Major testicular and groin pain, and the military will not help.
Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:35 pm
I have been dealing with very high levels of pain after an accident that happened on base last April.
On April 30th, 2008, I was run over by a woman in a white SUV that ran a stop sign near the base bowling alley, sending my bicycle's frame into my groin.
She stopped long enough to yell at me for being in her way, and when she was told by a bystander that I was hurt (I was in the fetal position on the ground), she took off.
Base security did not take my claim seriously, as I "did not have a real injury".
Over the course of the night, a large hydrocele formed on my right testicle.
It became so large that it was crushing the blood vessels to the testicle, as my second ER run proved.
(I went to the ER at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London, CT.) The receptionist kept cracking jokes about my injuries and pain. The hospital assigned a female doctor and a female nurse to me, neither one knew anything about testicular trauma. They refused to allow my wife in with me,. and they refused to get me a male doctor and/or nurse.
According to Dr. Catherine Glazer (The ER doctor), "Testicular trauma is never a medical emergency." and "Every time a guy gets hit down there, he thinks it is the end of the world."
She refused to call for a scan of any kind, despite my pleading.
I have had no luck with getting either the Navy or the local urologists to help.
The right hydrocele has recurred 7 times since the accident, each time causing a great deal of pain. One on the left has formed 4 times.
Each time the hydroceles deflate, they leave a void that allows each testicle to twist upon itself. I have gone to the ER for torsion, and the doctor untwisted it manually.
The surgery staff at that hospital would not perform an orchioplexy for me to prevent recurrance.
The urologist the Navy sent me to was a kidney stone specialist that had never done an orchiplexy.
The cords on both sides are in bad shape, you can feel lumps and knots at the upper ends of them.
The vas desferens on the right side is about 3/8" wide, and it HURTS!
The right hydrocele came back over the last week, and by Friday, I was vomiting in pain.
The Navy's solution is to perform a nerve ablation.
They don't care that I am having problems urinating, or the fact that I am having problems with erections, when I am able to get it up long enough, all that comes out is blood.
The bloody ejaculate started about 3 months after the accident, so I am stumped on that.
The doctor that I am seeing at the base clinic says that my problems are "minor" and that I need to give them time.
When you have a bulge in your scrotum that makes sitting and walking a nightmare, I do not find it minor.
To top it off, I have a hard time sleeping because of the pain, 2 hours of sleep is a very good night for me. I typically spend about 2-3 nights a week awake crying because of the pain.
One other thing about this, both testicles have shrunk majorly.
By the numbers given from ultrasounds done over the past few months, the right is about half the original size, and the left is between half and 2/3 of original size. The ultrasounds show that if I am sitting or standing, the circulation to both is impared, and due to varicoceles that formed in the left one (most likely due to the intermittent twisting), it is already bad enough when I lie down.
One final thing: There is also a lot of pain in the lower portion of my groin, especially on the right side. It hurts a lot ot cough, laugh and breathe hard down there. One doctor said that he found a hernia on the right side, and one possibly on the left, but the base clinic is accusing me of faking it.
I am sick of the military medical system.
On April 30th, 2008, I was run over by a woman in a white SUV that ran a stop sign near the base bowling alley, sending my bicycle's frame into my groin.
She stopped long enough to yell at me for being in her way, and when she was told by a bystander that I was hurt (I was in the fetal position on the ground), she took off.
Base security did not take my claim seriously, as I "did not have a real injury".
Over the course of the night, a large hydrocele formed on my right testicle.
It became so large that it was crushing the blood vessels to the testicle, as my second ER run proved.
(I went to the ER at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London, CT.) The receptionist kept cracking jokes about my injuries and pain. The hospital assigned a female doctor and a female nurse to me, neither one knew anything about testicular trauma. They refused to allow my wife in with me,. and they refused to get me a male doctor and/or nurse.
According to Dr. Catherine Glazer (The ER doctor), "Testicular trauma is never a medical emergency." and "Every time a guy gets hit down there, he thinks it is the end of the world."
She refused to call for a scan of any kind, despite my pleading.
I have had no luck with getting either the Navy or the local urologists to help.
The right hydrocele has recurred 7 times since the accident, each time causing a great deal of pain. One on the left has formed 4 times.
Each time the hydroceles deflate, they leave a void that allows each testicle to twist upon itself. I have gone to the ER for torsion, and the doctor untwisted it manually.
The surgery staff at that hospital would not perform an orchioplexy for me to prevent recurrance.
The urologist the Navy sent me to was a kidney stone specialist that had never done an orchiplexy.
The cords on both sides are in bad shape, you can feel lumps and knots at the upper ends of them.
The vas desferens on the right side is about 3/8" wide, and it HURTS!
The right hydrocele came back over the last week, and by Friday, I was vomiting in pain.
The Navy's solution is to perform a nerve ablation.
They don't care that I am having problems urinating, or the fact that I am having problems with erections, when I am able to get it up long enough, all that comes out is blood.
The bloody ejaculate started about 3 months after the accident, so I am stumped on that.
The doctor that I am seeing at the base clinic says that my problems are "minor" and that I need to give them time.
When you have a bulge in your scrotum that makes sitting and walking a nightmare, I do not find it minor.
To top it off, I have a hard time sleeping because of the pain, 2 hours of sleep is a very good night for me. I typically spend about 2-3 nights a week awake crying because of the pain.
One other thing about this, both testicles have shrunk majorly.
By the numbers given from ultrasounds done over the past few months, the right is about half the original size, and the left is between half and 2/3 of original size. The ultrasounds show that if I am sitting or standing, the circulation to both is impared, and due to varicoceles that formed in the left one (most likely due to the intermittent twisting), it is already bad enough when I lie down.
One final thing: There is also a lot of pain in the lower portion of my groin, especially on the right side. It hurts a lot ot cough, laugh and breathe hard down there. One doctor said that he found a hernia on the right side, and one possibly on the left, but the base clinic is accusing me of faking it.
I am sick of the military medical system.