Hello all-

This is the first time I've written. My 7 year old son Sam just had his 5th reoccurence of epididymitis. This last one came after a 7 month reprieve, before which he had had 4 episodes in 6 months.

The first four episodes yielded one emergency surgery to check for testicle torsion (with consequent tacking of the right side)and one misdiagnosis of an inguinal hernia. After this we moved Sam's care to a major city pediatric hospital where he is under the care of the department head.

Sam was born with hypospadius, for which he had two repair surgeries under the age of 2.5 years. Because of this birth defect, the suspicion was that reflux was causing the scrotal swelling. A voiding cystogram ruled this out. Films were taken of abominal and scrotal areas with no clear results except for a small seminal cyst. They do not think this is the cause. His fourth episode last November caused him a great deal of intermittent abdominal pain and consequent missed days of school. He was treated with 2 months worth of antibiotics and had no reoccurences until 2 weeks ago. He is back on 10 days worth of antibiotics and the next step is to conduct a diagnostic test to look at his bladder.

Because epididymitis tends to occur more in adults, I think Sam's case is rather unusual, even for this major hospital. We had thought it was over and are obviously very disappointed that it's come back.

Anyone out there -- thoughts, ideas, suggestions, questions?!

Thanks so much!
Sammom