Testicular Infections

Mar 17

Testicular Infections and What The Hell That Even Is!

Guys, this is definitely a topic I previously had zero intel on! A couple weeks ago, B had his 6 month well baby exam and he was, very well-testicles and all! 3 days later I noticed something seemed a little off with 1 of his, ahem, balls. 1 more day and it was obvious something was absolutely wrong. I showed my husband assuming he would have an opinion and sure enough, his reaction was, we’re going to the hospital right now. In terms of symptoms-there was a lot of swelling, discolouration and the whole left side of his scrotum was hard as a rock. EEEK. SO on a Sunday night, after obviously Googling the situation and reading that certain conditions if not dealt with right away can mean the loss of the testicle, B went on a wee trip to Surrey Memorial Hospital. First of all, we have been to Surrey Memorial Paediatric Emerg several times with all our kids, and every time they are just awesome. Definitely recommend them in the case of an emergency! Anyhoo, back to B. Upon his initial exam we learn a few things. 1) It could 1 of 4 things; 3 of which will require emergency surgery 2) if not dealt with right away, he could indeed loose his testicle all together. See, Google gets some stuff right 3) it is likely not an infection (1 of the 4 things) so prepare for surgery and 4) he’ll need an urgent ultrasound, blood work and urine tests. Omg.

Since it was now late on a Sunday night, there was no ultrasound tech to be found so they had to call one in. This took a while but not at all as long as I would have expected. Chalk it up to ball saving measures. The U/S was very thorough and B loved every minute of it. They were checking out blood flow, looking for twists and other random things, and assessing the inflammation etc I will say here, B was the best patient throughout this whole ordeal. Smiling and laughing and loving all the attention. All of it haha. We waited for the radiologist to review the test and the Dr. came back with reasonably good news. They ruled out torsion and the other conditions that would require surgery-turns out it was the least likely scenario, an infection (he had no other obvious signs of infection which is another reason why they assumed it was not this. No fever, so heat at sight, no pain or obvious discomfort). They drew blood to confirm and rule out a bunch of other stuff and also ran a urinalysis. After all the tests, we were sent home around 12am? with a 7 day course of antibiotics and a follow up referral with a Urologist. More on that to come.

We went to see our GP 2 days later and she thought B might need an additional few days of medication. Not thrilled by this but we agreed to come back and see her at the end of the 7 days IF things weren’t totally cleared up. This would end up a mute point because our specialist got involved saving us the trip back to the GP.

In the meantime, the Urologist requested another ultrasound be done after the 7 days of meds….the day before we are scheduled to go out of town of course. We got this done at Jimmy Pattison in Surrey. It was quick and again, B loved it all. Based on those findings, the Urologist also decides to extend the antibiotics to 10 days just to be sure. This was all done over the phone and via fax in a very quick and organized way I was impressed and thankful everyone, including the pharmacy, was so helpful and accommodating given our travel plans which were clearly, not their problem. The specialist fit in our case between surgery and what I would later find out, a million other patients!

Fast forward to today. Our in person follow up with the Urologist. Wowsas. I have never in my life been to a busier practice and I’ve been to lots. We waited, I kid you not, out in the hallway in overflow seating as the entire office was packed. Like, completely packed. We were told in advance by the MOA that the practice is a busy one and that we could wait anywhere from 15 minutes to 60 minutes. We indeed waited the full 60. OH by the way, this is me and all 3 of my kids (the kids were all extremely well behaved for whatever reason). When we finally got in to the exam room, we waited for just a couple minutes before the man himself, Dr. Andreou (Urologist and Surgeon) came in to see us. He was amazing with kids (definitely not his demographic based on the packed house stats), super knowledgable, and super friendly. He took an appropriate amount of time reviewing everything with me and then doing a quick exam of the baby. We were not rushed and he did not seem concerned about the hoards of people waiting outside and I appreciated all of the above. When all was said and done ie 5 minutes later, we were sent on our way with an almost clean bill of health (not 100% yet) and a referral for another ultrasound in 3 months and another follow up appointment after that. My oldest said right away and in front of the Dr, “What?, we waited all that time for THIS?” At least the big kids will be back in school for the next one *rolls eyes hard here*

In a nutshell a pretty eye opening experience. You never want to see your kids sick or in need of emergency care but I feel very fortunate that we have access to the resources that we do and grateful for my 6 month old who just never skipped a beat and was never overly bothered by any of the poking or prodding. Except maybe the oral antibiotics. Administering those to a baby? Not an easy task.

What I learned and take away from this whole thing:

1-Testicular infections are not overly common and not common in babies for sure. If I had to guess, we need to bathe this 3rd child more because it was likely caused by bacteria just getting in there.

2-Testicular ANYthing funky is often an emergency and should be evaluated by a professional. If it’s not an emergency, cool but you should err on the side of caution I’m told. Those puppies are delicate and depending on the situation, there can be a short window of time for treatment before things go mega sideways and you’re down to 1.

3-There are amazing Dr’s, Nurses, Techs, Specialists and support staff out there! We hear lots about the negative stories and nightmarish encounters but we were handled by excellent professionals at all points of contact, every step of the way. Totally impressed and grateful for this.

4-Urologists are in HIGH demand. Holy moly.

5-When in doubt, check it out.

Hope this sheds some light on a random happening you will likely not experience but could benefit from hearing about if someone you know or love has any issues with their junk! It happens!