Hydrocele Surgery
Posted , 69 users are following.
Hello,
I had my hydrocele surgery on February 15th, 2013 in Houston, Texas. I wanted to share my story as I was terrified before having the surgery from all the posts I read.
Mine was on my left side and was about the size of a small grapefruit. I was living with this hydrocele for about a year, but going to the gym started to get quite uncomfortable. I started to show a bulge even in my dress cloths for work. It was quite embarrassing and all I could think about was people staring at me and mumbling "whats wrong with this guy." I am married with my first child on the way so I wasn't to worried about what some single guys worry about.
The day of the surgery I was pretty terrified, I work in Healthcare so being on the other side of the privacy curtain was pretty dramatic for me. I wasn't as much scared about the surgery as I was being put to sleep. I am 27 years old, live in Texas with my pregnant wife. My entire family all reside in Indiana, as we moved down to Houston 3 years ago. I kept thinking "What if I don't wake up?", "Ill never meet my kid", "I wont get a chance to say goodbye to my family.".... I questioned the anesthesiologist for about 5 straight minutes on what I could expect. They put in an IV and started pumping me full of water to hydrate me. This did calm me down a bit, then they gave me some valium. I highly recommend this before getting put out for anyone, this really calms you down. They rolled me into the surgery part, put a gas mask on me and I was out.
The surgery took about 30 minutes and I woke up about 30 minutes after that. Obviously when you come out of being put to sleep you are very groggy and confused. I couldn't feel any pain. I got dressed and the nurse rolled me to my wifes car and we went home.
I had about 10 stitches (dissolving ones) and a drain tube inserted to help reduce swelling. The first day wasn't bad as everything was numb. When I woke up the second day I had a migraine from hell. Probably from all the drugs the day before. It was hard to walk, but I didn't have any problems peeing.
The third day the pain started to come, honestly the stitches never hurt from beginning to where I am now. The pain I had was from the drain tube. Do not be alarmed when you have a lot of blood from the drain tube for the first 3-4 days, its normal. My surgery was on Friday and the drain tube was removed on Monday.
Swelling. Lots of swelling, expect this. Swelling will most likely be bigger than what the hydrocele was before it was removed. Looked like I was carrying around a softball in my pants. It has been three weeks and the stitches are gone and the drain tube hole is closing. I still have some pain from where the drain tube was, but not to bad. I am walking fine and going back to the gym tomorrow. Swelling has gone down, but still noticable. Feels like a hard rock sitting on top of my testicle. You have to remember, the testicles and sac are very vascular. Lots of tissue and what not so you will have swelling and bruising.
The swelling is smaller now than the original hydrocele and it can take a few months to fully go away. They say people can live with a hydrocele with no long term effects other than it getting bigger, but honestly, why would you want to do this? It's not normal, so why risk anything by just accepting that it is there. Get the surgery done and move on. You will be laid out for about 4 days. I was back to work on Tuesday (Surgery on Friday). Let me know if you have any other questions, don't read into all the horror stories. Everybody's body is different and if you have a solid doctor, they will take care of you.
I was asked about costs. I am on a high deductible plan with my wife to keep our monthly premium low as we are pretty healthy people. The doctor fee was $350. The surgery center is where it gets you. For everything it was $4,900. So in total for me out of pocket was $5,200. Fortuantely I have a HSA account and had the finances in that which are all tax deductible. Just depends on the type of insurance you have. My deductible is now met, so with the little one being born all doctors visits will be paid 100% in full for the rest of the year.
Also- Find a good doctor. It's your body, so always get a second opinion. Make sure you are comfortable with the Urologist
Good luck
Matt
9 likes, 148 replies
paul21020 matt12
Posted
pf7 paul21020
Posted
paul21020 pf7
Posted
pf7 paul21020
Posted
bruce13735 paul21020
Posted
I'm in my 5th week since my hydrocele surgery, I'm very satisfied with the result. The hydrocele was in the way and was heavy, so I thought it an odd thing I should have fixed, and when insurance covered it. Doc thought it might invite cancer. The main problem I had was that I had a rash, like a heat rash that was so difficult to get rid of. It seemed to flair when my surgery was scheduled too, so my first attempt for surgery had the doctor cancel the operation. Second I reported not good. But on the third attempt, it was a go, and that with a different doctor which I had more confidence in. I was out for about an hour, didn't feel much pain, just tender at the area. Wasn't really worried about it that much, but a kind of knawing pain persisted off and on for about 3 weeks, some of that was the rash which was still there. After 3 weeks it began to drain, and in the 4th week drain more (although with no drama) and returned the testicle side to closer to normal size and looseness, that was a relief. Still hard in that area, and will reduce more, but doc says the flesh is healing as time continues. It was fortunate that I was retired, as I learned to use ice packs often, the kind you stick in the freezer. Did so throughout. Didn't much care for pain pills but sometimes did need them to sleep. Stitches never saw, just skin folded in and assumed that was ok and it was. Only treatment was Polysporin. That was fine. My energy is returning., do'n OK.
