IVF and ICSI

Varicocele Repair (History)

We started this journey over 18 months ago. But the didn't star the blog until Dec 2005. So the post over the next couple of days will be some history.

I've debated about keeping a tight lid on our identity. I'm not going to tell you exactly who we are, but if you're determined enough you might be able to figure it out. So be it.

When I was 12 I had a varicocele repair. At the time, 1984, the doctor told me I could go for the operation or have the veins drained on a regular basis. We (my parents) opted for the surgery. I was sent to T.O. where a Jewish doctor performed the surgery. And convinced my parents to have me circumcised! Sneaky!

After the surgery there were definitely less veins, but they were still there. They never grew anymore.

Fast-forward to 2001.

I decide to ask my girlfriend to marry me. Before I do I think it would be a good idea to get a sperm analysis done. Unfortunately for me I did not have a family doctor. I called the hospital and told them what I wanted... well, as you could imagine, that didn't take me to far. So I end up asking her to marry me with no sperm analysis.

After TTCing for about 5 months we get a home sperm count test. A little dot was to turn a shade of blue. If it matched the control blue then we were fine. If not we had a problem. We had a problem!

Go to the doctor and ask him for a test. He, being nearly 75, humors me and tells me "don't worry, it is 95% of the time the women's issue." The result from the test were not good. 17 million was the count. To be fertile the man needs to be over 20 million. The doc just told us to be patient and put me on thyroid pills. The pills were meant to get my testosterone up.

Three months later I went for another test. 10 million! Yikes, it went down. Not good. The doc standing in for mine (my doc had a stroke) who was equally as old, told me the same thing "it is a woman's issue, be patient."

We started to do some research. And pushed our doc to hook us up with a urologist. We wanted the varicocele repair done again. The urologist did it and I paid the consequence of a fair amount of pain for a week plus 4 days of near immobility. Luckily I had some pretty powerful pain pills... I liked to call them my happy pills. And a very caring wife that took good care of me.

Later in the week will be post about the thyroid pills and the result of the varicocele repair.

posted by Paul and Lisa @ 1:10 PM