was fuzzy and I couldn't make out all the details. My abdomen was sore and my scrotum felt bruised. I walked into my dorm bathroom and pulled my pants and underwear down. I saw the patch and remembered that I needed to switch it out for a new one. I also noticed my testicles were already getting bigger. Behind my scrotum there was a piece of gauze taped over a tiny incision about an half inch in length. There were no stitches, but it looked like the incision was glued closed.
I was glad to take the week off practice and rest. My abdomen hurt but not bad. The Friday before I returned to practice, coach sent out another email to the team asking us not to use the locker-room as it is currently under construction. We would need to change and shower at our dorms until the construction was complete.
On Monday I felt much better. I was able to attend practice and I no longer had any pain. In fact, having the week off allowed me to recover from the twice a day practices. I felt stronger and performed much better, the freshman and I were better able to keep up with the pace of the workouts and we no longer felt that we were out of place on the team. After a few weeks I noticed my muscles were rapidly becoming toned, I had more endurance and felt more aggressive on the field.
When the locker-room finally opened, the team was finally able to change and shower there. I remember one day after practice while changing in the locker-room, I noticed that other freshman were also wearing a patch on the inside of their thigh. But when I asked them about it, they assured me it was nothing and didn't disclose where they got them from.
While it is pretty obvious now looking back, I didn't put the pieces together at the time. When I became a sophomore I transferred to another school upstate to join their football team. When I underwent my physical at the new school, the doctor inspected my testicles for hernias and with a look of concern asked me if I experienced any injuries on the field. I explained how my last college didn't require a protective cup once the season officially started, but I never experienced any injuries. He highly recommended an ultrasound and seemed very concerned but didn't provide any context. It wasn't until the ultrasound revealed that I had prosthetic testicle implants, that I realized I had been castrated.
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