undescended testicle. UPDATED 12/22 - Page 2

[+stella+]

pulling sensation? you mean going through surgery or a weird feeling forever down there?

We are probably late to the game but we are finally going to a ped urologist because at 15 months my sons right testicle hasnt moved (if it is even there) And yes, I have read that it can be a genetic thing, as to why it never came down in the first place and testicular cancer can happen in either testicle at a higher rate with children who had one or both undescended at birth.

I wish we didnt have to do any surgery... but we may. I just hope I havent waited too long because I too have read that celluar damage can begin as early as 12 months.

thanks for all the info :-)

oh, and if he ends up to only have one testicle at all, we absolutely will not be doing an implant to make it look even, unless when he is 18 he wants one. no brainer on that.

[earthmama369]

I haven't done much research about undescended testicles. But I can share "my" experience, in that DH had an undescended testicle, which was surgically removed when he was 2. He is intact and to his knowledge, they didn't do anything to his foreskin during surgery -- he remembers the surgery fairly vividly, but doesn't remember being retracted. He has one testicle and has not had cosmetic surgery to make it look like he has two, and really, it doesn't bother either of us. You can hardly see the scar, he doesn't have any tightness or pain resulting from the surgery, and he is *definitely* fertile. (Seeing as both times we've gotten pregnant, it's been about 4 months before we were going to seriously TTC. We seem to get pregnant whenever we start to think about "practicing" to TTC.)

[babygrant]

Brody had a check up today and it has dropped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been so excited about a testicle before. LOL. Thanks so much everyone

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

:

[Dragonfly]

Wonderful!

One thing: Keep an eye on it. We had 2 practitioners tell us that ds' was fine, even though we both knew something was wrong. At 3, it was firmly wedged in his abdomen - the competent pediatrician that I finally found agreed.

[InDaPhunk]

Originally Posted by babygrant

Brody had a check up today and it has dropped!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have never been so excited about a testicle before. LOL. Thanks so much everyone

Happy Descended Testicle Day !!!!!

[baybee]

Good thread. Just wanted to add that you might be wise to "Google"
undesdended testicle, pediatrics
and that will get you into the medical websites.
I can't imagine having to worry about circumcision in addition to this condition.
The original poster was from B.C. where the circ rate is 6% and I don't think circs are even done at Children's Hosp. There is a private circumcisor named Neil Pollock who does all of the unnecessary cutting in the Vancouver area. In the U.S., where the rates are high, there'd be more concern, I guess.

[pjlioness]

Wooohooo!

[Galatea]

Originally Posted by +stella+

pulling sensation? you mean going through surgery or a weird feeling forever down there?

Often he had this feeling throughout his life. Maybe it was a bad surgeon or a bad technique. It was 1980. Things may have changed.

[shannajoy]

Congratulations! I wish it was the same for us. :-(

[aisraeltax]

my son had this surgery and i have tried to explain what that involved (2 surgeries instead of one and you may want to ask your son's urologist about that procedure). but first i wanted to warn you about the medical consent/ etc. many people have been telling you about here.
my son has a bleeding disorder. he also has an increased risk with "normal" anesthesia. both of these issues were very critical when dealing with his surgeries. drs. and anesthesiologists disagreed w/ what was "fact" and not when dealing with them. at one point, i threatened to cancel a surgery b/c the anesthesiologist was disagreeing with me. LOOK OVER EVERY PIECE OF PAPER YOU SIGN! EVERY PIECE OF PAPER WITH YOUR SIGNATURE SHOULD HAVE THE REQUIREMENTS YOU HAVE EXPRESSED TO YOUR DRS/ANESTHESIOLOGISTS!
Oral agreements are not going to do you any good. I had papers pushed in my face that did not state any issues with the bleeding or anesthesia issues. I marked them in bold pen and had the dr/anest. intiial the additions. I am telling you...I had to fight every step of the way, including at 5:30 am on teh date of surgery. That is what started me questioning the medical profession (ds2 had 5 surgeries in his 2nd year).

