Dealing with azoospermia?

[waitingginger]

I know i never noticed his testicles are small either!!! but hey ho!!

Its just so frustrating isnt it? its been a complete waste of 8 months because we are right at the start of the process still!!atleast we seem on the right track now!!
I will ask all of these things when we go back!! I cant belive they would couldnt carry out the procedure even with 3 sperm!! it would of been worth seeing if it would of been succsesful surely??!!!

Hope you have a lovely xmas too!! looking forward to some time off although one of my OH close friends has just text to say they are expecting! not great timing but owell!! we just feel really angry now like why us?!

x x x x

 

[Nayla82]

Good Morning Ladies

Waiting Ginger- huge Im sorry its taking even more time. They have told you its not Obstructive? Hope and pray that you get the answer. Always remember Hun its just HIS VIEW, go ahead and do the SSR i just have high hopes for you dear xx They found Dead Sperms where are they coming from? they must have been alive before they died? It only takes ONE. Just makie sure hes taking his Zinc and Omega 3 in the mean time. Hope the blood tests clear everything up for you both.

Bless your O.H my husband has gone from being quiet to none stop talking about it!! hes telling me when they find sperms next week make sure your there maybe they will rush you in the room and do IVF! Bless him he thinks its that simple! I told hope I will not be ovulating and it isnt that simple.. as you said Hun I really dont want to burst his bubble, if this is how hes dealing with it let it be..

Deb- Bless you Deb you know so much! I have a note book whenever im on here to jot down everything! Hun I have read Farah Hospital in Amman (Jordan) there suppose to be one of the best on the world! For ICSI and IVF, and i have read a couple paid no more that £4000 for the full ICSI, People travel from all over UK, USA, EUROPE etc etc and the feedback is amazing. There also the best in the world for Gender selection (didnt even know that existed?) and the success rate is great! I read a women from London had 4 boys really wanted a girl and yes he managed to help her! imagine if he's perfect choosing the correct sex that you desire, Women like us dont mind what he puts back in us as long as its a healthy I really have faith in him and its much closer to us than USA... Really hun theres so much more out there than our local Drs telling us bad news Again im ahead of myself but If it has to be Im willing to go and do everything humanly possible. Theres a forum with 1000s of women chatting and sharing their experiences, not read anything bad yet??

Again your all in my prayers xx

The waiting Game is more the killer than anything else

Be strong and healthy xx

 

[Flake-y]

I know i never noticed his testicles are small either!!! but hey ho!!

Its just so frustrating isnt it? its been a complete waste of 8 months because we are right at the start of the process still!!atleast we seem on the right track now!!
I will ask all of these things when we go back!! I cant belive they would couldnt carry out the procedure even with 3 sperm!! it would of been worth seeing if it would of been succsesful surely??!!!

Hope you have a lovely xmas too!! looking forward to some time off although one of my OH close friends has just text to say they are expecting! not great timing but owell!! we just feel really angry now like why us?!

x x x x

Sorry you didn;t get any definite answers, but hopefully like you said, you are on the right track & you can only go forward from here!!!!

 

[Flake-y]

Morning Ladies

I just feel like im getting myself so worked up cant seem to shake off my panic attacks? . Ladies sorry for being a pain but in regards to the Semen Analysis when you got both results back was it ZERO ZERO? or were there dead ones in there? I mean was it black and white NOTHING in the sample?? So sorry for asking?? or when they saw the dead ones they didnt bother to mention them and say that they were ZERO SAMPLE?

I have just read the full thread all morning (God bless you women your all tough cookies, it scares me to think I have a longggg road ahead of me!) It seems that SSR isnt that Magical?? It seems like they either find nothing? or when they do there not really any use? or they just find a couple that NHS will not entertain??

Love and hugs xx Thank you in advance for your replies especially the Semen Analysis results? xx

Hey Nayla;

Our SA was zero sperm, no dead or alive ones at all, just nothing.

As for the SSR, whether it works or not really depends on what the problem is; it does seem from reading the thread that it doesn't work that much, but I think we've all just had bad luck! Like Deb said, there are a couple of ladies on BnB who have had successful SSRs & have gone on to get pregnant through ISCI. So it does & can work!!!!

And, like Deb said, ICSI doesn't mean you will have twins, it all depends on the egg quality, your age & AMH, & what clinic you go to. For me, my clinic have strongly recommended single embyro transfer, unless I get very few eggs & they are poor quailty. Honestly though, I'd rather have just one. Twins would be too much like hard work!!!

