missile
8/05/2006 6:27pm,
I had a slightly unpleasant exerience this week, and I thought I'd share it so that, god forbid, if you find yourself in the same situation you can make an informed decision.
On monday night at judo we were doing randori and I got hit with the non-textbook version of uchi-mata. This is also sometimes referred as a kick in the balls. My randori partner was very apologetic, and a few minutes later I felt good enough to do a few more minutes of randori. And then for 3 days everything was peachy.
If you've just eaten, I recommend not reading any further.
Thursday at noon I started to experience pain in my right testicle, pain which got very bad very quickly. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced. I vomited once from the pain before getting a ride to the hospital, and several times thereafter. After waiting a couple hours to be seen, I was examined by a doctor who set about trying to figure out which of two possible problems was causing my testicular pain:
1 Epididymitis: An inflammation of the convoluted duct which lies on the posterior surface of the testicle
2 Torsion: a twisting of the the spermatic cord that supplies blood to the testicle.
The latter is generally more immediately dangerous. Based on my response to the cremasteric reflex, a test where he scratches my inner thigh, he concluded that it probably wasn't a torsion. And he was a very nice guy, so I don't harbour any ill will to him for being wrong.
They sent me home with a morphine shot, with instructions to get ultrasound done and see a urologist the next day. The morphine did nothing, besides making me feel a little warmer. The pain abated only very slightly.
Ultrasound the next day indicated that I had no blood flow in the right testicle. And as soon as that discovery was made, I started getting extremely efficent service. Within an hour I was being prepped for surgery (at a different hospital as it happens), and being warned that should the testicle be deemed necrotic it would have to be removed. I called my girlfriend immediately before being moved to the OR, and we agreed that this was disconcerting.
The last thing I heard before going under was a nurse asking "Do I have gum on my face?" I think that the question was directed to anesthetist, but I never got the details, as a few seconds later I began to feel very heavy and lost conciousness, amid the general hilarity.
Within a few seconds of waking up (to the best of my recollection) I asked if my testicle had been saved. Three times I repeated this question, and each time I was reassured that yes indeed, my torsed testicle had been fixed and was still healthy. Within an hour after waking I feeling great. This time apparently, my injury repaired, morphine was able to work its magic. And I was left with a strage craving for frozen yogurt shakes. I had two.
Currently I'm swollen and a little bit sore.. My girlfriend thinks it's terribly funny that we're both bleeding from our crotches right now. But who cares? I still have two tesicles.
Anyway moral of the story: if you get persistent testicular pain, get it checked out fast. Real fast.
On monday night at judo we were doing randori and I got hit with the non-textbook version of uchi-mata. This is also sometimes referred as a kick in the balls. My randori partner was very apologetic, and a few minutes later I felt good enough to do a few more minutes of randori. And then for 3 days everything was peachy.
If you've just eaten, I recommend not reading any further.
Thursday at noon I started to experience pain in my right testicle, pain which got very bad very quickly. It was the worst pain I had ever experienced. I vomited once from the pain before getting a ride to the hospital, and several times thereafter. After waiting a couple hours to be seen, I was examined by a doctor who set about trying to figure out which of two possible problems was causing my testicular pain:
1 Epididymitis: An inflammation of the convoluted duct which lies on the posterior surface of the testicle
2 Torsion: a twisting of the the spermatic cord that supplies blood to the testicle.
The latter is generally more immediately dangerous. Based on my response to the cremasteric reflex, a test where he scratches my inner thigh, he concluded that it probably wasn't a torsion. And he was a very nice guy, so I don't harbour any ill will to him for being wrong.
They sent me home with a morphine shot, with instructions to get ultrasound done and see a urologist the next day. The morphine did nothing, besides making me feel a little warmer. The pain abated only very slightly.
Ultrasound the next day indicated that I had no blood flow in the right testicle. And as soon as that discovery was made, I started getting extremely efficent service. Within an hour I was being prepped for surgery (at a different hospital as it happens), and being warned that should the testicle be deemed necrotic it would have to be removed. I called my girlfriend immediately before being moved to the OR, and we agreed that this was disconcerting.
The last thing I heard before going under was a nurse asking "Do I have gum on my face?" I think that the question was directed to anesthetist, but I never got the details, as a few seconds later I began to feel very heavy and lost conciousness, amid the general hilarity.
Within a few seconds of waking up (to the best of my recollection) I asked if my testicle had been saved. Three times I repeated this question, and each time I was reassured that yes indeed, my torsed testicle had been fixed and was still healthy. Within an hour after waking I feeling great. This time apparently, my injury repaired, morphine was able to work its magic. And I was left with a strage craving for frozen yogurt shakes. I had two.
Currently I'm swollen and a little bit sore.. My girlfriend thinks it's terribly funny that we're both bleeding from our crotches right now. But who cares? I still have two tesicles.
Anyway moral of the story: if you get persistent testicular pain, get it checked out fast. Real fast.