March 7th, 2012 operation and 7 day report -- reported hemato

[Joe Trader]

Day 0: Not nervous. Know about local anesthetic. After some small
talk w/ the doc, I lay on my back and fold my hands on my stomach
ready for action. The nurse puts her hand on my hands and the first
needle goes into the scrotum. Ouch!! I will admit; I've seen my wife
in labor twice and I was doing labor breathing! It was very painful
for me. If you have tattoos, imagine that sustained pain but 5x worse
and only 10 seconds. The 2nd needle didn't hurt as bad, but I still
breathed very heavy. The whole operation lasted 15 min.

Got home. Still out of it due to the vicodin. I took more vicodin,
smoked a lil herb and drank a beer and was in bed by 7p.

Day 1: No real pain. My scrotum was the size of a baseball. I went
to work all day in my home office. Felt pretty good actually. I
started to notice bruising mid day, but the pain was never annoying or
needing attention. Just a mild ache. I didn't take any vicodin and
started taking Ibuprofen every 4 hours. I only iced my scrotum a few
times that day. I did take a 2 hour afternoon nap and was in bed by
8p.

Day 2: Same routine. Went to work. Felt pretty good. My bruising
started up my lower abs and into my left leg. My left testicle
started feeling enlarged.. more so than my right, but the pain was
starting to be more frequent and the pain wasn't that bad so I just
assumed it was part of the healing. I stayed with the 4 hour
intervals of Ibuprofen, and I only iced my scrotum 4-5 times (15
min). I went out w/ buddies that night and drank 5-6 beers. Sat at
the bar. Went home and slept.

Day 3-4: Got up. Felt good. Scrotum still the size of a baseball.
Bruising much more black and blue and spread out. Felt more
tenderness on my left testicle than my right. Ibuprofen routine and
no icing on Day 3. Went to the park. Ran some errands. Noticeable
discomfort but no real pain. My enlarged scrotum was getting more
noticeable as I got up and walked and did things. Not good. I did
noticed I could no longer sleep on my left side anymore due to my left
testicle starting to hurt more and more. Something didn't feel right.

Day 5: I called the doc mid day to say my scrotum was starting to
hurt above a threshold that I'm comfortable with. I thought by now it
should start to not hurt, right? The doc said it's normal and that
she had to work a little harder on the left side due to my testicle
retreating during the operation. OK. Fair enough. I will note
getting out of bed on Day 5 was difficult. I noticed significant pain
in my lower abdomen. It only lasted 5 min or so and then it went
away.

Day 6: Starting to feel the pain in almost everything I did. Like a
constant tug on my scrotum. I started icing again more frequently.
Called the doc to tell her that the pain was increasing... especially
in my left testicle. My right testicle showed improvement. No pain
there and the right scrotum was clearly starting to heal. Thank god!
I could not sleep on my left side at all. Another interesting note is
that I woke up at 3a with a sharp pain in my left testicle that
lasted 2-3 sec. I actually thought about masturbating just to relieve
any pressure. I wanted relief, but I was scared it would hurt. So, I
didn't.

Day 7: Saw the doc at 8a. She said I have a mild hematoma in my left
scrotum area that is encapsulating the testicle. Blood has filled up
the scrotum between the skin and testicle and likely is done filling
up. Now, the body just needs to absorb that blood and the testicle
will heal the wound on its own. She prescribed me antibodies. Told
me ice every 20 min on/off and get plenty of rest. I've also started
taking hot baths. Both the ice and hot baths seem to help though my
left testicle area is still plenty sore, but not as sore as Day 6
pain. So far, Day 6 has been the worse and Day 7 was better. So, I'm
hoping today (Day 7) is the beginning of the end.

[Joe Trader]

Day 8: I was right. Day 7 was the beginning of the end for me. I
felt better (not great yet) on Day 8. I kept icing 20 on/off all
day. Taking my Ibuprofen and antibiotics as prescribed. My left sac
was still swolen about the size of avocado, but I could tell the
hematoma was very slowly decreasing. Plus, I was massaging my sac all
day. I did ask my wife but she said she was scared. I do think the
massaging helped. I still couldn't bend over that well and I felt
some leaking in my sac from time to time. I have no idea why, but I
think whatever I felt, it was helping with the healing. My right sac
(no hematoma) bruising was almost gone.

Day 9: I'm wearing pants again. I've only iced twice today and don't
feel any great discomfort anymore during all my movements. I'm still
well aware of the abnormality in the sacs and the pain is very
minimal. My left sac is still slowly decreasing in size. I'm still
massaging. I think it's helping. Still taking Ibuprofen every 4
hours and antibiotics every 6 hours. All these things seem to help as
each day brings new relief.