 

[HopeWhispers]

Hi Ladies,

I have read your thread from the beginning. It's taken me several days and I've cried more than once, but I'm so relieved to have found it. I've been looking for the sort of support you are all offering to one another for over a year. It probably shouldn't have taken me so long to find, but then maybe I wasn't ready to do this until now.

A bit about me:

My OH (is that other half? 'Scuse me, I don't know the lingo!) and I are not trying to conceive, and actually never have been. Our discovery of his infertility came through another, but also traumatic, route. He was told in Aug 09 that he had a testicular tumour. We had not found a lump or anything, and it really was found by chance - it was a bolt out of the blue. We were told that only a very small proportion of testicular tumours turn out to be benign, so we had to start preparing ourselves for the high likelihood that he had cancer. Sadly, he had an injury as a little boy, and one of his testicles had been removed. So we were looking at cancer in his only remaining testicle.

I think the normal route that is taken with testicular cancer (where the man has two testicles) is to simply remove the one with the tumour (the proportion of testicular tumours that are benign is only something like 3-4%). However, because he only had one testicle left, my OH was sent before his op to try and store sperm. Two separate sperm analyses were done - both showed zero sperm. Obviously, he needed the op to remove the cancer asap, so after the second zero result the cancer op was scheduled. An embryologist was arranged to attend at the op so that he could do the SSR of any sperm that were there. We were hopeful that the tumour may be causing an obstruction, and that we would have his sperm frozen for us to use in the future.

When op day came it was the most difficult day of my life. It was agonising to watch him go through all of it, and the results were devastating: biopsy showed the tumour was definitely cancerous; testicle was removed so that OH now had no testicles; and embryologist had been able to retrieve no sperm. Pretty much a triple whammy of the worst possible results.

We had to pick ourselves up from the initial shock and get on with dealing with the cancer. Fortunately, we found out several weeks later that it had not spread, and no further treatment was needed - just monitoring to make sure it doesn't come back. We are now over a year cancer-free!

We are now living in the aftermath of it all. I worry about the cancer coming back. There are the psychological problems for him dealing not only with being unable to have babies, but also having no testicles. He also can not produce any testosterone, so there are painful testosterone replacement treatments. The stress of the whole thing has left me with some physical symptoms of the continuing anxiety of my own. But by far, for me, the most difficult part of it is dealing with the fact that I will never have his children.

I'm not sure yet how I feel about donor sperm, but it's our only option for me to conceive and carry a baby. A counsellor mentioned to me that "they" are working on a treatment that would use donor sperm but remove the donor DNA and replace with OH's DNA. Has anyone heard of this? I don't think it's a treatment available at the moment, but something researchers are looking into. It seems like if it is something that is being researched, it may not come to anything, or at least be too far in the future for us. Like I said, we are not TTC but expect that we will be at some point.

Through all of this, we never once got to speak to a fertility doctor, so I really don't know much (anything) about the treatments. Could any of you who know tell me what sort of say you have with the NHS about the attributes of the donor? I'm assuming that you would only be offered sperm from someone without a history of serious illness/genetic problems, but can you specify e.g. hair and eye colour? It sounds superficial but one of the issues I have about whether or not we would tell our children that they were not biologically ours/his is whether it would become obvious. I find it hard to imagine our future family sometimes because there are so many gaps in the picture, and things like that help me to close the gaps. It's not like I ever had a clear picture of what our family would be like in the past, I was just content to know (think) that there would be a future family!

I have not shared the full extent of what we've gone through with many of my friends or family. Some know, but others I just felt were too remote, or would say the sort of inane, insensitive things that I see some of you have experienced. I'm finding it difficult now that the few I have confided in don't want to talk about it any more. For some, it's old news and I feel I'm dragging them down and being all doom and gloom when I mention it. Others, I know, find it hard to know how much it still hurts me, and it's kinder to them not to let them know how much it still hurts and still occupies most of my thoughts most of the time. So any support you ladies can give is really very, very much appreciated.

So much of what you talk about in this thread is close to home for me, either because I have been there and felt it in the past, or because I know it waits for me in my future. There are quite a few of you on here and I'm afraid I can't quite remember everyone's own story yet, but I wish you all the very best in your various tests and treatments.

Love to you all.

 

[april4jdg]

I hope this helps a little- from what I have seen- you can google sperm banks- there are a lot of different ones- and it is kind of like a catalog, with the donor's info- occupation, hair color, eye color, build, weight, texture of hair, ethnicity, parent's ethnicities, picture of them as a child, and some as an adult, some have handwriting samples, some have voice interviews with them, some have the sperm bank staff's opinions of them, they are always tested to for disease, etc- they have all the disease stuff on there- it is the law they have to do that, and family histories on them, all kinds of stuff...they have basic profiles that are free, and some you pay more and get more info. they will even tell you if they have achieved any pregnancies before.

