Am I missing someting?

Susie - posted on 05/17/2011

Does anyone have pointers for the 6 hour NOP order I have just received? My 6 m old is a big boy and is taking his feedings barely 4 hours apart let alone going 6 the day of his surgery which is the day after tomorrow.

Although I am sure he'll be out of sorts afterwards, I am more concerned right now keeping things as normal as possible. Especially because we have a long drive ahead of us and won't know the time of his procedure until tomorrow. The ride is a minimum of 1 hour away (not including morning traffic) I am betting on 2 hours to get there.
They said he can have applejuice or water (up to 3 hrs prior) but he's NEVER had applejuice and isn't fond of plain water.

Christan - posted on 04/04/2011

My son had his surgery done when he was 9 months. We actually didn't know that he had a hypospadias until the surgery. He went into surgery because his scrotum was slightly attached to his penis and they sperated it and circumcised him, at this time they found that he had a hypospadias and repaired that as well. My son did not get a shot of testosterone before hand, I have never heard of that!!

Christan - posted on 04/04/2011

My son had his surgery done when he was 9 months. We actually didn't know that he had a hypospadias until the surgery. He went into surgery because his scrotum was slightly attached to his penis and they sperated it and circumcised him, at this time they found that he had a hypospadias and repaired that as well. My son did not get a shot of testosterone before hand, I have never heard of that!!

Jennifer - posted on 03/08/2011

My son had his first surgery when he was almost 6 months old. Because they will not remember any of it, I would say the earlier the better. But I would definitely wait until they are officially 6 months. Before that date they will not give the kids narcotics because opiates depress the respiratory drive. So the only drug we could give my son was Tylenol and I cannot imagined it helped too much! My son was distal too and we chose to go ahead. I will tell you to be careful with the catheter, even at 6 months they can get their hands on it! We double diapered so it was relatively protected, plus it will also be sutured in. I would suggest making sure he is healthy when you go in, no cough, no fever, etc. Any reason to give the kiddo steroids may disrupt the healing process. Rowan got bronchitis and was put on steroids, and 7 months later we were back for a fistula repair. My son did not get testosterone, his size was fine.

Elizabeth - posted on 12/07/2010

My little guy is getting his at a year old in Vancouver. The ped. urologist does about five of these surgeries a week so I am going to trust his advice!

Katrina - posted on 07/30/2010

My son is scheduled to have his surgery in Sept. I think he has a mild case. He will be 6 months. Of course Im dreading it because that's my baby and I cant stand to see him upset.



Update: He wont be having his surgery until next yr.

Nicki - posted on 06/09/2010

my son was 8 months old when he had his first surgery to correct his Severe 4th degree hypospadias. He is now 2 years , 7 months old & his next ( & hopefully last) surgery is tuesday june 15th.

Angie - posted on 06/01/2010

Wow... my son had his done 11 yrs ago at one year old. I wish they would have done it sooner. That is great that they are able to now. With my sons first surgery he pulled the cath out during a diaper change which caused a fistula (pretty much the original opening reopened and then he had the new normal opening at the end)... so he had to go in at 2 yrs old to have the second surgery, this time they used a cath that was too small and after almost 10 hours with no wet diapers I was getting ready to call when he strained and basically blew open the fistula again... so... when almost 3 he got it done again and this time it stuck. - This is abnormal as it usually only takes the one surgery and that is it.
It is hard, should be easier at 6 months I would imagine because they don't have the ability to say ooo this hurts and rip it out... to ease your mind- this is apparently a common surgery. My son, even after having three surgeries, you can not tell at all that ANYTHING was ever wrong. I have the doctor check every year at his annual physical and she assures me that all is well and that you can't tell he had anything done. He actually does not know that he had anything done, so....even better!
I am sure they have come leaps and bounds in 11 yrs, so your lil guy should do just fine! It really is a quick recovery :) I know it seems hard now, but it will go by quickly and after that you will probably rarely even think about it because he will be doing everything a normal lil guy does!

