My son had what appeared to be an hernia but his problem is really a hydrocele. It is a fluid collection in the scrotum. It is usually benign and should go away on its own. They don't do surgery on a hydrocele.

Of course my son's got infected after his feeding tube surgery and he ended up inpatient on antibiotic IVs for two weeks, but generally they are nothing.

The surgeon showed me where to feel and what to do to check and see if there was intestine in there or just fluid, since it can change from one to the other.

 

My son had bilateral hernias and hydroceles... He had them repaired with surgery.. it was sort of an addon.. He was already having surgery for 4 other things at the same time so they added those so he wouldnt have to be put under another time for them.. Anyway the recovery from that part was super quick.. He still has residual hernias and hydroceles, but he has a VP shunt and the fluid that drains from his shunt goes straight to his testicles...

Anyway.. it was a huge success besides the residuals.. but they are not causing any problems..

If he does have stuff in them I really recommend trying to push it back up.. He might need emergency surgery if it will not go back up. I would not want to chance something getting caught.

 

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Originally Posted by Liba613 My son had what appeared to be an hernia but his problem is really a hydrocele. It is a fluid collection in the scrotum. It is usually benign and should go away on its own. They don't do surgery on a hydrocele. Of course my son's got infected after his feeding tube surgery and he ended up inpatient on antibiotic IVs for two weeks, but generally they are nothing. The surgeon showed me where to feel and what to do to check and see if there was intestine in there or just fluid, since it can change from one to the other.

They can too do surgery on hydroceles. My son had bilateral hydroceles and hernias and they did surgery on both of them.

 

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Originally Posted by Liba613 They don't do surgery on a hydrocele. .

They can do surgery if it is bad enough for hydroceles. however, they usually like to wait until the child is older because they most often close on their own.

My DS had hydrocele surgery (surgeon said they were bialateral communicating hydroceles) when he was 6 months old because they were filling up with so much fluid that he would be crying in pain. The surgeon felt that they would never close on their own and could, and most likely would lead to hernias. After surgery the surgeon said that they were some of the largest hydroceles he had seen and that they never would have closed up on their own.

The surgery was harder on momma then him. He was more upset about being hungery when he woke up, and was home 3 hours later. A day later you never would have known he had anything done.

Molly

 

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Originally Posted by MollyD The surgery was harder on momma then him. He was more upset about being hungery when he woke up, and was home 3 hours later. A day later you never would have known he had anything done. Molly

Oh, Molly that makes me feel a lot better. . .

 

Hernia surgery isn't a big deal at all. My son had double inguinal hernia surgery done at 38wks and about 4.8lbs. Then he went on to develop an extremely large hydrocele that had to be operated on two seperate times within his first year. No biggie at all to me but if your kid hasn't had surgery before I could see how it's scary. There are your typical surgery risks but that's about it.

 

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Originally Posted by MollyD They can do surgery if it is bad enough for hydroceles. however, they usually like to wait until the child is older because they most often close on their own. My DS had hydrocele surgery (surgeon said they were bialateral communicating hydroceles) when he was 6 months old because they were filling up with so much fluid that he would be crying in pain. The surgeon felt that they would never close on their own and could, and most likely would lead to hernias. After surgery the surgeon said that they were some of the largest hydroceles he had seen and that they never would have closed up on their own. Molly

I have to second this, most of the time they don't do surgery for hydroceles. My son's was non-communicating and initially they did a laproscopy and then drained it because of pain issues but then it filled back up (almost unheard of) and blood flow to the testicle was being affected so they cut into it this time and fixed the problem permanently.

 

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Originally Posted by irangel . No biggie at all to me but if your kid hasn't had surgery before I could see how it's scary. There are your typical surgery risks but that's about it.

DS had surgery while still in the NICU for severe ROP. No fun, but he was ALREADY there. . .I guess that made it easier in a sense. Enzo came home back in Dec. and DH now takes him to his allopathic doc. check ups. I am just so wigged out about doctors and their offices after the whole NICU thing. ( I really had to fight for no vax, no fortifier, etc.) I am nervous about handing him over to the Doctors again.

His next visit is tomorrow AM, so we'll find out then what it really is. I am grateful that it is *not that big of a deal*, in the whole scheme of things though.

 

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Originally Posted by AarenLisbeth DS had surgery while still in the NICU for severe ROP. No fun, but he was ALREADY there. . .I guess that made it easier in a sense. Enzo came home back in Dec. and DH now takes him to his allopathic doc. check ups. I am just so wigged out about doctors and their offices after the whole NICU thing. ( I really had to fight for no vax, no fortifier, etc.) I am nervous about handing him over to the Doctors again. His next visit is tomorrow AM, so we'll find out then what it really is. I am grateful that it is *not that big of a deal*, in the whole scheme of things though.

I always carry my kiddos to the door of the operating room and then hand them over and it's not fun at all. I really trust our surgeon though and he's operated on my two youngest kiddos 5x so I know they're in good hands. I pray the surgery goes well. Let us know how things go.

 

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Originally Posted by AarenLisbeth So I've read that the only poss. fix is surgery. Prob. out patient. . . It's so common. . . blah blah blah. But ****, he has been so healthy, ATC, that this new issue is freaking me out a bit. More trauma!?! My poor boy :

I know how you feel. DH and I were just talking about how lucky we are not to have needed any surgeries and then I went into the hospital later that day and was told that Erin had a hernia and would need surgery I know it's not major surgery and I've had them explain the whole surgery to me, but it's surgery AND it's a general anesthetic and (like you said) she doesn't need any more trauma.

The thing that frightens me the most is that she'll be ventilated again and she fought so long and hard to get off the vent the first time.

 

Yep, it's a hernia. We meet with the surgeon next week. I've been told he is really great, and that all he does are these types of things w/ preemies and younger kids. So that's a good thing for sure! Thanks for your support.

 

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Originally Posted by Le Bec The thing that frightens me the most is that she'll be ventilated again and she fought so long and hard to get off the vent the first time.

Oh, I sooo know that feeling. It was exactly the same for Enzo when he had to get his ROP surgery. He had only been off C-pap for a little over a week
( after spending literally months on and off all types of ventilators to reach that point ) and then they reintubated him. It was a struggle to get him to breath on his own again after that surgery. Almost another 5-6 days, but he did. My best thoughts are with you, your family and Erin. I am sure she'll rock it!

 

The doctors here have said that long term vent. after hernia surgery isn't common. Usually they extubate the babies in theatre *fingers crossed* I hope everything goes well for you guys.