Hope this helps

 

[Deb111]

Hi HopeWhispers

Welcome to the group. I'm so sorry you have been through so much but glad to hear that the news on your OH's health is good.

I know where you're coming from when you say that you feel people don't want to keep hearing about how much it hurts still. People either don't understand and make inane comments or understand and are very supportive, but you get the impression they think you should be "over it" by now.

One thing I know for sure is that you will get a lot of support here - there are some great ladies here, all at different stages of this.

Take care
Deb x

 

[Nayla82]

Hi Ladies I hope you all had a Merry Christmas

HopeWhispers- 1000 Hugs coming your way What a very painful journey you have been through xx Excellent to know your O.H is in the best health and got the all clear, and hopefully 2011 will just go from strength from strength for you My knowledge is not the best when it comes to S/D but there a couple of women who have used Doners and im sure will explain everything to you... Stay Strong and Healthy and Welcome to This Thread xx

Jo- Thanks for your answers dear, My Husbands handing in his 2nd Semen Analysis Tomorrow and im getting very nervous what it will be? Im just trying to prepare myself for the results? I know im not being realistic by saying there will be a few million sperms in his sample tomorrow (I wish ) I dont think it can jump from ZERO to a few Million in 2 weeks?? I guess I will have to wait and see? Sorry What does AMH Mean? I know what you mean twins can be a handful and it will all depend on our eggs when and if they do ICSI. I read 65% oF Pregnancy with ICSI thats an excellent statistic Really looking forward for when you get your soon 2011 has to be our year!

Again started to do more research and Im getting little confused with TESE and SSR? I have read one is just an injection that tries to suck all the sperms out? and the other is a slice it open operation? I just thought its the cutting open of the testicles thats the main way to find the sperms?
if you dont mind me asking ladies why didnt Drs use the fine injection? less invasive? or with the SSR they have a better chance in finding more Sperms?? or you did them both? I would just love my husband having the injection? Hes a wimp when it comes to surgery.

I guess on Wednesday we will get the results on the 2nd sample and what the Urologist want us to do from there? My husband said I cant go with him when he gets the results and has a chat i just hope and pray he hears everything and tells me everything. I will just be waiting by the phone and praying for any good news

I will update you all in a few days. Please keep me in your precious Prayers.

I hope everyone is enjoying the Break x

 

[Deb111]

Wishing you lots of luck for tomorrow Nayla. You will be in my thoughts and prayers xx

 

[Flake-y]

Hopewhispers-welcome to the thread, hope you get lots of support here. Sorry to hear about all you have gone through, but glad that your OH is now in good health.

Nayla-lots of luck for tomorrrow, will be thinking of you. Hope the results are better.

With regards to your questions about the SSR, I will tell you what I know! We were told that if a blockage is suspected, they will do an aspiration, which I think is just a needle taking fluid from the tubes that come out of the testicles. Straight away the fluid will be looked at under a microscope to see if there is sperm there. If there isn't any sperm, they can do a TESE, which is basically taking many small biopsies of the testicles. The bits they take will be looked at under a microscope again to see if there is sperm.

I think there are other SSR-type ops, a PESA or something similar, I think they might be for men that have had vasectomies, so they know there is sperm there. I'm not totally sure though, cause my DH didn't have those, he just had the aspiration & the TESE.

Oh, and AMH is a blood test that tells you your egg reserve, that is, the number of eggs you have left in your ovaries. The higher the number the more you have, so you've got a better chance of getting more eggs retreived during IVF/ICSI, and also a higher pregnancy potential. Apparently!!!

 

[Nayla82]

Morning Ladies

Thanks again Jo for clearing that up I just hope and pray that my husband will not have to perform the SSR and that they find some sperms with TESE... Its just very daunting the unknown. Thanks also for explaining the AMH blood test im sure that I have all that to look forward for ,

I think once i know that my husband has a few healthy sperms i will definitely go back and see my Gyno and get all the necessary checks done... (I just hope that my stuff are behaving , as i went in for Reflexology last night, as a relaxing treat and she pressed a point on my feet was very very tender and sore.. I asked her thats very painful, her words 'mmm interesting thats your Reproductive organs, do you have your periods regular and you have been checked...' I was thinking Damn it! just hope its nothing sinister she said i would get it checked if she was me.. I keep teling myself its only my foot and i should not be to paranoid.


