Dealing with azoospermia?

[deafgal01]

Googled that to research some more into it after reviewing that page as you suggested... Interesting... My husband is on medicine for his gas reflux thing. My dr said that shouldn't be a problem but we'll find out eventually after he undergoes more testings (another sperm count and another blood test). Be interesting to find out if that's the side effect of that medicine or if it's something else.

Hopefully in our case, it's an easy fix. We will see... It still doesn't explain why we never conceived before that medicine though (he didn't start this medicine until July 2011) so that's 6 months of unexplained possibility (taking into account we've been trying since Dec. 2010). I'm keeping an open mind but at the same time I'm trying to prepare my heart for the possibility that they'll have other news that we'll have to accept (surgery or sperm donor or something else). More waiting to see. I never thought I would be so eager to find out the results of my stuff but I have to remind myself that all in time will be given to us to know.

Dr wants me to do OPK to track my ovulation. Not sure how that's going to help since it appears the problem is on DH's side but I will do it anyways so they can see what the pattern is in terms of my ovulation cycles. It's weird, first two days of finding out, I was torn up inside and on the brisk of tears all day long. Since having that "girls' night in" at a girlfriend's house and letting her in on the secret that we may need help conceiving, she's been extremely supportive (ironically cuz she's single and not trying) but it was just what I needed at that time. I've been upbeat since then but keeping my mind open to more "bad" news in terms of us conceiving naturally. I'll have time to cry about it later since we don't know enough right now.

How are you ladies doing? I hope the ones who are trying right now get their bfps finally with the help of drs. As for those of us who are still just finding out about this, I hope that you get your referrals and tests done asap so that we can all get our forever babies. For the ones who already have success, thank you for giving us hope that in the end we can still have our babies.

 

[Deb111]

Well, it looks like we're starting our FET cycle tomorrow

For those of you who haven't read ALL about it in my journal, it's been a really hard decision figuring out whether to do it in Jan or Feb

I phoned the clinic this morning (the first day they were open after christmas / new year) to see if they could fit me in for my scan either wed, thurs or fri morning, thinking they might say they couldn't and then I'd have had to go with Feb, but I have an appt at 10am tomorrow but I'm still not sure if it's the right month to be doing it. Hopefully I will feel more reassured once I have been tomorrow. The clinic said I'm fine physically to go for FET after having a couple of months off after the ICSI, I'm just not sure if I'm ready mentally or emotionally, but then again, I'm not sure I'm mentally or emotionally up to waiting another month when it's always been January I've been aiming for

 

[deafgal01]

Deb GOOD LUCK GIRL! I hope this helps you get your bfp!

 

[raelynn]

It's weird, first two days of finding out, I was torn up inside and on the brisk of tears all day long. Since having that "girls' night in" at a girlfriend's house and letting her in on the secret that we may need help conceiving, she's been extremely supportive (ironically cuz she's single and not trying) but it was just what I needed at that time. I've been upbeat since then but keeping my mind open to more "bad" news in terms of us conceiving naturally. I'll have time to cry about it later since we don't know enough right now.

This sounds like me exactly! I was a mess for two days straight. Everything seemed to bring me to tears. I finally broke down and spoke with my sister about it. I cried my eyes out to her. She had very little in terms of advice or information since she too is single and not trying but she just let me sob and told me it would happen one way or another and that when it does happen I'll be a great mom. That must have been exactly what I needed. Since then I have a whole new attitude. I know we can tackle this. It will be a rough journey but we'll make it and we'll have our baby eventually (whether naturally, using donor, or adopting) and that baby will be loved to death because of this struggle for it.

 

[deafgal01]

rae Fingers crossed that eventually somewhere at end of that journey we all get our babies (whether it be from our men's sperms, or a donor, or adoption)... One way or another we'll get there.

