Prosthetic testicle

user0099

i never had a bionic bollo** but i play ice hockey which is one of the fastest and most hard hitting sports in the world. A friend of mine also plays at a high level and he did have a bionic one but he has no issues with playing with it. infact he does a party trick in the changing rooms where he bangs it off the bench and makes all the other players cringe with fear and some have almost passed out. my point is once its in there and settled down as long as you wear a box to protect the area which you should anyway with any sport that carries a risk to that area it should not stop you doing what you enjoy. 

regards

hey

the 'sporty' thing should not cause any problems, I have been mountain climbing, rugby and football, have quite a few kicks in the b..x and never caused me any pain, in fact there was a few surprise looks that I didn't go down on the ground, ( if only they knew!!) just told them I am a man and carried on playing lol.

hope this helps
take care

Mark

Thanks again for the responses.  Very useful.

After the Urologist appointment on 16 April came the Pre Assessment last Friday and at the same time a telephone call to tell me that there was availability for surgery on 10 May.

So after 18 months (to the exact day!) of having the real one removed with a tumour and replaced with a prosthetic, it is now being removed tomorrow.

I have to admit to oddly quite looking forward to it, I don't really have any of the dread and nervousness that I did last time - probably because i have been thru it already and know what to expect and have been in hospital for the chemotherapy as well whereas last time I had never been in hospital, but also because it is something that I really want done and believe will rid me of the pain and uncomfortableness i feel regularly.

Of course I may not be feeling like this when i am about to go in but at the moment I can't help but feel a lot more postiive than i did last time and have books and DVD's piled up for the next few weeks recovery time!

Regards

I think you are defo making a decision which your 100% certain about and that can only be a good thing. I wish you all the best with the op and recovery and believe me it makes no odds with just 1 and not 2. 

Hi Everyone,

That's it ... Prosthetic Testicle removed 18 months after we were acquainted.

Operation was on Friday under general anaesthetic and i was discharged yesterday with paracetamol and tramadol.  I have to say that the pain so far is no way near as bad as it was when i had the real testicle removed and the prosthetic added.  The surgeon just reopened the old scar for incision instead of making a new one which was a possibility.  I am managing to walk about the house okay and go up and down the stairs - I definitely could not do this so quickly last time.  My scrotum is sore and quite swollen and bruised on the side where the prosthetic was but the painkillers do ease this off.

As others have said, I think to look at it is not much of a difference - the skin on that side of my scrotum gathers to make the shape very similar to what it was when the testicle was there, even allowing for the swelling to go away i don't think it will too dissimilar to having the 2 - not that i am vain but it was a slight concern.

One thing i have noticed is that scrotum does make a sort of watery echoey sound when it is pushed against - obviously it is a sort of hollow sound as there is nothing in there - but did anyone else notice this?  Will it die down once the swelling does or does it always have this sort of empty squelchy noise?

Nothing to worry about but just an odd sensation - don't know what i was expecting it do be like now that it is empty on that side!!

Anyway, this week it is increasing the exercise with walks with lots of rest in between.  The hospital doctor has gave me an unfit for work note for 2 weeks so I have plenty of time to recover.

Regards,

Hi Chorusboy. I had a few years with only 1 testicle and it was no issue at all. No swishing or squelching like you describe so I'm sure yours will all settle down when the bruising goes.

I had my prosthetic removed on tuesday just gone. Hearing how your recovery is going has given me hope. 6 days on from my op and i still feel like someone is holding a lit match to my scrotum, and in the night i had the ol' chap come to attention, i was in tears with the pain.

All very strange as this is the 3rd op, one removed, later the prosthetic inserted, and now the prosthetic removed. Each time the surgeon has gone in through my groin as opposed to the scrotum, but this is pain like i have never felt. I've tried to relax at home, but I get very restless so have pottered in the garage ( admittedly lifting boxes and even my weights to tidy the place up). I am wondering if I'm just doing harm rather than good by trying to aid recovery.

