Jensen-A Tale of Two Testicles

Some of may have known that Jensen was born with undescended testicles. We didn't publicize it at first, mostly because the pediatrician who discovered his condition a few hours after birth told me he might not actually be male, and further genetic testing was needed (imagine, telling a newly postpartum woman that! And she chastised me for crying when she said he may never have children! Bitch). Anyway, the testing confirmed that he is indeed all male, which was a relief, and they found his testicles in his groin, so we played the waiting game. But at six months they had not reached their appointed destination, so we made plans to meet with a pediatric urologist on March 1st, with Jensen having surgery around his first birthday. Two days later (Saturday) he began to get randomly fussy, and I just assumed it was a cold. Sunday, he developed a low grade fever. Sunday night, I gave him a bath, and noticed his groin was severely swollen. I called Kaiser, who told me to monitor the situation, and made an appointment for Monday to see the pediatrician. This morning we took him to Dr. Epps, who determined Jensen had a hernia that he couldn't pop back in, and we should go to Children's Hospital right away to get assessed by a surgeon. At Scottish Rite, they did an ultrasound, and found that he had testicular torsion in his left testicle, and a hernia as a result of that. Basically, the testicle, because it was free to roam around the spermatic cord, ended up twisting the cord so blood couldn't get to the testicle, causing the swelling and pain. They performed surgery right away, discovering the testicle was long dead, removed it, and put the right testicle in it's proper place. Thankfully, it is an outpatient surgery, so we are now home, and Jensen is taking Tylenol with Codeine for any discomfort. The doctors have told us that his remaining testicle should do the work for two, so there shouldn't be any permanent consequences. This is really rare in a child his age, so he was considered pretty special at the hospital.

Jensen, Post-Op

Though this was overwhelming and tense, part of me is relieved, because a surgery I knew was coming is done. Also, the longer the testicles stay up, the greater Jensen's chances were for sterility and testicular cancer. They wouldn't have brought the testis down before his first year without an emergency. I tell myself that God has a plan for Jensen, and that taking one of his testicles is a part of that plan (however much it sucks right now). I want to focus on the positives of this experience. I am so grateful to the family and friends who helped us today (Nana and Liath, you are awesome! And thank you for moving the crib, Jim!), and those who sent us their prayers and good thoughts. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends who love us. On a side note, when they told us we were going in to surgery right away, I panicked, because Jensen wasn't Baptized yet. I didn't realize how Catholic I was until my child was going under anesthetic. The nurses called the Chaplin, who consulted with a priest from our parish, who agreed a baptism should take place. So, she quickly baptized him in pre-op, with Roman and I there, and Godmomma #1 Katy was on speaker phone (I'm sorry to leave you out Yvonne, but we only had one phone on us!). We will still be able to celebrate the baptism at St. Greg's on the 5th.

PS: The surgeon mentioned to us that when he's a teenager, Jensen might ask us for a fake testicle. Yeah, that conversation isn't going to be awkward.