 

[CanadianMaple]

I tried to go to work the day after we found out and my boss sent me home. I tried to give her a head's up and couldn't get a handle on myself. It was truly awful. Like someone died. We had pictured out baby, had names, and everyone knew we were TTC. It was like that little bundle was ripped out of our arms.

I feel lucky, I have a 3.5 year old from a previous partner. He's pretty much MIA so we are going to see an adoption lawyer on Friday to atleast see if DH can adopt him. He's his father in every sense of the word. It makes me bitter though. My husband is raising someone else's child, and the bio dad can't even pick up the phone or pay support. How can deadbeats have kids but nice people with their ducks in a row cannot.

It seems like we have had a lot of stress on our plate. Adoption lawyer, our fridge died today and had a burning smell, my DH got into a fender bender that almost drained our savings, closing costs on our new mortgage. We're taking hit after hit after we got our first SA back.

Let's hope that our luck starts changing. I'm trying so hard to stay positive.

 

[deafgal01]

oh canadian! It's got to turn around for you sooner or later. do u do anything to help you feel better? Lately I've been looking up quotes to pick one to put in my journal to remind myself that life goes on and I can still look on the good things of life.

 

[raelynn]

I can recommend a book I'm enjoying so far. It is about dealing with infertility and it is called "Every Drunken Cheerleader: Why not me?!" I thought the title was perfect.

It definitely helps to know we're not all alone in the infertility struggle. Unfortunately, it is still really tough to go through all this. So thankful for you ladies!

On a side note, do you ladies still take your temperatures and chart and use opks and such? I'm thinking about just taking a break from it all and stopping obsessing over every little thing since it doesn't really make much of a difference at this point. But, if there is a reason I should keep tracking, I certainly will.

 

[deafgal01]

I gave up temping when I went back to work cuz my sleep schedule is all over the place due to working 3rd shift and part time school. However I will start using opk this coming cycle so my dr can see the pattern with my ovulation cycles.

 

[silverbell]

Hey ladies.

Sorry to just barge in here, but I have a question to those ladies whose partners have undergone microTESE or TESE. My husband has asked and I thought some of you ladies might know.

How do they 'sew' up the incision? Is it actual stitches or glue of some sort?

Thanks to anybody who knows.

 

[silverbell]

I tried to go to work the day after we found out and my boss sent me home. I tried to give her a head's up and couldn't get a handle on myself. It was truly awful. Like someone died. We had pictured out baby, had names, and everyone knew we were TTC. It was like that little bundle was ripped out of our arms.

That's precisely how we felt. We had to go home from work when we found out (mid-afternoon) - we both just said we felt unwell, which was true. I thought I was going to be sick. Then the following day we got into work but I kept crying every 10 minutes in the loo and sometimes I didn't make it to the loo and in the end I broke down to my massage therapist (who is also a counsellor) as I had an appointment that day. She said I should go home and so we did and we told work we wouldn't be in the next day either and we stated 'emotional shock' and didn't tell them anything else.

We needed those few days to just be together and let it all sink in and to cry. Because crying at home and together is much easier than crying at work and trying to hide it. That first week was the worst of my life.

Well ladies, we just received the call for the results of the 2nd SA. Same results as before, no sperm present. I guess I'm an official member of the dealing with azoospermia club

DH is currently very dismissive. This is hard for him to accept. We're going to make an appointment with the fertility specialist next. What should we expect to happen there? Just wondering what our next steps will be...hopefully we can move forward fairly quickly though it seems everything in dealing with infertility takes forever.

I am so sorry, raelynn. I had hoped it was a dodgy first test. I know how you feel right now and I am sending lots of your way.

