Aha, a Varicocele! What indicators for/against surgery have you based your decisions on?

BunnyBerry · June 2014

Bless his heart, the moment his uro let him palpate his own "rubbery bag of worms" that apparently have been hiding out in there, DH let us know he has no qualms about putting his guys under the knife if it can save us money (That's just him!).

I also worry I am biased against the surgery because it means more months of waiting and more reason not to move on to IVF if our first 3 IUIs fail.

So, I am hoping some of you whose DH's have been diagnosed with varicocele would be willing to share...why did you, or why didn't you, choose surgery? And did anyone's numbers improve to the point where they moved from donor sperm to DH's sperm, or IVF to IUI, or IUI to TI?

Thank you so much!

BunnyBerry · June 2014

@bluejoan oh my, what a long wait...hard.

Good luck with your June repeat SA! If the morph #s are up, will you give it some more time or still go to IVF this summer?

@iputketchuponketchup You're totally right about jumping the gun. Trying to keep my impatience in check (it's so weird, I haven't been impatient this whole time but something so unexpected is just too much right now I guess). I'll try to get a handle on it before our follow-up appointment.

BunnyBerry · June 2014

@hoping4lo Thank you for sharing! Glad that it's not creating too much trouble...wonderful that YH didn't need to undergo surgery.

@caterinac Wow amazing! Yes, I was also concerned about the OOP costs. Over the last few months, now that we're paying for treatment, DH has been more forthright about his "personal habits" and been pretty good about following my cues about the time of my cycle and doctor's recommendations for sex so that he's not "wasting" anything during the important times...but I will ask about recommended frequency for him the rest of the month. Congrats on the sperm count, though, awesome!

kushie77 · June 2014

DH has BL large varicoceles, the Fert Uro was pretty straightforward that surgery wasn't going to do much if anything to help with his counts and since what few sperm he did have (all 8 living ones) were grossly abnormal they didn't feel that extraction would produce anything viable to use. We felt that putting H through a surgery that was most likely going to end up with us having to use donor sperm anyhow wasn't worth it.

BunnyBerry · June 2014

@kushie77 Your decision makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing. Good luck with choosing a donor!!

BunnyBerry · June 2014

@bluejoan Oh, I hope the IUI with injects does the tricks! Sounds like you are in a great place in terms of getting prepared and doing what legwork you can ahead of time. Good luck finding deals on your injects! Smart to look for great success rates so you can feel comfortable with the "one and done" plan.

Sounds like a tough road ahead this summer...I hope it goes smoothly.

keziah23 · June 2014

My husband had varicoele repair February 2013, it took a full year for his sperm count to start improving and its still going up (knock wood). We were very disappointed when the 3 and 6 month followups showed no improvement. We were much more severe case of MFI than you though so your improvement may be faster. Best of luck to you.

BunnyBerry · June 2014

@keziah23 Thank you for sharing. Wow, that is a long wait to see results! But it's awesome that your numbers are to a point where you can do IUI. I see your about 13DPO...any news? Good luck!!

KaylaJayBee · June 2014

We decided against vericocele surgery because, from what our doctor and other research told us, vericocele surgery is not a proven method for improving chances of getting sperm production. Also, the more poking around you do in that sensitive area, the more complications you are opening yourself up to. My husband went in for sperm mapping, and even that resulted in a hematoma (bruising) which has pushed us back three months. That area is very sensitive and it didn't seem that it was worth the risks. However, I also have PCOS, so it seemed we were fated to IVF anyway, so we just decided to skip the vein surgery altogether.

BunnyBerry · June 2014

@kaylajaybee Thank you for explaining your decision making process! Sorry about your wait for the bruising...good luck at your IVF appointment later this month!!

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Aha, a Varicocele! What indicators for/against surgery have you based your decisions on?

Re: Aha, a Varicocele! What indicators for/against surgery have you based your decisions on?

March 2014 - RE appt.
April 2014- Saline sono all's good, terrible SA results - 8 sperm found all abnormal
May 2014- Fert Urology- Bilateral varicoceles, recommend Donor Sperm

12/2014- Surprise natural BFP EDD 7/31/15 Plan: Starting foster to adoption, natural cycles

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Want a personalized experience?

Aha, a Varicocele! What indicators for/against surgery have you based your decisions on?

Re: Aha, a Varicocele! What indicators for/against surgery have you based your decisions on?

March 2014 - RE appt. April 2014- Saline sono all's good, terrible SA results - 8 sperm found all abnormalMay 2014- Fert Urology- Bilateral varicoceles, recommend Donor Sperm

12/2014- Surprise natural BFP EDD 7/31/15 Plan: Starting foster to adoption, natural cycles

Choose Another Board

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March 2014 - RE appt.
April 2014- Saline sono all's good, terrible SA results - 8 sperm found all abnormal
May 2014- Fert Urology- Bilateral varicoceles, recommend Donor Sperm