Undescended testicles / fertility issues

[rdleela]

Just a quick post for anyone looking for info, my DH had the surgery as a young child, and because of years of scar tissue building up, we've become infertile (azoospermia - zero sperm). DH had a surgery last year to try to bypass all the scarring, and it worked! We now have an average of 4 million motile sperm. BUT it's not enough for natural pregnancy, so we are now doing IVF/ICSI. My journal in my siggy is a great resource, or PM me with questions! Best of luck, all!

Hi Rdlella,

I forget if I asked you this already- but regarding your husband's testicular biopsy: did the doctor say the biopsy was a risky surgery? I know this is how they found out your DH has obstructive azoospermia. Did the urologist say that the biopsy could lower sperm count even more (should they find any in the testicle)? What risks were involved with the biopsy?

- Nicole

Hi Nicole, we were never told that the biopsy could lower his sperm count going forward, and there were no risks to his future fertility that they told us about. It was really presented as our only option left to find out if he had a blockage or not. At that point, we were only interested in doing IVF/ICSI if we had to, we were more interested in going the route of trying to "fix" or "by-pass" the blockage if there was one, so a biopsy was the only way to confirm if a surgery to repair was even an option.

If we were gonna go straight to IVF, we would have had to travel to an out-of-province clinic that could perform a TESE, so that wasn't on our radar at that point.

In the end, I ended up pregnant naturally 14 months after my DH had the surgery to repair, and I'm very happy we went the route that we did, because now we have sperm in ejaculate, and can do IVF in our home province, close to home with less cost.

I hope that answered some of your questions!

 

[NikkiR143]

Just a quick post for anyone looking for info, my DH had the surgery as a young child, and because of years of scar tissue building up, we've become infertile (azoospermia - zero sperm). DH had a surgery last year to try to bypass all the scarring, and it worked! We now have an average of 4 million motile sperm. BUT it's not enough for natural pregnancy, so we are now doing IVF/ICSI. My journal in my siggy is a great resource, or PM me with questions! Best of luck, all!

Hi Rdlella,

I forget if I asked you this already- but regarding your husband's testicular biopsy: did the doctor say the biopsy was a risky surgery? I know this is how they found out your DH has obstructive azoospermia. Did the urologist say that the biopsy could lower sperm count even more (should they find any in the testicle)? What risks were involved with the biopsy?

- Nicole

Hi Nicole, we were never told that the biopsy could lower his sperm count going forward, and there were no risks to his future fertility that they told us about. It was really presented as our only option left to find out if he had a blockage or not. At that point, we were only interested in doing IVF/ICSI if we had to, we were more interested in going the route of trying to "fix" or "by-pass" the blockage if there was one, so a biopsy was the only way to confirm if a surgery to repair was even an option.

If we were gonna go straight to IVF, we would have had to travel to an out-of-province clinic that could perform a TESE, so that wasn't on our radar at that point.

In the end, I ended up pregnant naturally 14 months after my DH had the surgery to repair, and I'm very happy we went the route that we did, because now we have sperm in ejaculate, and can do IVF in our home province, close to home with less cost.

I hope that answered some of your questions!

Yes! Very helpful. Thank you!

 

[LadyPatience]

Hi - thanks so much for your message

We've been waiting all week for the SA results and were yesterday afternoon that there's "nothing worrying" in the result but that's all the nurse could say over the phone. We're waiting for an appointment to see our doc so she can explain the result fully but FXd it's going to be ok. A nurse wouldn't tell us something that wasn't true would they?!

Can I relax yet?!

 

[TTCabundle]

Sorry to drag this thread back up, I commented sometime last year about my OHs undescended testicle and I just wanted to update that I finally convinced him to see the doctor about it, he has to go back on the 20th for tests ect, and theyre going tomdo a SA, im so glad hes finally been!

Im so worried they will find a problem with his sperm, although we have got pregnant in the past (ended in mc) its playing on my mind that maybe that was it, our only chances x

 

[TTCabundle]

Hi - thanks so much for your message

We've been waiting all week for the SA results and were yesterday afternoon that there's "nothing worrying" in the result but that's all the nurse could say over the phone. We're waiting for an appointment to see our doc so she can explain the result fully but FXd it's going to be ok. A nurse wouldn't tell us something that wasn't true would they?!

Can I relax yet?!

Fingers crossed for your appt hun! Update and let us know how it goes
I dont think the nurse would be able to tell you there wasnt a problem if there was, so relax!

 

[LadyPatience]

Hi - thanks so much for your message

We've been waiting all week for the SA results and were yesterday afternoon that there's "nothing worrying" in the result but that's all the nurse could say over the phone. We're waiting for an appointment to see our doc so she can explain the result fully but FXd it's going to be ok. A nurse wouldn't tell us something that wasn't true would they?!

Can I relax yet?!

Fingers crossed for your appt hun! Update and let us know how it goes
I dont think the nurse would be able to tell you there wasnt a problem if there was, so relax!

Thank you - I will let you know when we find out something definite. And well done for convincing your hub to get it seen to - I've read a lot that says one testicle makes very little if any difference to fertility. I'm sure you've researched this heaps as well but I haven't heard of anyone with unilateral probs having fertility issues so FXd and let me know too. It's such a relief to be able to talk about this. It's not the sort of thing I can talk to my friends or parents about right now as they'd only worry too and that just adds more pressure than we need

LPXX

 

[TTCabundle]

Hi - thanks so much for your message

We've been waiting all week for the SA results and were yesterday afternoon that there's "nothing worrying" in the result but that's all the nurse could say over the phone. We're waiting for an appointment to see our doc so she can explain the result fully but FXd it's going to be ok. A nurse wouldn't tell us something that wasn't true would they?!

Can I relax yet?!

Fingers crossed for your appt hun! Update and let us know how it goes
I dont think the nurse would be able to tell you there wasnt a problem if there wa6s, so relax!

Thank you - I will let you know when we find out something definite. And well done for convincing your hub to get it seen to - I've read a lot that says one testicle makes very little if any difference to fertility. I'm sure you've researched this heaps as well but I haven't heard of anyone with unilateral probs having fertility issues so FXd and let me know too. It's such a relief to be able to talk about this. It's not the sort of thing I can talk to my friends or parents about right now as they'd only worry too and that just adds more pressure than we need

LPXX

Yes its great to have somewhere to talk about this, its so stressful dealing with it alone. Yes ive researched into it quite s lot but its still there st the back of your mind telling you that maybe there is something wrong I never though TTC would be this stressful! Whens your appt? x