john6969 bruce13735
Posted
glad your doing well! tomorrow marks 8 weeks for my 24 oz hydrocele removal. my last ozzing area on my incision stopped week 7.. im still swollen, but nothing like it was before, saw my doctor at 6 weeks, he suggested i keep wearing my athletic supporter which i have on as we speak, ice was my friend also, i took pain pills for 12 hours after i got home, felt dizzy, nauseated threw them away. had some tugging pain , mostly gone, if anything hurts i take tylenol. i see my surgeon in 3 months again. im happy i had it done. good luck to you ..
mick24946 john6969
Posted
I'm now at 10 weeks.
The main problem for me is the scar rubbing on my briefs, so after extensive research I found some that don't have a seam on the front - they are a bit skimpy, but surprisingly comfortable and give very good support!
I wear them at night too, I used to wear boxer types, but my testicles are at different levels now (the hydrocele side is higher) and I found I was getting 'tangled' up at night.
The left testicle is still a little tender and needs support.
I am using Bio-Oil on the scar, can't say it is helping, but it isn't doing any harm either.
john6969 mick24946
Posted
mick24946, subject underwear, i have bought 3 different kinds in the past 3 weeks , problem is the stores says seamless on the enclosed fort knox packages of 2 , 3 or 4 pair, and until you get them home, i found the same problem. yesterday i bought a pair of athletic supporters on line from Wallmart , they fit perfectly and were only 9$ pair of 2 delivered to my door. and found some brief polyester, spandex ones on hangers at kohl's dept store, i bought 4 of those! wonderful fit, tiny silky seam down center. i also bought a box of 50, 4x4 surgical dressing pads walmart $5 and my incision is about 5 inches long, still looks indented, but i use a cotton swab and neosporin, off brand, then lay the pad in the jock or underwear. no pain, perfect doesn't move.. i too noticed my right nut seems higher, hydrocele remains on left above my left low nut.. on another note, my semen looks normal after a few watery explosions, but, my ejection seems much more forceful than its been in years! 😉 ill try to find your oil you use instead of neosporin. i took weekly pictures of my incision from the day i got home to last week. quite the improvement!
mick24946 john6969
Posted
Searching for seamless give results with no seams round the legs - but still a central seam. Found some from Kiniki (UK brand) which DO NOT have a central seam!
My incision is about 4" long and recovering well.
greg73771 matt12
Posted
I'm waiting for the call from dr. To schedule my hydrocelectomy. I have had a hydrocele on my left side for over 34 years now. It is probably about two times the size of my normal testical so not huge but still kind of uncomfortable. The first time I noticed it was after getting kicked when I was about 12 years old and then it seems to develop after that. Over the years I notice that it would shrink a little in the morning and grow during the day. Not a whole lot but enough to notice. At times during the night I would wake up with very sharp pain in the area just above my testical. I found that sitting up would relieve the pain quite quickly. So I would spend a night on the couch maybe once every other month. That's actually subsided and it happened maybe once in the last 2 years. I went to my doctor maybe 4-5 years ago and had him look at it. He did an illumination test by turning out the lights and shinning a flashlight through my sac. It lit up and you could see that there was fluid around my testical. At that time he said eh...if it's not bothering you don't worry about it. Well it was bothering me but I had dealt with it so long I just figured someday I will have it fixed. Recently I got on a rowing machine for a quick row and within a day or so it swelled up and got hard and I had a new bulge just above where the hydrocele was normally. I thought it might be a hernia on top of it all but the dr. says probably not. He called it an aggravated hydrocele. He said he will look while he is in there and fix anything that is wrong. He said sometimes they stich things up so the don't twist inside after they remove the hydrocele. I guess that helps from " cow belling" (ouch) Another thing he mentioned is that some dr. will turn the sac inside out and stich it behind ( a common practice) but sometimes that can leave you with a funny lumpy looking testical so he removes most of the sac then closes it back around the testical.
