Topics Discussed
This Month |
| advice from the preemie-l discussion board http://home.vicnet.net.au/~garyh/preemie_forum |
| Leonie responds, "My
son Gabriel a 31weeker now 17mnts, had a testicular hernia opp at about 6weeks old. So he
was only 37weeks gst, we had just got him home at 35weeks and he had to go into hospital
again, its very distressing I know. His hernia just happened in the middle of
the night he was probable crying as he usually did for a feed and the crying made it pop
out, he was in a huge amount of pain and just screamed all the way to the hospital his
testicle was twice the size and dark blue, it was horrible, the hospital acted very
quickly and the ped had to push the hernia back in which was extreamily painfull for poor
Gabe. They advised an operation quickly as the hernia could lead to infection and/or
peionitis as it was the bowel that was comming thru, and it was getting stuck. Testicular
hernia's are very common in prems because often their testes haven't dropped down yet, it
can happen with both, they only operate on the one that needs it then, they won't do the
other one at the same time unless it needs it. Gabe only had the one, he also had a
herniated belly button they left that too, and it eventually at about 1yr old sealed up.
The operation was only about 1hr or so, very simple, I cryed when he went in though, he'd
been through such a lot allready. When he came out, after a general he was extrodinarilly
cold, I had to warm him with my own body heat and hot blankets. That frightened me a bit,
but its quite normal. We stayed overnight only because he was still pre-term otherwize he
could have gone home. He was quite sleepy and off his milk for a day. When he got home,
the Dr said I could take his bandage off after a few days, but I left it on for about 4 as
I was afraid it would hurt him to take it off. It actually came off in the bath so no
problem there, I was really suprised when I saw the scar, It was only a tiny little red
line about half an inch long and very fine, what a relief, I was expecting some red
weaping horrible thing. It seemed to give him no pain at all and I didn't have to do a
thing to it. He was his same old happy little person a within a day of the opp. The
stitches are all internal and disolving so they don't even have to be removed. Now 1 year
on you can not even see it, it really is a small and simple opp as opps go, the general is
scary but once its all done, you will wonder what you were worried about. No they
don't intubate them, there's no breathing problem, you basically just pick them up from
post opp they have no tubes or anything and as I was only breastfeeding him I could give
him a feed straight away! He was a little sleepy though so it wasnt a big one, and he went
straight back to sleep depending on the hospital you can stay overnight, ring and ask
them." Heather assures, "Hunter
had a bi-lateral hernia surgery while he was still in NICU. The surgery took about 45
minutes after prep. and everything. He had BPD, so putting him on the vent was a concern.
Our doctors decided to give him an epidural. This way we didn't have to worry about
weaning him off the vent or the effects that the anesthsia. I don't know if the vent is a
concern for you, but Hunter did well with the epidural. He was very sore for a few days.
From what I understand, it is a minor surgery, but it's always hard when Debi adds, "They did have to intubate him because of his past history (38 days on vent and 90 of supplememtal O2) but he was not put on till after he was asleep and it was out before he woke up. He then had a little O2 through the nasal cannular and then nothing. Because he was so small (7 lbs 10 ozs) we stayed overnight and we were out the next morning. I stayed with him the entire time. He never had a problem." Purnima writes, "Naryan had hernia surgery at 9 weeks after birth and then another at 6 months. He was intubated for the first one because he was only 1 lb and 7 oz. and had bad BPD. The second time the surgery was under local anesthetic. He did great although I was extremely apprehensive. In fact he did not miss a feed and played more than I did that day. " Pam recalls, "My 32 weeker preemie son had surgery for a right inguinal hernia just before his first birthday. I was having a fit, he however comae back from recovery standing up at the side of the crib and jumping around. He did stay overnight one night. He wasn't intubated and recovered extremely quickly. Fixing the circumcision might me a little more painful to him, but again at that age they recover amazingly quickly. I can understand your worry, though, it almost broke my heart, however he came through it with no difficulties at all." |
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