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My son’s Hydrocele Surgery
Hi everyone, my post is about my 17 year old son and I am wondering if anyone has dealt with anything similar.
In September 2020 my son was hospitalized for a sports hernia and it was discovered then that he had a medium size hydrocele on the left testicle. According to him he had never noticed it and it never gave him any issues. We were told that we should just watch it and if it gets larger to visit the Urologist.
My son is a cross country runner and during a sports physical in September 2021 it was determined that it was bigger and therefore we would seek a visit to the Urologist as soon as his season was over. It still never gave him any issues or caused any pain.
In January of this year we saw the Urologist and the Dr decided that it needed to be removed since it was rather large. This is where it all went downhill. The hydrocele was removed on January 11. The Dr said surgery went very well but it was mentioned that there was a lot of inflammation in the testicle which was not expected and he was not sure what from. My son had normal surgery pain but even after a week or so was staying in a lot of pain on the bottom side of the testicle. It hurt to walk, sit, touch it, etc. He was given Oxycodone to help with pain and it did not even touch it. After much conversation and several appts the Dr went back in on Feb 10 to see if something else was going on or if it’ll something was missed. Nothing was found except for a small hematoma which was cleaned up. A drain was also put in for a week and antibiotics were started. There was surgery pain which then went to the entire left side of the testicle where the incisions had been made hurting like crazy.
This is where we are today. The entire left side of the testicle is extremely sensitive to any touch and just excruciatingly hurts in general. It hurts him to walk, sit or stand. The only somewhat relief is when laying down. It is still extremely swollen. We have been on so many meds and he is still on some - Doxycycline, Gabapentin, Flomax and Ibuprofen. We have done three nerve blocks - the one directly in the testicle provided no relief, while two given in the hip area provided mild relief for 5-6 days. He has had several ultrasounds done as well as a CT just last week. His Doctor has consulted with many other Urologists and Surgeons and we have tried everything that has been thought of. They all just say we might just have to give it time. We are being referred to pain management later this month to see if they can provide him with some better relief. We went for a second opinion yesterday and this Urologist agrees with everything that has already been done and said time and/or removal of the testicle are the only two options really. My son says to sign him up for the surgery to remove it but that is not even guaranteed to take away his pain.
As I said, my son is 17 yrs old and has had his life drastically changed since Janauary. He is very active and involved and cannot go to school, run Track or really even go anywhere so we are at our breaking point.
Does anyone have any kind of similar story?
In September 2020 my son was hospitalized for a sports hernia and it was discovered then that he had a medium size hydrocele on the left testicle. According to him he had never noticed it and it never gave him any issues. We were told that we should just watch it and if it gets larger to visit the Urologist.
My son is a cross country runner and during a sports physical in September 2021 it was determined that it was bigger and therefore we would seek a visit to the Urologist as soon as his season was over. It still never gave him any issues or caused any pain.
In January of this year we saw the Urologist and the Dr decided that it needed to be removed since it was rather large. This is where it all went downhill. The hydrocele was removed on January 11. The Dr said surgery went very well but it was mentioned that there was a lot of inflammation in the testicle which was not expected and he was not sure what from. My son had normal surgery pain but even after a week or so was staying in a lot of pain on the bottom side of the testicle. It hurt to walk, sit, touch it, etc. He was given Oxycodone to help with pain and it did not even touch it. After much conversation and several appts the Dr went back in on Feb 10 to see if something else was going on or if it’ll something was missed. Nothing was found except for a small hematoma which was cleaned up. A drain was also put in for a week and antibiotics were started. There was surgery pain which then went to the entire left side of the testicle where the incisions had been made hurting like crazy.
This is where we are today. The entire left side of the testicle is extremely sensitive to any touch and just excruciatingly hurts in general. It hurts him to walk, sit or stand. The only somewhat relief is when laying down. It is still extremely swollen. We have been on so many meds and he is still on some - Doxycycline, Gabapentin, Flomax and Ibuprofen. We have done three nerve blocks - the one directly in the testicle provided no relief, while two given in the hip area provided mild relief for 5-6 days. He has had several ultrasounds done as well as a CT just last week. His Doctor has consulted with many other Urologists and Surgeons and we have tried everything that has been thought of. They all just say we might just have to give it time. We are being referred to pain management later this month to see if they can provide him with some better relief. We went for a second opinion yesterday and this Urologist agrees with everything that has already been done and said time and/or removal of the testicle are the only two options really. My son says to sign him up for the surgery to remove it but that is not even guaranteed to take away his pain.
As I said, my son is 17 yrs old and has had his life drastically changed since Janauary. He is very active and involved and cannot go to school, run Track or really even go anywhere so we are at our breaking point.
Does anyone have any kind of similar story?
I would agree removing his testicle would be a massive step. I'd do EVERYTHING possible before that to avoid it. The Mayo clinic has a system for pain like this. I do actually know someone that had similar symptoms. He had a nerve issue that they just could not find post hernia surgery. Almost identical symptoms. The Mayo Clinic embedded a pulsing device elsewhere. There is science and theory behind it. It distracts from the testicular issue and they begin ignoring the pulsing but their brain is aware and focus is taken away from pain. It did give the person I know his life back. It can be a temporary thing to help.
I would consider therapy for your son as well. This has to be hard at this age and how much anxiety plays a role, I don't know. It has to complicate the whole thing further. Sorry this is going on.
I would consider therapy for your son as well. This has to be hard at this age and how much anxiety plays a role, I don't know. It has to complicate the whole thing further. Sorry this is going on.
I would ask for an MRI, to see if there is soft-tissue damage. An ultrasound does not show anything like that, and I'm not sure what a CAT scan shows. It almost sounds like something was left behind in the incision, but if so you'd kind of hope it would have appeared on the scans he has had. Anyway, if he hasn't had an MRI yet, he should. What is happening to him really shouldn't be happening. I'm so sorry for the pain he is going through.
3 Comments
I assume his white count has been checked, to be sure it's not an infection? There are antibiotic-resistant bacteria after all.
Also, I just read that pain and swelling is not an unknown problem after this kind of surgery. Not that everyone who has the surgery gets it, but if there's a problem, that's one of the first on the list. Again, I'm sorry he's going through this.
Thanks for replying. Yes, he has had blood work done and everything is normal on it. We have not done an MRI yet but I will definitely ask about this at our next visit.
I do know that pain and swelling afterwards is common but the fact that we are this far out from the surgery is what makes no sense and the strong sensitivity with pain. And why no meds are helping. He just can’t keep going like this but making a huge decision of removing a testicle is very scary.
I do know that pain and swelling afterwards is common but the fact that we are this far out from the surgery is what makes no sense and the strong sensitivity with pain. And why no meds are helping. He just can’t keep going like this but making a huge decision of removing a testicle is very scary.
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