i havent read all the replies regarding the surgery here, so forgive me if i repeat anything but i saw the title of this thread and wanted to share what i learned.
my son had an undescended testicle (he has Noonan's Syndrome and its a very common thing w/ boys). He had 2 surgeries for this problem when he was 2 (also had other surgeries that are not relevant).
the reason i feel compelled to post is that i have spoken to mothers whose sons have had surgery for undescended testicles and their surgeries have been diffierent, so you may want to check into which method is right for you.
sorry i dont know about the circ. issue b/c ds2 is circ'd. i didnt know any better at the time.
ds2 had 2 surgeries b/c his urologist felt that he had a better chance of the undescended testicle surviving if the lower blood vessels were given a chance to "take over" before the testicle was pulled down. ds2 ended up having another surgery 3 months later anyway so we were able to combine those 2 later surgeries. i dont know if i can explain this but i will try.
the undescended testicle has 2 sets of blood vessels attached to it. one set from the top; one from the bottom. the urologist at Children's Hosp. in Boston feels that simply cutting the top blood vessels and "descending" the testicle right away is very traumatic for the testicle. so, he chose to cut the top blood vessels and allow the blood vessels from the bottom to take over as the primary source of blood flow. then, 3 months later, the testicle was descended.
whether the surgery is successful or not can not really be determined until he becomes fertile. as far as how it looks, there is a small difference but not a significant one. i imagine that the difference will be more significant when he is older.
good luck and if you have any more questions on what my son went through, feel free to ask!
rach

[shannajoy]

Thanks for sharing your experience and advice Rach! I will definitely look at all required paperwork very closely. Alex's testicle is descended just above and kinda next to his scrotum, so he only needs one operation to get it in there (instead of the two just like you described). One and a half weeks to go...we're nervous!

[aisraeltax]

hi. not a problem. sorry for the long post. Mikey's testicle was basically where it started (can't remember exactly where at this point..somewhere in the chest area), so it sounds like Alex has a different situation.
good luck with everythign. i know how hard it can be to have your son go into surgery.
one more word of caution..they told us it would only take about 2 hours for the surgery but it was more like 5 hours. it was the only time i had ever been away from him and it was sooo hard.
take a bunch of different stuff w/ you to the hospital. no one thing will keep your attention.
sending good hospital experience vibes.


hugs
rach

[maida]

I just found out my son has undescended testicles and he turned three this past October.

I'm not sure why my previous pediatrician never made the diagnosis.
She was a great doctor, but moved out of state, so I can't ask her why now. Our new pediatrician referred us to the surgeon right away after his three year well check. She didn't make it seem urgent, and now I'm sorry I waited two months to see the surgeon.

With this late diagnosis, I worry about his future fertility.

They don't seem to be in his abdomen, though, they are behind the pubic fat mound most of the time.

In his case, it is both testicles. The doctor can pull them down to the scrotum, but they never seem to be there on their own, not when he is asleep and not when he is in a warm bath.

From what the surgeon told us, males with undescended testicles do have a higher chance of testicular cancer. Surgery doesn't fix that statistic, it just makes it easier to detect.

Interestingly, the surgeon said that there is a remote possibility that going under general anesthesia would cause the testicles to descend on their own (the ultimate relaxed state).

I can't even type about this without getting all weepy. I'm just sick with worry about my little guy going under general anesthesia.

I'll be watching this thread to see how things go for Stella and Shanna's boys.

[Frankly Speaking]

Maida, As I understand it, undescended testicles will not come down at all and what you're describing is retractile testicles. If that is correct, no surgery is needed, this is just one of the variations of normal. I have retractile testicles and they are retracted maybe 30% -40% of the time with no ill effects. It's been that way all of my life.