Well we handed in his Semen Analysis this morning, I timed it from the second he did the sample to us handing it in to the staff he took 14min and i have never seen my husband drive the way he did (luckily there was not a soul on the road and the green lights were kind ) it was tucked in safely in his boxers lets just see what happens tomorrow as we get the result after 4pm..

I woke up wide eyed since 5 this Morning, had a dream that it was Zero count with No Dead Sperm this time 100% Zero, Than the Urologist says to us ' I cant do anything else for you both its beyond my knowledge go and find a new Doctor' that dream was so so real it shook me up, and I was frantically yelling that I know women online that have done X Y and Z, This cant be the end.. the Dream ends by him saying please leave the Room... I didnt want to share my dream with my husband just hope im wrong!

I better make myself some breakfast, they have the sample nothing more can be done. I kept saying to my husband do you think it was more than last time? you were comfortable at home so i think you were less stressed than forcing yourself to do in a small dingy room... He was like where ever I do the sample the results will be the same.

I must have stressed out the Lab people big time I was saying to them can you please centrifuge the sample! can you please please take it in now time is running out, can you please get a senior staff to do it and please please find something was a very sweet man that told me we can not centrifuge the sample as the Urologist just wants the semen analysis.... I said Ok can you please please try and find some alive..? He said we will do our best... I dont know what came over me... I guess im just a desperate women that wants to be a Mother My Husband just stood behind me quietly thinking let me ask away...

Im so so scared Ladies i think im talking forever! hope im making sense

Enjoy your day

Love and Hugs xx

 

[Pink Lolly]

Hi All

Hope you all managed to enjoy Christmas and had a good break from work!

Nayla - We are also waiting for the second SA results too - ours was actually taken to the lab last Tues but we're actually not getting the results until next week. We could have got them on Christmas Eve but decided that we didn't want to ruin Christmas, and we are both back to work tomorrow and mega busy for the three days so decided to wait and get them next week so we have an appointment on Wednesday. We are already expecting a zero result - last time ours was completely zero (none alive or dead) so figured we would try to forget about it over Christmas and waiting a few more days wouldn't hurt. I'll let update you next week when I have some news.

Of course in reality we actually didn't manage to forget it at all over Christmas! In fact I felt quite emotional on Christmas day seeing all the babies in the family. Partly because I'm sad that we seem to have wanted a baby forever and can't believe this is happening to us, and partly because I am also quite scared of what lies ahead. I'm sure all of you ladies know exactly how I feel....

We have our appointment at the Reproductive Centre at the end of Jan so at least thats not too long to wait and hopefully we might get an idea of what tests etc are next and hopefully the time will go quickly.

Take Care and love to you all - hopefully 2011 will be a good year for us xxx

 

[Deb111]

Nayla - will be thinking about you tomorrow and praying that you get some more positive news xx

Pink lolly - Christmas is such a hard time isn't it? I hope you are able to get some positive news and information and move on with your journey towards that bfp xx

 

[Flake-y]

Good luck for your results Nayla for tomorrow, & pinklolly for next week.

 

[Nayla82]

Morning I will pop in before im off to work, Thank you for your lovely msgs xx

Today is the day, Zero? Something? Nothing? explanation? I didnt sleep a wink! Im soooo nervous just want to get the ball rolling! its just gone 5.30am and we will not know till after 4pm seems hours and hours away.... My Husband is making predictions how many will they find? he said he just wants 3 healthy ones... I said please prepare for nothing also... (secretly i would love for a couple also)

Ohhh Will update you all later tonight xx Thank you so much for the love and support you all have given me in the last 2 weeks I would have been blinded by it all by now, You girls really is all I have when it comes to opening up and discussing this awful situation God Bless u all xx

Pink Lolly- I know the butterflies and the fear of the unknown i keep telling myself like the book SECRET when you think good things it will happen...? so im trying to say to myself 2nd results has to be a wee be stronger.... Will know by the end of today, All the best for next week Hun x

Enjoy your day everyone xx and thanks again for all the support

 

[Deb111]

Just stopping by to see if there's any news?

Hope you and hubby are doing ok hun xx

 

[Nayla82]

Hi Ladies,

Hope everyone is well x

Ok we got our 2nd Result yesterday and it was 2, but not the healthiest or active 2 sperms ever but he mentioned there was 2 sperms in the whole sample that need alot of looking after (in other words not sure if they would get the all clear for ICSI?) Hearts of hearts Im over the moon that they found 2 even though there were barely alive.. I truly am overjoyed

The action plan that the Urologist gave was that today my husband has to go for Testicle Ultrasound or the Xray my husband forgot which one but he knows that he has to drink 1Ltr of water before the test (Any Ideas ladies which test it is? and can they say if theres blockage there and than?)

