Dealing with azoospermia?

[raelynn]

Well we have a tentative appointment with the RE. They still have to sort out our insurance to be sure but we're scheduled for Jan 30 if they can figure it all out. I'm looking forward to a little down time and am going to try not to stress out for a little while (Easier said than done, I know). I'm sure Jan 30 will be here before we know it.

 

[deafgal01]

Good luck Rae! Hope that appointment works out and you're able to relax until then.

 

[silverbell]

Canadian Maple I never thought anything of hubby's small testicles until we got to the fertility clinic and the consultant measured them. I never asked why but from being on forums and talking to others whose partners have been diagnosed with NOA it seems to be a common characteristic in the men with it. There's still every chance they'll find sperm when they do a Tese. 1 friend got given a 5% chance they'd find sperm and she's almost 6 months pregnant now.

Canadian Maple - small testicles are a sign of testicular failure which is, of course, closely associated with NOA. Testicular failure means the testicles are not producing adequate amounts of Testosterone and/or sperm. It is quite normal to have a low Testosterone in combination with small testicles.

I've did quite a bit of research in the past and read some papers about NOA and there is not really any particular test or finding that can definitely, absolutely rule out any sperm production going on in the testicles. It doesn't matter what the testicles look like, what the blood results show, what the history is - the experts will not be able to say for sure if sperm is being produced or not until they undertake testicular surgery, such as TESE. So 2 different men could have the exact same test results and physical appearances, but 1 could end up with sperm found and 1 could end up with zero sperm found. If I remember rightly there is only 1 genetic test result that would stop the experts checking for sperm this way and that is a y-microdeletion called AZFa or AZFb. They usually won't check for sperm in this case because there has never been a reported successful sperm retrieval to date. Also I believe that the deletion can be passed down to a child.

I hope this helps. Definitely don't give up hope yet.

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Raelynn - that's really soon and will soon be here

 

[Sar187]

I just wanted to give a little more information on the y-microdeletion. Silverbell is correct in that it could be passed down to the children, I know a woman on another board who's DH has this. They were also told that if they were to find sperm (very unlikely) Not only could it pass down to the male children but a female child could be born with male characteristics and a possible combination of both female and male parts.

Raelynn-I hope everything works out with the appointment! It will be here before you know it.

Silverbell-DH's TESE is getting closing, you are in my thoughts and prayers!

 

[Deb111]

Great news about the appt raelynn

 

[MissAma]

OMG Deb l am not even reading till the last post l have to cheer! W0ot for FET!!! Fingers uber crossed!!!

Silver - had both glue and absorbable stitches he says there is no difderence.

 

[CanadianMaple]

Pity party here tonight. Why do we need to go deep into debt to have a baby? It's not fair... What if we go in debt and still don't have a baby?

 

[raelynn]

I completely agree! Caring for a baby will be expensive enough! Now we have to add on all the costs to just get the chance of a baby. We're working on trying to switch our appointment to another fertility center which is not as convenient to get to as the first one but has better coverage by our insurance just because of this. I guess I should be thankful that hubby and I both have full time jobs to help support us through this.

 

[deafgal01]

That is my biggest concern... hope you gets yours on the least amount of debt needed. I agree it shouldn't cost us money to try for a baby! It's not our fault that we need help for conceiving.

 

[silverbell]

I couldn't agree more about the financial aspect. It's horrible that us ladies and couples have to do all this through no fault of our own. It can really get quite depressing if you focus on it and the unfairness too much though.

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Well, ladies, wish me luck. It's hubby's microTESE tomorrow morning. We'll know the results by Wednesday evening. We've prepared ourselves for a negative result after being given a 5% chance of success, but I still think it'll be incredibly upsetting if it's confirmed. Still, it will be such a relief to know for sure. 7 months is too long to have waited for that.

Will be sure to post on here on Wednesday to let you guys know the results.

Take care of yourselves.

 

[deafgal01]

Silver- good luck I am praying and hoping you get some good news from that!

 

[KB38]

Hi Silverbell, I thought I remembered your DH's m-TESE. Thinking of you, sweet, and sending lots of hugs your way

 

[raelynn]

Good luck silverbell! Praying for some good news for you!

 

[Bookworm]

Deb good luck with this cycle - DH & I both have everything crossed for you, take good care of yourself. Are you planning on choking down the pomegranate juice? I can't even look at walnuts atm

Silverbell - thinking about you today too. I hope all goes well and DH has a good recovery and with a good result too!

Sar - so sorry to hear about the job! I hope the stress isn't taking over too much, good luck with find something else. You have an app today right? Hope that goes well!!