Well I've decided I'm spending all this week doing nothing but resting. Like you i have 2 weeks off work but if it doesn't get much better before tuesday next week I think I might need an extension.

Anyway back to you as this is your thread :-) Glad things are going well. And I hope you are all fixed up very soon.

Best wishes, and thank you for your post. I felt lost in the wilderness until I saw it in the results page.

Pob

Hi,

You really have been thru it with 3 operations ... you will be an expert in what to do for recovery!

At the end of the second week the squelching as I called it did disappear ... at the same time the swelling all died down so it turns out I was concerned about nothing, it was all only temporary.

What I have been left with, and some people have mentioned it here before, is a hematoma - a sack of blood at the top of the scrotum where your tubes have effectively been cut off, as there is no testicle, real or fake, for them to be attached to, and you have bleed either during the operation or just after.  I did read here that there would be a small lump leftover where they have been cut-off, but once the swelling had gone it actually was quite a large lump.  Now 5 weeks since the op it is still fairly big - about 3 cms, but both my GP and Oncologist (it was also my surveilleance appointment last week) say it will dissolve back into the blood stream eventually, and worse case if it doesn't it would need to be syringed which is fairly straight-forward.

I would still take it easy .. my walking was good by the end of the second week and I too was doing jobs about the house etc, but my GP gave me another 2 weeks, although slightly reluctantly and I think he did it as that is what it was last time and he sounded busy so I think didn't give it much interest, as we both agreed that as this was the second op I didn't want to rush back to work too quickly.  I could have returned as on week three I was quite acitve and went out for days out in the car (although I didn't drive) so could have sat at work but you get now extra points for returning to work!

Anyway, apart from the hematoma which is not actually sore, entering week six everything is good, wound has healed and all mobility has returned.

Sorry to hear that you have had pain, fortunately I didn't have that and after 3 weeks everything was tested and worked with no pain ;-), my advice would be to go to your GP if it continues to be like that - you shouldn't be in tears with pain just due to the extra bloodflow.

Take Care and please post if you have any other concerns or just to update.

Regards,

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd give my views anyway.

In 2004 I had testicular cancer, having one removed and a prosthetic put in its place. It's a decision I've regretted ever since. The prosthetic is HARD, like a bouncy ball! It's uncomfortable. The remaining one has grown, and I guess it wouldn't have looked much different if I hadn't had it. Now, if I'm sitting in a way that squashes everything up, instead of everything giving the same, the hard lump squashes onto the remaining testicle. Standing, it doesn't bother me, but lying down on my side, I can feel it constantly.

I had about 10 minutes to make the decision, the surgeon (private) offered no advice. I probably didn't ask the right questions, but everything was happening pretty quickly. 

Hi mate,

If its not settled down since 2004 it probably never will. I had one put in like yourself at orchiectomy and like yourself  had very bad treatment and next to no consultation on the diagnosis or prosthetic options. My prosthetic was far too large, chafed on my leg giving me horrible sores and was so uncomfortable and i couldnt lay on my front cos it felt like i was laying on a cricket ball. During the week after my surgery i rang and rang them to desperately get this thing removed and even got a private quote of £3k from nuffield health. Eventually i just walked into the urology department and showed the head nurse (found the first one who could actually speak english) and she said it looked infected and booked me in for removal. Luckily i had it removed a week later. Then guess what i went back for my follow up to be told they never found cancer in the first place so the whole thing was a waste of time lol. And to top it off im suffering  from chronic prostatitis/epidydimitis in my surviving testicle but STILL wouldn't go back to having a prosthetic. Eventhough i have to admit when im at my worst mentally i do wonder if it would help me, but i dont think its worth the risk and the wait list would probably be about 3 years. Anyway the point im trying to make is, do not live in misery and pain, if u want it removed go private if u have to. I was quoted £3k but managed to get it done on the nhs, 10 minute procedure with local injection and a couple of stitches. The funny thing is they said to me " u will have a slight scar though so we have to warn u before surgery" as if that would bother me after all that i went through lol. Anyway good luck whatever u decide to do.

Cheers

Paul