Melissa - posted on 03/23/2010

My son was just over 6 months...which they explained was due to the risks of anestesia (sorry not spelling well) He had a 2nd surgery when he was 3. No testosterone shots at all. hope it helps.

Andrea - posted on 02/23/2010

it's probably because he has a mild case. My son is severe and was 14 months when he had stage 1, and 21 months (just 2 weeks ago) when he had stage 2. He had 3 shots of testosterone before the 1st stage and he did stay bigger but it's hard to gage when you don't know what "normal" is for a baby (at least I don't) From what I understand the more severe cases they need to have a larger size to work with because of skin graphs (in my son's case). He did amazing as well and was home the same day with the second surgery and had a catheter for over 10 days but running around like there was nothing there after day 3. Consider yourself lucky - I wanted it to be as early as possible but they needed to wait to see him bigger before they could do anything. Even still he handled it great and other than diaper changes the first couple of days it was fine.

Robin - posted on 02/22/2010

My son had hos repair at 7 mos. I would never have allowed Drs to wait til he was older. It was so much easier to handle. He had penoscrotal hypospadias and did have a catheter in for 2 weeks. He did AMAZING. I was more worried about his discomfort and he didn't seem to have much past the first couple of days. He wimpered a bit the first day if his legs were moved wrong but other than that he was a trooper. He did not tolerate the medicine for bladder spasms well and we discontinued that early on, again he was fine. He had pain meds for the first 2-3 days and then went down to regular tylenol/motrin. Caring for the catheter was much easier without him being potty trained. We double diapered, cutting a hole out of the inner diaper for the catheter to thread through and this kept BM away from the catheter, thus eliminating infection, as I am sure you all have been instructed to do. All in all, the whole process went well.

Sheila - posted on 01/14/2010

my son had his op when he was 3 and toilt trained so there was no risk of infection!! my friends son was in nappies and got bad infection

Janet - posted on 01/02/2010

Laura, I agree with everyone the younger the better as you have better control over them with regards to nappies etc and if they need a catheter it is easier to keep it all in place.

Christina - posted on 09/02/2009

My son is 18 months old and just had surgery, he has a catheter stitched in place and it is not fun. I wish they would have done the surgery when he was younger. Diaper changes are a 2 person job because he is trying to get away.

Jaclyn - posted on 05/02/2009

Oh, and with a mild case, your son will probably not get a catheter.

Jaclyn - posted on 05/02/2009

My son had a mild case and had his surgery the day after turning 6 months. No shot of testosterone. I'm glad he had it done when he did as he has now discovered his penis and loves to play with it. Thankfully it's all healed up now and he can't hurt himself.

Jennifer - posted on 04/29/2009

I owe everyone an apology! I made the mistake in my post below! Children under 6 months of age should NOT be given Ibuprofen. Sorry!

Courtney - posted on 04/29/2009

Hi Laura,



My son just had surgery yesterday and he's 6 months. He also has a mild form, so they suggested this age for us. My son didn't get any shots..just had a consult, then surgery. They did a great job and his recovery has been amazing. He's back to himself after being a little out of it yesterday.



I agree with Jennifer with this being a great age to do it since he's just now realizing that he has something down there and not pulling nearly as much as my older sons would have.



If you have any questions or concerns, let me know! I'd be more than happy to give you some advice, since I was a nervous wreck and am soo glad it's over and he's doing amazing.

Jennifer - posted on 04/25/2009

My oldest son's first surg was done 2 weeks shy of 6 months. I would say wait until he is officially 6 months or older. If he is younger than 6 months, he cannot get any narcotic pain meds, he can only have Ibuprofen and Tylenol.

In regards to the benefits of having it that young, he weighs less, is less coordinated, and can be swaddled to help with movement. My son came home with a catheter that was sutured to the tip of his penis to hold it in place. Imagine a two year old with that! It would be out in 2 seconds! ha ha. We were also double diapering him. One on the inside, catheter draining to the diaper on the outside. To diaper my 11 month old is like wrestling with a little bull.

I went out on the Internet and looked up testosterone prior to hypospadias surg and found that it was recommended for smaller than normal penises, but that results can be inconsistent.



Hope this helps.