My little guy was diagnosed with mild Hypospadias, along with other mild issues with his male bits. We've seen a pediatric urologist, who recommends surgery to correct everything when he is 4 months old. I'm nervous about him being under with General Anesthesia and having surgery, so I thought I'd see if there were other moms who have experienced this with their little guys.
Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for the encouragement!
David had surgery for his Hypospadias and Hooded Prepuce on August 5th by Dr. David Ewalt, a pediatric urologist. And David did great! The Hypospadias was mild enough that they didn't have to swing the rest of the foreskin around, which meant a quicker and easier recovery time. The only thing that happened was he got real flushed about an hour after the procedure was over and he had a mild fever. (100.4) It cleared up on it's own after about 20 min. At first, we were concerned he was having an allergic reaction to something. The nurses commented that it might have been a reaction to the red dye in the Tylenol that they gave him. It happened again on the car ride home. The anesthesiologist called to check on him later that evening and I told him what happened. He said that it's a common reaction to anesthesia that little babies sometimes have. We are still going to watch him when he has red dye just to be on the safe side. His plumbing works perfectly and everything has healed up nicely! So thanks again for sharing your stories and for the encouragement!
Hi,
I haven't had personal experience, but a close personal friend had 2 boys born with this. I suppose that it may be genetic. Her first son had the operation at 6 months and 2nd one at 4 months. She said that at 6/7 months it was harder because her son was a bit more active post surgery and that is why they opted earlier for son #2. Both boys recovered fairly quickly and had no problems afterward.
HTH
K.
Mom to 3, ages 6, 5, 3
My son was born with Hypospadius and Chordee. I was devestated and cried for days not understanding what or why. I am glad that the Ped noticed it at birth and didnt circumcise him. We were supposed to have the surgery at about 6 months but it was winter and he kept getting colds and ear infections. We waited until he was about 9 months old and everything went well. The aneshtesia was a little hard coming off of, but everything else was ok. Teh healing process was harder for us than him I think, you feel so bad for them. He is 8 years old now and looks perfectly normal. I thought at first they didnt take enough skin off but he has grown into it as they said he would. I would definitely suggest having the surgery because they will look and feel different when they get older. We have told him that he had it and explained it ans he was happy that we did that for him. Good luck and my prayers are with you.
My son was born with a Hydrocele where part of his stomach lining goes down into his scrotum and causes the stomach fluid to go back and forth between the stomach and scrotum making his "little guys" huge, had to have the surgery because it could have caused fertility issues when he was older and could have made it a lot easier for a hernia. He had surgery at 8 months to correct this and he did just fine. We had it done at Medical City Children's, I agree the hardest part was handing him over and giving all of your trust to someone else, but remember that they want your child to be safe. Another thing I thought was good was that they did not do anything like the IV or whatever until he was asleep so that he would not have any pain. My son was better in about a week, the hardest part getting him to sit-up but I could understand that because the incision was right on his "bikini line" so of course it hurt when he sat. Anyway, I just wanted to share my story with you and know that you will be in good hands and your son in God's hands (my father passed away of cancer about 1 1/2 weeks prior to this and because we had the surgery scheduled well before he passed away and we new my father was dying I asked him to watch over his only grandson, so that made me feel better that I knew he was watching over him). Good luck and I will say a prayer for your little guy, but just know that everything will go great!!
Hi, My son does not have this but I will say Mine was born with a cleft lip and palate and he has had several surgeries starting at the age of 4 months (see photos at www.texascleftconnections.org ) He had one as 4 months, 11 months, 2 yrs, 3 yrs and will have another this november at 4 years old... so I will say I have experience with surgeries. The hardest part is giveing him to the nurse to take him back... but keep your self busy and it goes by faster than you think... Good luck and I hope that was helpful even thought It was not really what you asked about.
My first son had the same thing. We did the surgery at 6 months and also had him circumsized at the same time. The surgery went great it was the waking up from the anest. that was hard. He cried uncontrollably for about 30 mins. but it was just because of the med. I would highly recommend it. I know it is cosmetic but it is so much better to do it at a young age. He did not ever act like it bothered him after surgery. There was no crying when he used the bathroom or anything. I could not have imagined putting an older boy through it. Potty training was a breeze later. However if we had not done the surgery he would have had a hard time since he would not have been able to shoot straight. Good luck. I know it is hard it put your little one through that.
