Potty Training and a Medical Diagnosis
Jude is a very smart boy and a very busy boy. He can pretty much master any task once he’s performed it once. I mean the kid was climbing out of his crib, sneaking downstairs and helping himself to a midnight snack before he was 2. But for some reason he’s had a horrible time with potty training.
Our biggest challenges stem from his strong will and inability to stop what he’s doing. Even though we’ve battled over wills throughout the process he’s still been pretty good about going to the potty, until recently.
A few weeks ago he started having accidents at school, something that rarely happens.
One accident at school is no big deal, it happens to most 4 year olds.
But 3 within the course of a week, that is too much.
His teachers were concerned and brought it to our attention so that we could work together to help him. (Have a mentioned that we love his preschool?)
So for the next week we worked with him. We encouraged him to tell us when he had to go and implemented a new potty chart with incentives. But even at home he was having accidents, not just avoiding going but having accidents right after he went to the bathroom and having to go several times within an hour or so. At that point we realized it was probably more than just a behavioral problem, there was something medical that needed to be addressed.
Then Friday after the boys’ evening showers I noticed a raised bump in Jude’s pelvic region. I asked Joe to check it out and called my mom for her medical advice (even though she’s not a doctor she is an experienced mom). We all agreed it looked like a hernia. Jude wasn’t complaining of any pain in that area so I decided to wait until Tuesday morning to call the doctor and watch it closely until then. Over the weekend the bump fluctuated in size and Jude occasional complained of having a pain when he went to the bathroom.
The doctor agreed that it indeed looks like a inguinal hernia and has referred us to a pediatric urologist to get it further examined to see if he needs surgery. The doctor also said it could cause pain when going to the bathroom which might be the cause of his recent potty accidents.
While I’m relieved to know that Jude’s potty incidents are completely behavioral I am still pretty concerned that he may need to have surgery. We know that God will take care of him and are praying for healing and wisdom for us and the doctors.