SND - so pleased you've got a target and are doing so well on meeting it! Good luck with everything

Raelynn, Deafgal, Canadian Maple - I hope you're all bearing up The stage you're at right now is awful; I struggled to cope I have to admit and the uncertainty for the future makes it so much worse - but try not to drive yourselves to crazy focusing on the worst case scenario... I tend to do that, I've lost so much sleep at every stage of this convincing myself that we're going to get the worst news. Of course it's good to educate yourselves and have an idea of whats coming, what tests there are, and to know what to ask the doctors! But I guess what I'm saying is that a lot of this is already decided, there's not very much you can do to change the outcome of the tests so if you can do it try not to drive yourself nuts during the wait.... though that is so much easier said than done and I'm such a hypocrite to give that advice because I've never worked out how to do it myself even now....

With charting I did chart for a couple of months but luckily enough everything was pretty regular and 'normal' and I'd only started after more than a year of TTC when it was becoming very stressful and clear we had a problem, so I stopped before we even had a diagnosis because it was making (more) obsessed. I did OPK right up to the diagnosis though (ever hopeful) but stopped after that - my cycles were pretty regular and I o'ed everymonth with a stable luteal phase so I didn't really see the point in wasting the money once we knew natural conception wasn't possible. I've always kept a note of my cycles though just so I could plan once we were ready for ICSI.
But I think it depends on the couple, on the cause of the azoo and on the woman's cycles etc

 

[wibble wobble]

I couldn't agree more about the financial aspect. It's horrible that us ladies and couples have to do all this through no fault of our own. It can really get quite depressing if you focus on it and the unfairness too much though.

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Well, ladies, wish me luck. It's hubby's microTESE tomorrow morning. We'll know the results by Wednesday evening. We've prepared ourselves for a negative result after being given a 5% chance of success, but I still think it'll be incredibly upsetting if it's confirmed. Still, it will be such a relief to know for sure. 7 months is too long to have waited for that.

Will be sure to post on here on Wednesday to let you guys know the results.

Take care of yourselves.

Will be thinking of you tomorrow, I really hope it goes well for you both. I know from personal experience that it destroys you inside if the result is negative,even if you know it's a possibility it isn't really a possibility... if you get what I mean. I really hope you don't have to go through it

 

[snd80]

Good luck SB! Praying for you girl!!!!

 

[Deb111]

Stopping by with hugs SB - thinking of you both xx

 

[deafgal01]

Silver- I'll be thinking of you and your husband tomorrow. Hope things go well.

Book- thanks for your input. I was so upset the first two days after the first SA but have been cautiously neutral about the whole thing since. I still have my moments where I cry but I try to focus on the positives- like at least now we can find out what's wrong and how they can help us, etc. rather than continue the journey in the dark unaware. I know I'll have my good and bad days in dealing with this but I'll deal with it as it comes rather than prepare myself for the worst or the best (do the research and listen and check stuff out so that I know the WIDE range of what could possibly happen). DH doesn't want to deal with it unless we know more about it- aka don't deal with it until we cross that bridge (so for the time being we've not discussed sperm donor or adoption since finding out). He's open to adoption if we can't have babies, but I'd like to experience "being pregnant" myself so if I could get a sperm donor (which I hope it won't get to that point but if it does), I'd like to go that path- but DH needs more time to think on that. Like I said, we're not gonna address anything until we know more or have tried more things. It is frustrating at times because it's a wait (and sometimes waiting is the hardest part).

My Dr (from the appt Dec. 28th) played phone tag with my husband- Friday and today. Finally got some answers as to why the dr was trying to contact Zach regarding my u/s results. Everything on me (blood work and u/s) came back normal but she expressed concern about a "weird" shaped uterus (it looks like a heart shape). Details in my ttc journal- or you can just read my siggy if you don't need more details. Still waiting for more results, and I'm currently waiting to get a 3d scan scheduled (follow up on my uterus shape) so that we know what we're up against. She wants it asap- so that we have that info for our next appt with her on the 17th (so that gives me about 1 week to get that done). We still haven't heard anything about the second blood work on my DH yet but I guess we will sometime this week and he still has to do a second SA (which is scheduled for the 19th but I'm not too hopeful that it'll be anything different from the first sample).

How are you all doing?

 

[Sar187]

Silver-Wanted to wish you luck again for tomorrow morning!

I will catch up with everyone else later, just wanted to drop in and update on our 1st ultrasound. We have 1 beautiful little baby! It is measuring 2 days behind at the moment but they are perfectly happy with that at this stage. We could see its little heart beating away and it brought tears to my eyes it was so beautiful. I am praying that all of you find your way to your little miracles. There are u/s pics posted on my blog if anyone wants to see them, the link is in my sig. We have another u/s a week from today and hopefully will be able to actually hear the heart beat then.

 

[deafgal01]

Sar- wow... beautiful scan of your baby. CONGRATS again... I will definitely be tracking your progress as you experience pregnancy and BRING THIS BABY to full term!!!!!