Botched Circumcisions - Page 2

[kittywitty]

I was one of those mothers. I was raised Jewish and never thought of not circumcising. Heck, I barely even knew what it meant except that you do it. My son's was botched (I've posted about it in the past) and he had to have a meatotomy a few years ago. I would never re-circ him. The day he was circ'd woke me up.

[Bisou]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

I see circ complications fairly frequently. Bleeding mostly. Pain and trouble feeding always.

Do you work in the medical profession, I assume?

[Bisou]

Originally Posted by kittywitty

I was one of those mothers. I was raised Jewish and never thought of not circumcising. Heck, I barely even knew what it meant except that you do it. My son's was botched (I've posted about it in the past) and he had to have a meatotomy a few years ago. I would never re-circ him. The day he was circ'd woke me up.

Honestly, I think it's almost pure luck that I didn't circ, just because I was lucky enough to hear this information from multiple sources before I was ever pregnant. It was only after I had heard these stories (from men in my class who regretted having been circ'd, from my chiropractor BF who saw a circ video) that I even thought of not circumcising. To be honest, when the men in my class first compared female genital mutilation to male circumcision, I thought it was pretty ridiculous, even if I didn't say so at the time. It was only when I read about it later that I realized the comparison wasn't that far off at all.

Even though I am a very conscientious mother and one who tries to research everything, I really wonder if I would've explored this topic further had I not been lucky enough to randomly run across these stories. I am fortunate that I heard these stories BEFORE being pregnant and having my son, not after, as many of you mothers have. I really feel for mothers who made what they thought was the "right" decision for their sons at the time, but later have deep regret.

[BugMacGee]

Originally Posted by Bisou

Do you work in the medical profession, I assume?

Yes. I'm a NICU nurse. Fortunately, in a low circ'ing area. But it's still an issue I have to contend with at work.

[Bisou]

Originally Posted by BugMacGee

Yes. I'm a NICU nurse. Fortunately, in a low circ'ing area. But it's still an issue I have to contend with at work.

Wow. That must be hard to deal with things that (I am assuming) you don't agree with at work, even if much of your work is rewarding and so essential for those tiny little ones!

[NSmomtobe]

Originally Posted by Bisou

HTo be honest, when the men in my class first compared female genital mutilation to male circumcision, I thought it was pretty ridiculous, even if I didn't say so at the time. It was only when I read about it later that I realized the comparison wasn't that far off at all.

To be honest, when my grade 12 sociology teacher made an offhanded comment in class that male circumcision was the equivalent of female genital mutilation, I wrote him an unsolicited letter which outlined the reasons that the two were not comparable. And he let it replace an assignment and gave me a good mark on it too. It is only now that I am older that I see the similarities.

[Ron_Low]

How could any infant circumcision NOT be described as botched?

It starts out as an elective amputation with no diagnosis of defect or pathology.

By carrying out cosmetic surgery on an infant, doctors should realize they have the same odds of "success" (a result the patient would have chosen) as if they tried to do a nose job on an infant. Everything is still growing and hardly resembles the adult form, so they have no idea what the outcome will be, EVERY time.

[momongeon]

Before I worked in L&D I was a postpartum/newborn nursery nurse. I cared for many circ's (before I became a conscientious objector) Some I knew would look funny as the child grew. Now that I have 2 intact penis' in my house ALL boys that are circ'd look funny. The worst thing I have seen is a baby that bled so bad he needed 6 stitches to re-attach the shaft skin to the base of the glans. It is typical to see bleeding at the frenulum but that actually bled minimally for this little boy. The other thing that freaks me out is that you never know, your baby could have a clotting problem. Wouldn't that suck if you discovered it on the circ board?

[PuppyFluffer]

[QUOTE=Bisou;15065326]To be honest, when the men in my class first compared female genital mutilation to male circumcision, I thought it was pretty ridiculous, even if I didn't say so at the time. It was only when I read about it later that I realized the comparison wasn't that far off at all. /QUOTE]

Can I play with this idea a bit?

I think there is a generalized minimizing of all pain for boys and men. I think this really fuels the idea that circumcision is just a little snip and that its a right of passage and an expected and assumed thing.

We often minimize and ridicule the pain of boys/men....thus discounting their emotional and physical beings. It's a cultural.

I have two girls and a boy. I am more concerned about the social pressures that my boy will face more than those my girls will be challenged by.

[USAmma]

I heard of a case of a botched circ on another board. The sad part was the baby already had health issues that were pretty serious and yet the mother wanted him circed. She had to take him back to a surgeon who specialized in fixing bad circs and found out that he fixed about 20 of them a week!

A boyfriend I had when I was younger had a crooked penis and had to have surgery to reopen his urethra. He was very self-concious about it. Sad.

[Bisou]

Originally Posted by USAmma

A boyfriend I had when I was younger had a crooked penis and had to have surgery to reopen his urethra. He was very self-concious about it. Sad.

Yep. This is exactly what happened to my friend's son: crooked penis and too small/closing urethra.

I just wish more people knew about this. So many mothers/parents circumcise just absolutely blindly, thinking their husbands, boyfriends, fathers, brothers, etc have all had it done, so it must not be a big deal. Of course not too many men want to bring up the topic that something is wrong with their penises, so I think this topic stays underground a lot of the time.

[an_aurora]

Originally Posted by Bisou

Another boy, who is three, actually had his urethra close due to scar tissue from the circumcision and had to have the urethra widened and his penis straightened because the circumcision also caused some problems with curvature of the penis.

This is what happened to my DH too, only he had to have a new urethra "made" at age 5 He remembers it

The first circ I saw at work was botched pretty bad.

[AllieFaye]

I am adopted. My adoptive father was unable to father his own biological children due to a botched circumcision. No surprise - he's supportive of our choice not to circ.