I was petrified when I was told that Cooper might need surgery so am happy to talk to anyone who asks. I would tell you to PM me but I don?t think you have enough entry counts yet. My private email is courtneyhandy at hotmail dot com if you want to email me directly. Mods, if this is not allowed, please remove.
OK, in response to your questions:
Could you pls tell me why they delayed the surgery till 2 years old? They said there was no rush to do it. One testicle should descend on its own (which we are still waiting for but it does descend when it is manipulated). They operated on the other when they decided that it was definitely not going to descend of its own accord as it could not drop into the correct place when manipulated. Cooper was checked every few months to make sure that the other testicle was not moving into the correct alignment. Also, they preferred to wait until he was a little older as they believed that he was less likely to react badly to the medication.
Did they talk about the risk of surgery? Oh, yes, in detail. The Drs we had basically demanded that we ask anything we wanted and said they would love us to write questions down before we went to appointments to make sure we didn?t forget any. They were very thorough. I had the Dr, his registrar, the anaesthetics dr and his nurse go through everything right before the surgery as well. I was 2 days off my due date for my second baby so this may have been why they explained everything 15 times but I was grateful that they took the time to do it.
Any hormone therapy before taking the surgery path? No, I wasn?t aware this was an option. It probably wouldn?t have applied to us anyway as Cooper?s testicle could not go into the right spot which was why we had the surgery. As I said, we are still waiting for the other to descend. We have another appointment in January to get that one checked again. We might be given than option then.
How long was the General Anaesthesia applied? Was it an outpatient treatment, i.e. discharge same day? It was a day surgery. From memory, we had to be there at 6am to do the sign in. We were taken into the preparation area around 9.30am. Cooper had to get ready with a new nappy and snazzy hospital PJs. They gave him some childs panadol which made him drowsy. We went into the theatre around 10.40am (I stayed with him until he was placed on the operating table and held him while he was sedated with gas) and Cooper was in recovery by 11.10am. At 11.20am, I went into recovery to wait with him so he wouldn?t get scared when he woke up properly. We went home by about 2.30pm with some written instructions about keeping him clean etc and the numbers for the surgery in case it was needed (it wasn?t by the way!).
How did your brave baby boy feel after it? When we got home, Cooper slept most of the afternoon and evening. Woke up for dinner and went back to bed. I gave him panadol just before bed as directed by the Drs. He didn?t seem in any pain or anything though. Next day he was totally normal. No pain or anything. He was not supposed to climb or jump for a few days so I was forever chasing him telling him to get down etc. You wouldn?t have known he had surgery. The stitches dissolved within a couple of weeks and the scar faded after a couple of months. I can?t find it now and I know where to look. Either he has a high pain threshold (which I doubt!) or the pain was very mild. The cuts were very small and the stitches never bothered him.
All in all, it was a better experience than I expected and it never seemed to bother Cooper at all. I was more stressed than he was. DH still winces whenever I mention it though that might be a boy thing LOL!!
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