My Husband also had a blood test yesterday for FSH TESTORONE LH not got a clue what they will be looking for but I hope and pray that the Blood tests will hold clues.

On Monday 3rd Jan The Urologist will discuss the Blood test results and the scan that will be done today. Urologist will give him the required Medicine that he has to take for the next 3 Months than go back in for another Sample too see whether a fresh batch of sperm and the medicine has managed to increase the count or made any difference? I think this will Take us to April Or May?

Im scared that in 3 Months it might go back to Zero? anything is possible now, All I can do is sit back and wait for Spring. Don't want to convince myself that all will be amazing in 3 Months just going to take each day now as it comes.. ( I feel like im wishing my life away! as i want spring to be here now)

Im not sure why my Husband is more upset this time around?? last time he was very upset and he seems to have took the result very badly? ok there were 2 not so great sperms but its better than 0 and dead? but I really believe he thought the 1st test was 100% wrong and this sample would be normal..? I just hope and pray he excepts it now and focus on being healthy and happy the best we can be.

Husband said to me the Urologist said its IMPOSSIBLE for us to get pregnant naturally ever.. and maybe just maybe ICSI/IVF will help and even than theres no gurantee. I told my husband for the past 2 weeks I have been more than 100% aware this will NOT happen naturally and i have read so much about ICSI so dont worry (Again with his old fashioned way of thinking he still thought I could get pregnant the natural way)

Thank you again ladies for all the love and support and very warm words I will update you on Monday about his blood test results and the medicine that he will be given... He already taking Zinc and Omega3 any others you can recommend? I just want the best result he can give in 3 Months

Hope you all have a lovely day.

Just feel 2011 will be a very Longggg year for me, Im sure it will all be worth every tear and every heartache

 

[Deb111]

Hi Nayla

I'm glad the news was slightly more positive yesterday

My hubby's testosterone levels are very low and we're currently looking into what can be done about that naturally as increasing it artificially would actually make things worse.

If his FSH level is high it indicates that the testes are not working properly as his body is having to produce extra FSH in an attempt to get things working. If his FSH is low, they can give him something to increase this which will hopefully increase his sperm production.

I can't find the notes I made about LH from our consultations, but found this ...

"In men, LH controls the production of testosterone from the testes and FSH controls the production of sperm. High LH and FSH levels are due to primary testicular failure. This can be due to developmental defects in testicular growth or to testicular injury."

My hubby takes wellman conception and omega 3 as we wanted to make sure that any sperm that were there were as healthy and strong as possible.

Is your hubby letting you go to the next appt with him?

Stay strong hun xx

 

[Flake-y]

Hey Nayla, Glad the reaults were a bit better for you, hope the blood tests give some answers as to what could be causing the problem!!!

 

[Nayla82]

Thank you so much Debs for all that information, really saves me jumping through 1001 pages xx on Monday I'm looking for low FSH and low LH, I'm a little nervous what will be said? If you don't mind me asking how high is high?? With 2 barely alive sperms I'm more than certain all his blood tests will be high

Also I'm still not allowed to go to his appointment on Monday it's really getting me down. Yesterday before he saw his urologist he was sending me 100's of MSG's asking what should he ask the dr and was the word centruficing the sample I typed centrifuging!! Than he msgs me Claudia to see will the dr give it to him.?? I said its Clomid ask for that!! I was getting myself in a pickle texting awAy at my desk I so wish he would just let me go.

I told him it's our results he's like leave me be, I don't butt into your GYno appointments and I don't want you to get involved in mine?? he's very angry at me. I don't know ladies by the time this 3 months is over I really don't know the state our mArriage will be in?.

After Monday we are not allowed to bring up babies appointments sperms Nothing, just pretend this month didn't happen and wait till April quietly I will do my best. I wish our relationship was as open and we can discuss freely everything. He's just a very very angry man and when I tell him happy stories I read online he doesn't want to know

Just having a down day, my period is due soon, the past 2weeks feels like I have been thrown in the washing machine full spin!!! I'm just overwhelmed. No one to open up to just you ladies x

Debs I hope they find some natural way to increase your husbands Test levels as I'm also wiry of all these strong drugs that cAn just make matters worse


Thanks Jo will update you all with the numbers on monday xx just want to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Thanks again ladies, xx sorry for sounding mushy but I'm so blessed to find you all x