I would strongly recommend that you research all of the information you can find on these two conditions and I would get a second opinion from a pediatric urologist. Ask for an explanation of why your son has one and not the other. If the urologist's information doesn't jive with what you've learned from your research, go for another opinion until you are satisfied with the information you're getting. At this point, a couple of months isn't going to make any difference and it sounds like maybe surgery won't be necessary or beneficial for your son.




Frank

[maida]

Undescended/ectopic/retractile testicles

Thank you so much for your reply. I researched through the night and also came to the conclusion that I wanted to see a pediatric urologist for another opinion. Thank you for validating/confirming my decision. I can't tell you how much that means to me. My husband and I talked it over this morning, and is completely supportive, as I knew he would be.

I found this page from American Family Physician® journal article which has a lot of information, a dx chart and pictures of physical palpitation as well as of the surgery

http://www.aafp.org/afp/20001101/2037.html

Undescended testicles can be categorized on the basis of physical and operative findings: (1) true undescended testicles (including intra-abdominal, peeping at the internal ring and canalicular testes), which exist along the normal path of descent and have a normally inserted gubernaculum; (2) ectopic testicles, which have an abnormal gubernacular insertion; and (3) retractile testicles, which are not truly undescended. The most important category to distinguish on physical examination is the retractile testis, because no hormone or surgical therapy is required for this condition.

It further talks about the actual physical palpitation with photos...

A true undescended or ectopic inguinal testicle will be felt to "pop" under the examiner's fingers during this maneuver. A low ectopic or retractile testicle will be felt by the opposite hand as it is "milked" into the scrotum. The ectopic testicle will immediately spring out of the scrotum when it is released. The retractile testicle will remain momentarily in the scrotum until further stimulation causes a cremasteric reflex.

Differentiation of a retractile testis from a true undescended testis is sometimes difficult; consultation with a urologist may be valuable.

I believe now that he may have an ectopic testicles, since the testicles do not stay descended momentarily. While this would still require surgery, I would just like to get confirmation from someone who is not a surgeon.

After looking further into the hormonal treatment, because of his age and the fact that this is most likely ectopic testicles which are physically unable to stay down, this course does not seem likely to succeed.

So, while surgery still seems likely, I feel more informed than I did 24 hours ago.

This has been an interesting experience so far. Because of his age, I felt it was necessary to explain to him that no one should touch his genitals unless it was a doctor with mama and/or dada present, or unless it was his mama and dada. I also told him that I was checking because "the doctor thinks you might need surgery and mama needs to make sure he is right."

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to share what I have experienced so far in my research for any other parents who find themselves in this situation.

[Frankly Speaking]

Originally Posted by maida

I would just like to get confirmation from someone who is not a surgeon.

Just understand that by definition, a urologist is a surgeon.




Frank

[maida]

Main Entry: urol·o·gist
Pronunciation: yu-'rä-l&-jist
Function: noun
: a physician who specializes in the urinary or urogenital tract

At least that's what m-w.com defines one as...

[shannajoy]

Just settling in after Alex's surgery...

Just wanted to give a quick update on my little boy. Alex's surgery went well, he had an undescended testicle on his right side (and a small hernia there), and fluid surrounding his descended left testicle (and another hernia on the left too). I wasn't expecting the incisions to be so big. The two on his lower abdomen are probably just over an inch long and the one on his scrotum is maybe half an inch long.

Thank you to everyone for your support and advice! I read through the paperwork and also told everyone involved that his foreskin was not to be retracted for any reason. I'm especially glad I did because one of the older nurses (a very sweet lady) asked me why. I explained that it's still attached (like a finger nail to her finger). She didn't know that. Probably because a lot of boys around here are circed. I'm glad he wasn't catheterized (sp?).

Maida, I hope your experience goes well!

Alex is taking a nap right now, I better get some rest while I can. This may be a loooooong night.

[LeosMama]

I'm so glad everything went alright and that they were respectful of his body. And it sounds like a very good thing that you took care of this problem in a timely manner.
Good mothering all around, mama.