Hi there, I wasn't sure where to post this put perhaps someone has some insight here, either from a medical or personal perspective.. I would really appreciate any thoughts and also apologise if this is an insensitive place to post. I will remove if so.
My 18 month old son was premature and has undescended testicles. One might be retractile, so there sometimes. This was flagged over a year ago and we're waiting for surgery.. been told 6-12 month wait from now.
Everything I read, including NHS guidance and research papers, suggests this is a really time sensitive issue in terms of fertility and testicular health, with best outcomes for both these if surgery is between 6 and 12 months of age. Obviously we're way past that and he might even be 2.5 by the time surgery is available due to NHS waiting times.
Consultant has tentatively predicted son's fertility will be about half that of a typical man and won't discuss benefits of having surgery in terms of fertility except to say the difference won't be significant. However everything I read says otherwise! I don't know what to do.. private surgery is really expensive and would mean some sacrifices for us. I have no idea if statistically it's worth it. However, I really want to preserve his future fertility as much as possible for all the obvious reasons.
I'm thinking that on this board someone might have some experience of this as an adult, so might have some advice etc on outcomes? If so I'd so very appreciate hearing from you. Many thanks!