Fertility checkup for OH?

[y3llow]

Hi everyone!

I was wondering if anyone's OH has had, or is intending to have, a fertility checkup of some description before you TTC?

My OH had surgery years ago as there was some sort of blockage issue with one of his testicles. It swelled up like crazy (apparently - this was before I met him). It wasn't an emergency but he did have to have surgery. I'm sure the doctors would have told him if this would affect his fertility but, being quite young at the time, I'm not sure he would have paid much attention.

Do you think I should bring this up with him? I guess I should really. I don't want to freak him out, but I also think it's probably something he's never considered. We aren't going to be trying for a year or two but I feel like it would be better to know sooner, in case the outcome means we want to start trying sooner.

 

[Symphony7]

If that was the case I'd want to get him checked just to see if there was a problem before trying for months potentially unsuccessfully. My OH has never had anything like that so in my case I wouldn't have him do any kind of testing initially.

 

[MindUtopia]

I would simply have him ask his doctor if the surgery is something that could affect his fertility and if so, what could be done about it. If they say, no, then I would put it out of your mind and not bother taking it further. If they say, yes, but there's not much you can do about it and you'll just have to TTC with slightly less fertility than you'd hoped, similarly I'd put it out of your mind and hope for the best when you try. The only reason I'd move forward with a fertility check up is if they say his fertility could have been affected and knowing about the degree of possible infertility means you can boost it by doing something tangible. Otherwise, I think these things seem too doom and gloom and make people stress about TTC and that by itself will reduce the chances of conceiving. If you can find out something useful and then act on it (with further treatment, drugs, lifestyle changes, etc.), sure, great. But if it's just doing to make TTC stressful because you think it's going to cause problems, then I think it's not worth worrying about. So often people think they have a problem and it causes years of worry and then they TTC and bam, pregnant! And they've ended up worrying all that time for no reason (especially if it's not something you can do anything about). I had a friend who had cancer and going through treatment for it (when she was a teenager) potentially affected her fertility. But she just decided to TTC and not stress about it and go through a million tests and she got pregnant pretty much right away. There are no guarantees in these sorts of situations, but if it's going to only increase your sense of worry then I wouldn't bother personally. If it will make you feel better or give you something tangible to do, then sure.

 

[y3llow]

Thanks for the responses!

That's a really good idea MindUtopia! Tbh I hadn't thought of him just asking the doctor initially and going from there (even though that sounds obvious...!). I will suggest that to him and I'd say he'll think that is a good idea too. My mind was immediately jumping to him having to do a bunch of tests and being overwhelmed by it all. He's only recently realised he's ready to start a family so I didn't want to scare him.