I would imagine they'll do blood tests on your DH and they may scan his groin if they feel there are any abnormalities or anything like that (they don't all do this though). They scanned my DH because they could feel a lump in one of his testicles (it was just a harmless cyst) and because his testicles are apparently smaller than average. If you can, try to push for genetic tests if there is no other reason why your DH might have azoo (ie. no past hernia surgery or injury to the testicles, no drug history etc). The 3 recommended genetic tests are Y-microdeletions, Cystic Fibrosis Carrier and Karyotype. I'm in the UK and took print-outs of various medical sites on the internet stating it was worth checking these and I had also found out in advance where the samples could be taken and where to send them. This meant my GP was happy to do them for DH and ultimately we found out the reason for DH's azoo, which for us helped enormously (though a lot of men unfortunately never find out).

They'll likely then start talking about some kind of surgery to see if they can retrieve any sperm.

I am in the UK though and it does seem to vary a lot abroad. (I'm not sure where you live)

I hope you get some answers soon

---

That link is amazing, Tiger. Thank you so much for sharing. It lightens my heart to think that one day in the future couples like us won't have to go through all of this. It's amazing what they're doing.

 

[deafgal01]

Hey ladies.

Sorry to just barge in here, but I have a question to those ladies whose partners have undergone microTESE or TESE. My husband has asked and I thought some of you ladies might know.

How do they 'sew' up the incision? Is it actual stitches or glue of some sort?

Thanks to anybody who knows.

I don't know... I'm still new to all this so hopefully someone gets back to you with an answer.

 

[Deb111]

Hey ladies.

Sorry to just barge in here, but I have a question to those ladies whose partners have undergone microTESE or TESE. My husband has asked and I thought some of you ladies might know.

How do they 'sew' up the incision? Is it actual stitches or glue of some sort?

Thanks to anybody who knows.

The only incision that was visible SB was one at the front of the sack - what was internal I don't know but there must have been some in the testicle he operated on.

The stitches were just disolvable ones that were there for 2 - 3 weeks and then disappeared

 

[wibble wobble]

Hey ladies.

Sorry to just barge in here, but I have a question to those ladies whose partners have undergone microTESE or TESE. My husband has asked and I thought some of you ladies might know.

How do they 'sew' up the incision? Is it actual stitches or glue of some sort?

Thanks to anybody who knows.

Hi silverbell my hubby had disolvable stitches when he had his Tese. The consultant saw him for a post op 5 days later and checked that all was healing as it should be

 

[silverbell]

Thank you so much, both!

Deb - did your DH need to be seen by the Consultant again following the op to check on healing or was that it? Obviously we don't want to travel to London again so I'm hoping if he is supposed to get the wound checked that Mr R will agree that we can get this done by our GP.

 

[Deb111]

No SB - with the first SSR (TESE) on the NHS, they told him to book in with nurse at GP surgery (after a week I think it was) to check all was ok and to go sooner if we were concerned about weeping / infection etc, but all was fine.

No need to go back and see Mr R at all and we weren't told to even get it checked out by nurse or GP, but to contact him or GP if we were concerned. As long as you / hubby keep an eye on things and make sure there's no weeping, hotness or anything that looks nasty, he'll be fine

 

[silverbell]

No SB - with the first SSR (TESE) on the NHS, they told him to book in with nurse at GP surgery after a week I think it was to check all was ok and to go sooner if we were concerned about weeping / infection etc, but all was fine.

No need to go back and see Mr R at all and we weren't told to even get it checked out by nurse or GP, but to contact him or GP if we were concerned. As long as you / hubby keep an eye on things and make sure there's no weeping, hotness or anything that looks nasty, he'll be fine

Thanks so much, Deb

I hope all went well today? x

 

[Deb111]

All good thanks SB - apart from the small panic attack I had when I got to the clinic - weird . No cysts etc so fine to proceed. Next scan on Tuesday

 

[deafgal01]

Deb- fingers crossed the scan shows something next week. Grow baby!

 

[Deb111]

Deb- fingers crossed the scan shows something next week. Grow baby!

Deafgal - the scan wont show anything in particular with an FET (frozen embryo transfer) - it is simply to help them pinpoint when ovulation will be so that I know when to administer the HCG injection and they know when to time it to put the embryo back in