Flanagan Clan

I got back from the doctors tonight with some bad news… Ethan needs another hernia surgery. Some of you may remember how he had an inguinal hernia when he was about 4 months old, which he had surgery to repair. Back in October I had noticed that his scrotum was looking rather enlarged again and we saw one of the doctors in my pediatrician’s practice. After a good poking and prodding, he said it looked fine. In November we saw my pediatrician for Ethan’s 1 year, and I mentioned it again. He also took a good look and said it looked fine. I would like to mention that both times he was seen, there was very little swelling (which figures… it always works that way, right?) Well, 4 months have passed and I have watched it slowly get worse. Finally, last night it was so huge after church that I was determined to get a third opinion. After 4 months of watching it, I knew that it was biggest at night and in the morning the swelling was very minimal. So, I figured my best chance of getting him to see the doctor during peak swelling was if we went during the evening convenience care hours, sometime between 5-10 PM. So, we got there around 6 PM and ended up seeing doctor around 7. During the time we were waiting, I allowed Ethan to get fussy, another thing that I knew would make him swell up more. So, by the time we saw the doctor he was mad as a hornet and the swelling was as big, if not bigger, than last night. The doctor was able to see the hernia right away, pushed it back in, and told me that it’s a large hole. This is actually good, because if it was a small hole there would be more concern about his intestines getting stuck, which could be serious and even fatal if it went unnoticed. So, tomorrow I get to call the pediatric urologist, who happens to be a good friend of my dad’s. We’re probably looking at surgery sometime within the next month or so. Oh joy…

All I can say though is that I’m glad it was finally caught, and that I am vindicated in being a worrywart of a mommy! I’m glad that I trusted my instincts that something wasn’t right :o)