For Kathy..

For Kathy, who is mom to a little boy with DS and curious about the urology issues: This is not information I would normally put out in public, but how are other parents of little boys supposed to know about stuff if nobody talks about it? So lets pretend this is someone else's little boy I'm talking about. Mmmm kay?

The most obvious, an our reason for a visit to the urologist, is pinhole Phimosis. This is where the foreskin is sealed shut. In this little boy's  case there is a very tiny pinhole at the top (not the end, but the top) for urine to escape. Ballooning of urine inside the skin is a problem as well. He cannot pee a stream, instead dribbling everywhere. In some cases of phimosis the skin can be stretched over a period of months to enable retraction. In this little boys case that is not possible. The fix is circumcision.

Communicating Hydrocele. We didn't even know he had this, but once the doctor pointed it out to me (by shining a light on the testicle!) I can see it. A hydrocele is where abdominal fluid leaks through a channel down into the the sac surrounding the testicle causing swelling. It can be communicating or non-communicating. "Communicating" means the fluid moves back and forth from the abdomen to the testicle. "Non-communicating" means the fluid moved to the testicle when the testicle descended, but the channel closed off so the fluid is now trapped there.  A communicating hydrocele needs to be repaired because other abdominal contents, such as the intestines, can slip through the channel as well.

Because of the phimosis and hydrocele he is also much more likely to have another problem common to little boys with DS, which is hypospadias. However, because he has phimosis we can't see if he has this problem.

The exam was pretty simple, and Asher never even stopped listening to music on my phone. He just accepts whatever is dished out to him. He never batted an eyelash. While we were visiting with the Urologist I had a couple questions about Axel as well, who just happened to be with us. The doctor decided to take a quick look at him. He had Axel hop up on the table and I unbuttoned his pants. PANIC ENSUED!. The look on his face was, "What?? I was just along for the ride? What are you DOING? I saw what he did to Asher!!" When the very quick exam was done, Axel was throwing me death looks. I can't say that I blame him!

So using Dean's words when he so delicately stated his sympathy for Asher, "Oh man! His poor little Johnson!"