Undescended testicle

[sportymum]

My DS (18months) was diagnosed with partial undescended testicles. The community nurse actually reported it descended but then another nurse at a later time told us to go see a GP immediatly. Was told that my DS may need a surgery under GA. I have never feel so much fear nor feel so anguished in my life. Cried like a baby in fact. Isnt surgery a dangerous thing for toddlers? Anyone has similar experience?

[YoYo]

Hi there

Not me, but my very good friend's DS had only 1 decended testicle. He also then ended up with a hernia which then resulted in surgery.

She was very scared, but had to do what she had to do to make things better for her DS, and it did.

I think surgery is dangerous for anybody, not just toddlers, but it's done every single day, even to freshly newborn babies.

I'm sure everything will turn out for the best, but I understand your anguish.

[squidipa]

they said that about ds 13 months old but we think maybe he was just cold.?

[Chocaholic]

My eldest had undescended testicles. The one on the left was left alone as when manipulated, it descends to the correct place. The Dr said it was likely that it will descend of its own accord, probably before he starts school.

The right testicle, when manipulated, would not descend to the correct spot and was surgically stitched into place two weeks before DS1's 2nd birthday. It was scary but the staff at the hospital were fantastic. They do not rush into surgery as most of the time (so i was told), the testicles will descend on their own. DS1 was diagnosed when he was 2 months old, so there was a fairly large gap between diagnosis and surgery.

Apparently this is quite common. There is an slightly higher risk of testicular cancer so your son will need to be aware that he needs to check himself when he is older. There is also a slightly higher risk of the testicles twisting which apparently is quite painful. Other than that, he is just like any other little boy.

Surgery is a dangerous thing for anyone, I think, but all the precautions are taken and I felt, personally, that the pros outweighed the cons in our situation.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[squidipa]

there is some medicine they said my son could take to help drop it down maybe ask about that, he said that was the first step before surgery. also if they are cold they shrink up a bit

[sportymum]

Thanks guys for all your replies and encouragement. That was nice.

Chocaholic,
Your reply has given me alot of infor that I was looking for. Thank you so much, you must be our Angel we been waiting for. I have so many questions. Could you pls tell me why they delayed the surgery till 2 years old? Did they talk about the risk of surgery? Any hormone theraphy before taking the surgery path? How long was the General Anaesthesia applied? Was it an outpatient treatment, ie discharge same day? How did your brave baby boy feel after it?
Since I have heard from my brother in law who recovered from a similar hernia operation, the recovery is probably painful too right?
Do you mind if I write to you?

[sportymum]

there is some medicine they said my son could take to help drop it down maybe ask about that, he said that was the first step before surgery. also if they are cold they shrink up a bit

yes i was wondering which doctor you take him to cause not all paed surgeon provide this theraphy, hormone theraphy i believe. could you pls give me this doc name or phone number? was it effective? probably some kind of injections right? do they take alot of blood sample? what i mean was it painful for your DS?

yes cold prob play a part too cause sometime the testicle moves up and later it move back down again. can we pray for miracle here i wonder?

[squidipa]

yes i was wondering which doctor you take him to cause not all paed surgeon provide this theraphy, hormone theraphy i believe. could you pls give me this doc name or phone number? was it effective? probably some kind of injections right? do they take alot of blood sample? what i mean was it painful for your DS?

yes cold prob play a part too cause sometime the testicle moves up and later it move back down again. can we pray for miracle here i wonder?

well the dr said come back in 3 months and we will re check it, he is a very good dr ill try to track down his details and pm you He is just a gp but seems to know about this stuff. I felt comfortable with him. And since have started to make appointments soley with him too rather than with our old dr. He said come back in 3 months and ll recheck, if need be ds can go on the hormone cant remember if it was an injection liquid or what tho sorry, After that if need be ds will have the op. We are hoping that ds was cold on the day when he checked him out and that it had not descended due to coldness of air that day IYKWIM? My son tho has had to have a op already as he had a crooked winkie so i feel some what prepared for this one iykwim if it comes to it.

[sportymum]

well the dr said come back in 3 months and we will re check it, he is a very good dr ill try to track down his details and pm you He is just a gp but seems to know about this stuff. I felt comfortable with him. And since have started to make appointments soley with him too rather than with our old dr. He said come back in 3 months and ll recheck, if need be ds can go on the hormone cant remember if it was an injection liquid or what tho sorry, After that if need be ds will have the op. We are hoping that ds was cold on the day when he checked him out and that it had not descended due to coldness of air that day IYKWIM? My son tho has had to have a op already as he had a crooked winkie so i feel some what prepared for this one iykwim if it comes to it.

yeap but i forgot you are from queensland. i am from melbourne though. but still you have provide me vital infor cause i didnt know you can get that from a gp! wonderful cause we know some good GP here who would be able to help us without waitng for a specialist paed. you are an angel and our best wishes for your DS op too. would you like to correspond?

[Chocaholic]

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!!


Feel free to email me! Am happy to talk!

[squidipa]

yeap but i forgot you are from queensland. i am from melbourne though. but still you have provide me vital infor cause i didnt know you can get that from a gp! wonderful cause we know some good GP here who would be able to help us without waitng for a specialist paed. you are an angel and our best wishes for your DS op too. would you like to correspond?

yes ild love to correspond

[Ellee05]

Hi, I can't offer any experience myself, but my sisters boy (5 next month) had this issue. The doctors have monitored it closely for a few years now and they have recently decided to operate. I know that there can be risks in not havin the surgery i.e. infertility because they get to hot. If you still need some info I can ask my sister a few questions for you.

[Chocaholic]

I know that there can be risks in not havin the surgery i.e. infertility because they get to hot.

Absolutely. I forgot to mention this. Probably because I have no desire to imagine my babies having babies . If they remain too high in the body, the body heat will cause the testicles to shrivel and 'die'. Cooper's Dr said that they need to descend before puberty, preferably earlier, to ensure that I can get grandbabies. So NOT what I wanted to hear .

Ellee05, how old was your nephew when he had the surgery? How did he cope with the surgery? I have heard that the older they are, the more difficult the recovery is. Am hoping this is not the case as Cooper may need to have his second testicle stitched if it doesn't move into position.

[Ellee05]

Ellee05, how old was your nephew when he had the surgery? How did he cope with the surgery?

He is booked in to have it in November. My sister is due to have a baby on the 8th so she is hoping that everything falls into place and works out timing wise. I hope that Cooper's body will work itself out and that he doesn't need further intervention

[sportymum]

hi chocaholic & squidipa,

sorry i havent write as i said i would. have been busy researching alternative means like osteopathy, acupuncture and herbal medicine. would share with u all as soon as i gather some conclusive infor. thank u so much for allowing correspondence but i just thought some issues here are better talk in private cause the juniors may not like us talk in public abt their winkywinky in public iykwim.

[sportymum]

Hi, I can't offer any experience myself, but my sisters boy (5 next month) had this issue. The doctors have monitored it closely for a few years now and they have recently decided to operate. I know that there can be risks in not havin the surgery i.e. infertility because they get to hot. If you still need some info I can ask my sister a few questions for you.

hi ellee,

thanks for writing. do you think you can ask your sis what the doc said abt fertility for kid having surgery at 5 yrs old cause in other countries kids are told to have surgery before 1 inorder to save the germ sperms. why did they wait so long?

[Chocaholic]

Sportymum, men can produce sperm there whole life while women only have a certain number of eggs which are present at birth and mature as she gets older (that is my understanding anyway). I can't see why it is so important that they have the surgery prior to 1 years old.

This is just my take on it. Maybe Ellee can give you better information.