My brother had this as well as a friend's son. Both went under anestesia under 1 year and had the surgery and both came out just fine. As moms, we worry about every little thing, which is totally understandable, but trust your doctor, your little one will do fine. Plus, it's much better to do it went they are younger and can't remember it. The father of the little boy I know also had it, and his parents waited until he could remember it, and he said he would have much rather that his parents had done the surgery when he had been much younger.
My son has had 5 surgeries as a result of his hypospadias. I read the other responses to your post and it sounds like our experience has been an unusual one. Not to make you more uncomfortable about it...but I thought I would share.
The surgeries themselves have been alright. No problems with anesthesia except for the expected nausea and irritability when he woke. The recovery however was not as smooth as we expected. They just told us to give him tylenol for any discomfort. But after his catheter was removed he was in terrible pain every time he urinated...tylenol was clearly not enough. We thought something was wrong becuase noone told us he would be in pain at all. (I'm sure we should have expected it because it does make sense. But I still thought we should have been told because it was so severe.) After contacting the on-call Dr. we were assured that this much pain was normal. We got codeine from his pediatrician and that helped a lot.
Like I said, 5 surgeries...he developed a fistula with the initial surgery and has had 3 attempts to correct it. And one emergency surgery to clip sutures because the Dr. pulled the skin too tight and the poor kid could not void his bladder. The surgeon acts like the fistula is a very common side effect of hypospadias surgery and that the position of our son's fistula makes it particularly difficult to fix...no big deal. Of course, it is a big deal to me and I am skeptical and frankly fed up with it all. So, this brings me to a request of my own. I read that you are in the McKinney area. I live in Arkansas and apparently our Dr. is "the guy" to go to in the state. We are shopping for a new surgeon, and have family in Frisco and Richardson. So if you can recommend a surgeon, I would appreciate it!
If you don't want to post all that info on here, I would be happy to give you my email address and we could correspond that way.
Again, I don't mean to make you uncomfortable about the situation. Going by the other responses, it seems we have had some bad luck and some not so great medical care. I just thought I would share.
My son had surgery for mild hypospadias at 5 months. We used Dr. Clanton Harrison who said to me, as he took our son to surgery, "I'll treat him like he's my own son." Can't say enough great things about the doctor.
Our son is now 5 and has no residual issues.
Good luck with your decision!
Hi J.. My son was diagnosed with hypospadias when he was a few months old. The doc said surgery was not needed and it was up to me if we wanted it done. My hubby and I chose to have the surgery. We didn't want him to feel different when he got older and be embarrassed by it. We waited until he was ten months. He was large enough then that we felt more comfortable, but not too big where he would remember. Everything went great. Now that he is 8, I decided to tell him about it. He was SO HAPPY that we had it done. I think just the thought that he would be different in that area made him happy that we had it done.
Don't let your doc pressure you into having it done before you think it should be. It took us several months to even decide to get it done. Good luck to you!
Hi J.,
My son also had the same thing but the opening ran almost ½ way down his parts. I waited to have his surgery done until he was 6 months old and I agree… It was darn scary for us!!!! Also, our pediatrician recognized it right away and didn’t circumcise at birth so they did that during the repair and used the extra skin for the reconstruction.
We also used Dr. Pugach but chose to have the procedure at Cooks since they specialize in baby anesthesia and recovery. They were really great about explaining the process and the procedure lasted about an hour and it took about an hour for him to come out of the anesthesia.
We didn’t have any follow-up procedures or issues. They gave us an antibiotic w/ numbing and he healed up good. The only thing I am disappointed about is that the opening is still a little bit high on the shaft, not the normal tip. So now that we are potty training, if he doesn’t peepee sitting down it could be a potential mess until he learns more about directional control.
If you have any specific questions, feel free e-mail :-)
Good Luck!
E.
Hi J.,
I am a RN at a children's hospital and work in Cardiovascular surgery but have spent some time working in Urology as well. I would just like to tell you that it is a very safe and short procedure. I definately understand that no mother wants to put her child under anesthesia but it will be better for your son in the long run. I would highly recommend getting it done!
K.
I've been through it all. For you mamas with questions, I'm always happy to help. http://www.hypospadiasmom.com/
My son had that, we opted for surgery, but at 6 mths. He came thru great. The only thing is changing the diapers. That part can be a little tricky. We had an adult friend who "broke" his goods by pushing it down one morning, so we did not want to take a chance that our little guy could do that. My son looks great now. He is almost 12 and you can't even tell.
