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Of course this doesn’t have anything to do with our twins that are invading this winter, but it is interesting and scary and informative for people who have no idea that babies can have hernias.

My son, 18 months, has an inguinal hernia. (Say it with me: IN-GWEE-NAL)

photo credit: mil8

What is an inguinal hernia? Clicki to Wiki.
To put it in non-medical-speak terms: basically, when his balls were dropping prior to birth (he was 13 days early) the muscle that closes off after the droppage didn’t fully seal itself off from the rest of the innards on the other side of his abdominal wall. When the hernia is aggravated, it looks like he’s got a third testicle up there with a serious attitude. It’s an alien baby ready to pop. It’s a zit the size of a golf ball. It’s a ping pong ball ready to pong. It’s… Have a mental picture yet?

So a few weeks ago, I’m getting him out of the tub and he’s a big fan of the tub, so he wasn’t happy about bidding the tub adeu. As I’m drying him I have a little freak out moment, call up the wifey and point: “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” He didn’t seem to be in any uncontrollable, debilitating pain or discomfort but he was crying something fierce at this point.

We both looked at each other, and since we’re both OK with asking a Dr.’s opinion at any hour of the day or night, we hopped into concerned parent panic mode. We got him dressed, put on socks and shoes and hightailed it down the street to the urgent care facility in town.

Of course by the time we got in to see an MD the “growth” had gone back in (Julie wanted to name him Hank, but I was against it. He’s more of a Henry), but the doctor told us to go to the ER if “whatever it is” comes back.

Fast-foward 20 hours: it came back again, with a vengence. This time we packed up our crying child and literally threw him into my truck and hauled ass up to Geneva, IL and Delnor Community Hospital.

Of course, as before, by the time a doctor could see him, Henry had vanished and my kid’s all smiles and laying the flirt on pretty thick to the cute blonde ER doctor. She actually had an idea of what it could be and gave us information on Inguinal Hernias, and told us to contact a surgeon about corrective surgery, but in the mean time, if it comes out and stays out for longer than an hour, bring him back to the ER immediatly.

GREAT! Surgery!

Apppppfffft.

The surgeon’s office was booked solid for a week, but we got in this past Monday and found out he needs surgery on BOTH sides.

See, lil duder has a left side inguinal hernia, which is less common than the right side inguinal hernia. If you have a right side inguinal hernia, you probably only have a right side inguinal hernia. If you have a left side inguinal hernia, you probably have both a left side inguinal hernia and a right side inguinal hernia. The surgeon almost guarantees he will find a right side inguinal hernia while correcting the left side inguinal hernia.

How many times did I say inguinal hernia?

TO BE CONTINUED…

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