Undescended testicle

[ALITY35]

OK-I am new here and am looking for some feeback, advise or whatever you all have to give me. I am a mother of an 11 year old that had his undescended testicle brought down in October 2005. He developed a huge amount of swelling in and around the incision point. The incision itselft at two weeks, felt like there was a hot dog inside his incision and all the surrounding skin was swollen. He went in for the checkup and the surgeon said he had a lot of scar tissue. Well, fast forward to April 2006. My son has been in and out of some pain these last 6 months. He has a god awful ugly scar and holds where the surgery was performed quite often. I asked him if the testicle was still down and he says no. I called the doctor who thinks he feels it way up again in the spot where it originally was. But refers us to a urologist to be sure. The urologist doesn't feel a thing and refers us to have an ultrasound done. The ultrasound was done last Wed the 19th, the radiologist has a hard time finding it-the tech didn't find it at all. The radiologist runs the flow on it and says there is no blood flow going to the testicle. What I am asking I guess, is has this happened to anyone here? What can be done about this? Will it have to be taken out? Is this surgeon at fault for this? I am upset because I feel, as a mother, that I failed him. Here he is at 11 having this happen to him. Anyone have any insight on what to do? Thanks so much. I am reading your experiences to get knowledge on the subject. I am worried for him later in life and also what if the testicle that is alive gets twisted. My son takes a lot of pain with this and thinks it is normal. I just worry that he will have trauma to the right one and will think it is just like what he has gone through and doesn't say anything or brushes it off and something will happen. Thanks again.

[Fish]

Welcome.

First of all you did NOT fail your son, you got him the appropriate treatment. Why the treatment seems to have been unsuccessful is not clear. However, the current condition needs to be addressed.

I would recommend getting a copy of the radiologist's report and taking it to the surgeon. Ask the surgeon for a plan of action for correcting the situation. If this surgeon is not helpful, get another opinion. I do not want to alarm you, but I would recommend acting quickly on this matter.

Best wishes, and let us know what happens.

Jim

[Mom]

I would get him to the best pediatric urologist I could find. The surgery should have been simple. There is a risk of TC associated with an undecended testicle but that should not be your worry now. My husband went through puberty with one testicle and fathered a child. Think of it as an ovary. He will do just fine with one. It should come out of him if it is not functioning. Our former Surgeon General, Dr. Koop, operated on my husband at Phila. Children's Hospital 55 years ago. He was born with the undecended testicle plus a hernia. They waited until he was 5 to operate. There was no testicle. When my husband was diagnosed with TC 30 years later, the doctors were concerned that he still had the testicle in his abdomen and were afraid there might have been a spread. They did their own search during the I/O and determined that there was no testicle. We all feel guilty when something happens to our children because we feel we should have prevented it. Unfortunately, we can't protect them from everything. Hang in there. Dianne

[dadmo]

I'm certainly not in a position to place blame for the difficult time your son is having, this operation should have been simple with no complications. I know who isn't to blame and that's you, you did nothing wrong here. It would seem that the best course of action now would be to get the radiologist report and visit the best pediatric surgeon you can find. The risk of testicular cancer at this point is so small that I wouldn't even consider it, however the doctors may want to remove the testicle to eliminate any future problems especially if the testicle is determined to be non-functioning.

[ALITY35]

Welcome.

First of all you did NOT fail your son, you got him the appropriate treatment. Why the treatment seems to have been unsuccessful is not clear. However, the current condition needs to be addressed.

I would recommend getting a copy of the radiologist's report and taking it to the surgeon. Ask the surgeon for a plan of action for correcting the situation. If this surgeon is not helpful, get another opinion. I do not want to alarm you, but I would recommend acting quickly on this matter.

Best wishes, and let us know what happens.

Jim

I will do that. Everytime that he is in some sort of pain, it makes me think that the surgery is to blame. He groans and holds his incision area a lot. He is sick today with what appears to be the flu but has no fever. My mom is afraid it is from this. But the surgery was 6 months ago. It couldn't be-but there still is swelling and pain. I don't know. We see his urologist on 5/1-I will check back. I am sure the dead testicle will have to come out.

[Karen]

Glad you've got a pediatric urologist appt coming up. I suggest not only getting copies of the radiology report, but also records from the hospital/surgeon on that operation. You definately did not fail him. Take care and keep us updated please!