I hope this will help anyone having these issues. I waited a long time to deal with it but I'm glad to be doing it now. Sometimes you just have to deal with things and get them over with. I have not had my surgery yet so can't comment on that yet but I have read a few stories and it has been very helpful to understand what to expect.
greg73771
Posted
Had surgery on Feb 20 2015
ill go into a little detail for anyone getting ready or still on the fence.
Showed up early morning. After answering a few questions I got my IV put in and then talked with the nurse and anesthesiologist for a bit on how it was all going to go down.
Then they wheeled me into the op room and slide me over on to the table. Two nurse started sticking probe things on my chest and side and then the room started spinning. The ologist said you feeling that? and BAM it was over. Woke up in another room and after a little bit I was able to get dressed and I had to pee before they would let me go home. I tryed not to look at anything at that time and just did what I had to do to pee. i really wasn't in much pain at all at that time.
Went to drug store and got persciptions for a 3day antibiotic and oxy codon. Went home and straight to bed. My wife had made some 8"x3" freezer sealed bags about 3/4 full of peas. ( now known in the house as "the scrotal peas" ) they work great because you can break them up and shape the bag and it does not leak and can be reused. Laying on my back I placed a towel on my legs and then carefully placed the scrotal peas ( which were placed in a thin shirt). At first I still had my gauze and jock strap from the hospital so it wasn't very cold. Nurse said that you have to use ice then give it some time for blood flow then go back to ice. Can't just ice all the time. I was probably hour on half hour off. I took oxy as prescribed every 4 hours until next day. Oh yeah if you have pets use a couple of light stuffed animals or pillows placed on the area so you don't get the sudden cat or dog jumping on balls! Seems to keep them away.
Pain was very minimal laying flat on back and not bad on side after a couple of days. The real pain is trying to go from laying down to sitting and then to standing. Feels like the testical is pulling down on the veins and tubes so it's a testical pain and a lower abdominal pain. Once standing it worsens then subsides after a bunch of squinting, groaning, and funny faces! After a few days it still hurts but not as bad. Same pains just a little less intense. I can go pee and walk around a bit then it's back to bed or couch and oxy.
After 24-30 hours I took a quick shower and checked everything out. My doc had said "think egg plant" so I was expecting the worst. It wasn't bad at all. A 3" incision about 3/4 the way up my scrotum on the left side. Some people have it through the abdomen wall above it all but mine was in the scrotum as the doc had told me. Bruising was maybe size of an egg just around the incision. Swelling seems to be lessening but I'm just about the same size as I was before the surgery. Don't expect to come out looking like it was never there. As I'm sure you've read it can take a while for things to start looking like they should down there so just do like me and hang tight.
Things are clearing up now 5 days in but still hurts getting up and I tryed standing for about an hour today and it was a little much. So back to sitting and laying down. I take an oxy or some asetamenaphen every once in a while but the pain is almost non existent until I try to get up or stand around for too long.
I used some feminine pads to place over the wound and I have a couple of jock straps that I always use so far.(one at a time of course) Worked good just don't let anything get stuck to anything!
Just slight seapage from the wound. I didn't not have a drain tube so no issues there.
Hmm I hope that wasn't too much info.
Oh one more thing... If you are prescribed oxy codon you might want to think about grabbing some stool softener. I have heard it can really plug you up. I took one a day since the surgery and everything is fine.
Well I'll come back after a while and let you all know how it's going. So far I'm super glad I got this done and I'm looking forward to life without a hydrocele.
bilbo38527 greg73771
Posted
kenneth95354 greg73771
Posted
Gregg,
While there are many blog posts on this thread, I printed out your comments, perhaps hoping my surgery would be similar to yours. Your posting was very comprehensive and gave me tools to be prepared for issues that follow surgery. I actually used your post as my guide to recovery.
I am happy to report to you and others that my surgery and recovery went pretty much like yours. I am five days post surgery and have no pain, very slight swelling, and only slight spotting at the surgery site. I took the prescribed Tylenol with Codiene for about twelve hours until I realized that no pain was going to present itself. It already feels like days of old prior to hydrocele, comfort in compreshen shorts and ease of urination.
One thing I might add to your post is that I am blessed to have a motorhome in the back yard equipped with electrically operated reclining chairs. This gave me the opportunity to avoid our rescue dogs who delight in jumping on us as we lay in bed. The recliners makes a huge difference in moving from laying to sitting to standing. While I don't have residual pain, it is a bit uncomfortable to change positions. I recommend anyone going through this surgery have a recliner during recovery, even if you have to rent one.
I realize I am blessed to be recovering without some of the issues described by others. I wish everyone considering this surgery a speedy and comfortable recovery.
amir1001 matt12
Posted
william_63002 matt12
Posted