To shamelessly post for traffic as I'm worried for my DS's health :o(

[Writerwannabe83]

My DS is 15 months and since birth was thought to have a hydrocele but a scan today showed things were more complex as they initially struggled to find his right testicle and then when they did find it they realised it was much smaller and under developed.

The radiologists were a bit cagey about it all and naturally Google has worried me senseless

Does anyone know much about atrophic testicles or have experience of it. I feel really worried and upset

I'm sorry I don't know anything about this topic but hopefully someone will be along soon with some advice.

Thanks Wishful, my DH just rang to ask how the scan went and I just cried down the phone to him

Hi OP, I don't have any experience of atrophic testicles but I do have a lot of experience with taking patients for scans etc. I'd imagine that the radiologist didn't say much because
they didn't know much, paediatric
genitourinary medicine must be a pretty specilised
field.
I once took a patient for a scan and in the booth the radiologist though
the scan indicated a really poor
prognosis for the patient however
when we saw the consultant he
prescribed medication to block the
disease progression and expected
the patient to carry on for years.
Are you able to call your DS' s
consultant even just to chat about it.
Most consultants I've come across
are lovely with their patients and I
imagine if you are this concerned they would be happy to spare quarter of an hour to reassure you.

Lastly, for every positive story of an illness found by googling there are a million worst case senarios.

Hope everything turns out ok

My DTB was born with one testicle. He had an investigation when he was young but the second one wasn't there. Didn't cause him any health problems, just cosmetic ones. He decided to get a silicone testicle I mplanted when he was a teen (NHS did this!). Hasn't caused fertility issues for him either.

Thank you all. DS hasn't got a Consultant as it was just the GP who referred him for the scan. I'm not sure if the radiology consultant was Paeds trained if I'm honest, he was working in the children's x-ray department so I assumed he was. I get the impression from what they were saying that the testicle died at some point.

They are going to send the USS report to my GP and ask him to refer DS to a Paediatric Urologist.

That's really reassuring ham, I'm glad your son was ok.

My DH was great on the phone, really calm and reassuring but I'm doing the typical mom thing and blaming myself

Not sure how much reassurance this is but my DH has this, one smaller and underdeveloped. It has never caused him any health problems or fertility problems at all. I agree about the worst case scenarios, I was a recurrent late miscarrier and even with my history our consultant said to be that with anything medical it is far more likely than not that everything is OK.
Hope you're OK

Oh, and DS doesn't have this, which DH was worried about it case he passed it on,so to speak.

hi op. ds2 had one of his testicles removed 12 hours after he was born. sometime in the last few weeks before he was born it had died and was badly swollen. the pediatrician sent us to the children's hospital 30miles away 10 hours after he was born. the whole procedure was done in and around an hour. if he had been given a general anaesthetic it would have taken around 2 hours but because he wasnt fasted they decided to give him a spinal which made it quicker. the also checked the other testicle at the same time. the whole thing has never bothered him and he hasn't looked back. the drs and consultants were great and very reassuring that it wouldn't affect him in anyway sexually/fertility etc when hes older.

Hth op I understand how scary and daunting it all feels.

step away from google immediately

i was once convinced my son would die young because of blood test results i went to see the consultant expecting to hear the worst news he looked at the test results took off his nappy and said the test results were wrong apparently his wife will be more than happy with what is presented to her on her wedding night (his words not mine) which excluded the condition we all thought it was! turns out he was right he is fine it was an anomaly

my point is "Dr" google is no good for anything other than shopping it's a bit daily mail in its choices it always shows you the worst news first breathe and call the consultant for reassurance

I'm just so confused.

When he was a day old the midwives asked the neonatal surgeon to come and see him as something looked untoward what doing his scrotum/testicles and the surgeon said it was probably a hydrocele and to ask the GP to review it at the 6 week check. The GP also noticed the abnormality and shone a light through his scrotum (to check the light came out the other side which would confirm the swelling was fluid) and then told me to come back at 12-18 months of age if it hadn't resolved.

Was the surgeon wrong to just assume it was a hydrocele? Should he have asked for a scan??

And everything I've read indicates that any potential hydrocele or testicular issue should be surgically investigated by about 6 months of age, so why was I told not to go back until DS was 12-18 months old?

And now I'm being told there is no hydrocele and it is infact a dead testicle.

It just doesn't make sense.

they change the rules on intervention all the time my daughter's kidney "should" have been operated on when she was 3 years old however due to cuts they decided to leave it and keep an eye on it she is 15 and has never had the operation she has "grown into" her kidney and been discharged

due to cutbacks they will delay "non urgent" operations until they a, become urgent or b, go away (like my daughters did) if the scheduled his op then cancelled it due to a more urgent case they would be in trouble as it counts against them

I posted this on your other thread

My ds was born with a hydrocele, his left (I think) testicle twisted in the scrotum the blood supply to it was cut off and it died off, he was left with a wee pea sized hard lump that eventually was just absorbed by his body. He was under a consultant until he was about 2, his consultant was great, says that he will develop normally, will have a normal puberty and he can have a prosthetic testicle when he is fully developed if he wants one. One thing the consultant did say was if we were worried about the remaining testicle at all or if he injured it in any way to go straight to A&E, do not go to the gp or phone out of hours straight to A&E as if there is a problem they only have a window of 6 hours to save the remaining one.

To add from your above post -

There probably was a hydrocele when he was born but that will have now been absorbed by his body, it usually goes it quickly. I had a fabulous health visitor who chased and chased for a referral and scan we first seen a consultant and had a scan when I think he was about 9 weeks, we had a scan first then went along to the consultant who told us the findings. Our GP was also convinced there was a normal testicle there at the 8 week check up a week later at the hospital there clearly wasn't and just the pea sized lump.

My ds is now 10 and (touch wood) has had no problems and is aware he only has one testicle and says he isn't bothered about having the fake one put in but that might change!

Thanks Claimed, I find myself getting so upset when I think about my DS's life and how it will be affected by only having one testicle. I'm worried he will get teased at school, that he'll hate his body, have huge issues with his confidence and that he'll never want to form sexual relationships because of how he feels about himself.

Maybe I'm over thinking it, I don't know, I just feel so worried for him

Haha you are totally over thinking it I was hysterical at the time when I look back I'm mortified my ds really doesn't care, he also has ginger hair and wears thick glasses, he doesn't care about them either! Somehow, despite having a slightly mad over protective mother, he has turned out totally laid back, his attitude about himself is fantastic, I don't know what his teenage years will bring though!

We have always talked about him only having testicle if he has been discussing sex ed at school or there has been something on the TV, we bring it up in a lighthearted but matter of fact way as we had to drum into him but not scare him that if there is anything strange about the remaining one he must let us know!

My DH thinks I'm over thinking it too. He said that if only having one testicle is the worst problem DS has to live with then he's a lucky boy compared to a lot of other children.

I guess we all just worry for our child's future.

I'm trying to tell myself to stop thinking about it and to wait to see what the specialists say as opposed to thinking the worse but it's easier said than done isn't it