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Hydrocele Surgery

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matt12
matt12

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

148 Replies

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  • ken92420
    ken92420 matt12

    Posted

    I am now 5 months since surgery on the right side.  There is no pain now, and everything seems to be working OK.  I am in a hot climate in Mexico, and even with the scrotum being stretched because of the heat, it is not nearly as  big as before surgery.  I too was surprised at the size of the swelling.  The testicle is now is about the size of an unshelled small walnut. Shortly after surgery the whole works looked like a sumo wrestler with a small head!  But now things are back to near normal.  Even if it does not get any smaller, it is a heck of a lot better than before.
    • william_63002
      william_63002 ken92420

      Posted

      Thanks for the reply. The sack is normal size but, the testicle itself has me a little scared. If you can remember, about when did it (testicle) start looking and feeling normal? Like I said before, the testicle itself is about the size of a lemon at 4 weeks post-op. It completely fills my sack. Would just like to look down at some point and see a lose sack and both boys hanging. I would be thrilled with a walnut!!
    • pf7
      pf7 william_63002

      Posted

      I am about 2 months post surgery(second one in 6 months) and my testicle is still the size of a small egg. I have read it can take up to 6 months to fully go down but it may also stay larger due to the trauma, I'm not sure what their idea of "larger" is though.
    • jason94791
      jason94791 william_63002

      Posted

      Hi William,

      I am very interested to hear if things got back to normal. My whole sac is swollen hard on the side after operation. It is only three weeks out but it feels like the testicle fills it completely about the size of a lemon as you described. Wanted to know what time did for you. Thanks for your timr

    • david83748
      david83748 jason94791

      Posted

      I was quite worried after three weeks, since the "initial post surgery swelling" where the skin was black/blue/red was gone but there was still a lot of swelling, almost the size of the original hydrocele. Give it some more time, for example 3 months. The swelling might never disappear completely, because of scar tissue. But from my experience, the swelling will start getting better after the first 3 weeks. 

      Best advice: try not to think about it. 

    • jason94791
      jason94791 david83748

      Posted

      Thanks David.

      I was more concerned because it has seemed to swell more and it feels like the testicle itself has completely filled that side of the sack and is pretty hard. I have tried to take it easy but with three kids....

      I am going back to work tomorrow so forgetting about the huge bulge willbe interesting lol

      Thanks again David

    • david83748
      david83748 jason94791

      Posted

      You are welcome Jason. 

      By the way if you click on Williams's name you can see the other comments he has written. Try reading his last comment. 

  • LRRV
    LRRV matt12

    Posted

    Hi everyone. Thank you fue your HELP. I have an appointment on March 16 with the urologist. I have swollen the scrotum. General doctor discards tumor. I am using ice in the area. Does it help? Is there any way to avoid surgery? Thanks again.
    • ron6788
      ron6788 LRRV

      Posted

      Hi, LRRV.  Ice won't help.  There's a chance a hydrocele will diminish on its own but not likely.  Good news is there's no pain and no medical necessity to do the surgery.  What did your Urologist say?
  • BOCES
    BOCES matt12

    Posted

    Hi Matt,

    I had my prostrate removed as a result ot the procedure I developed a hydrocele in my left testicle and a double hernia. Was erectile disfunction related to your hydrocele?

  • chakoharki
    chakoharki matt12

    Posted

    Hi,

    I had the hydrocele surgery for my left testicle two years ago, after one week of surgery, I felt that the testicle swells again, now it has been larger, so it should be removed again. I wonder why he returned again?

  • roma86
    roma86 matt12

    Posted

    hi Matt

    tnx for sharing such an informative story. Recently I had a surgery on my left, I feel a bit uncomfortable now, though my doctor says I am okay. I read some information, where it says it is supposed to be swelling on scrotum after the surgery, while I have a feeling that I got a swelling directly on the testicel itself. I am just wondering, if I need to go to another doctor, or it is just fine? My swelling is still there, though it is already 13 days past after the surgery. Anybody else who had a surgery, please feel free to comment with his own knowledge and experience. Thanks

    • amir1001
      amir1001 roma86

      Posted

      Hello, according to what you mentioned I think it's too early to have a noticeable results. I had a hydrocele surgery on February. I visited the doctor 12 days following the surgery to check the incision. He told me swelling will go down by time and it may take months to have the normal size. Almost 4 months and the result is not convincing as i expected.The incision has healed well and I came back to gym 2 months after the surgery performing hard exercises without any problem. I can say that the size of the hydrocele almost still the same. I'm planning to visit the doctor as soon as I can cause I'm abroad and can't have an appointment for this issue. I advice you to contact you urologist when you feel that the hydrocele isn't going down or the sorness last too long. As I searched for this operation in the Internet,everyone has 90% success from this surgery,that's the reason why I'm a little worried about my condition especially that i passed a horrible month after the surgery to heal and almost do nothing except lying down most of the time and 2 months layoff from the gym.I wish i will not have to pass this operation again even it's not that complicated.In case that happened I will delay it for a year or two ,however this operation worth the time and result . Living with a hydrocele is really bad and uncomfortable.sorry if I have some grammar mistakes, I'm not American lol.
    • pf7
      pf7 amir1001

      Posted

      I am 5 months post surgery(second one) and like you im not impressed with results. Its still the size of a golf ball and feels heavy, granted its smaller than it was when I had the hydrocele but still 2x its normal size which is discouraging.
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