[wishfulgal]

We had DH's appointment with the fertility specialist urologist yesterday. He found something that our local urologist didn't-- a grade 2 varicocele. He says that in 80% of male secondary infertility, a varicocele is the cause. He said he feel strongly that DH's count was higher when we conceived our son 2 years ago, and that the varicocele has been causing his counts to plummet. He did recommend getting a genetic test done first, b/c if that is the issue then the surgery will not help.

So...we have a surgery scheduled for DH on September 10th. I wish we could get in sooner, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I know the odds of this helping are not that good, but we've met our deductible for this year and insurance will cover it 100%...so basically we have nothing to lose. On the outside chance that it *might* raise DH's counts enough to conceive naturally, even a few years from now....we just have to try. I know success rates are higher with IVF and if it actually worked it would be *faster*....but it sure isn't free!

Anyone have any success stories (haha, or horror stories) to share?

[wishfulgal]

*crickets chirping*

No one? Not even a good luck or something?

well I don't have a story, but I will definitely wish you good luck!! The only thing I can add is, my DH has a grade 2 variococele also, but his dr. didn't think surgery would make any difference. He said he didn't think that a grade 2 would affect sperm count too much. That could be since DH's count is so severe, but maybe get another opinion on the surgery before you do it. If you really trust your urologist I say go for it and good luck!!

[wishfulgal]

Thanks for sharing that. We were kinda wondering about that b/c the first urologist didn't even find the varicocele, so we figured it couldn't be *that* big. I did think of getting a second opinion but the fertility urologist we saw is pretty well-renowned and experienced...and I don't know of any others in our area. I think we will probably go ahead with the surgery unless the something comes back on the genetic test.

Although I do hate the idea of DH going through pain for something that might not help at all Ugh. We're kind of between a rock and a hard place.

[*KittyCat*]

I'm sorry hun, i've not been on here for a few days

They think that our count issues are probably down to adulthood mumps, so i've no experience. However, i have read that once it's repaired, the testes are once again at the lower temp as they should be and counts tend to start improving.

I wish you the very best of luck, KUP. will you arrange another SA a few months after the surgery?

[*babylove*]

well, hello my name is amber. I am walking in your shoes right now. My hubby went in for his s/a with a regular urologist and came back with zero sperm count. so after doing that twice he was sent to our MIF doctor. He found a huge varicocele. He had the surgery 2.5 years ago. I hate to say it but I have not been pregnant once. The surgery is still in contact. We are finding out the s/a results this week. It takes up to like 4 months to expect anything. But the good news for you is your have already been pregnant so you know there is nothing wrong with you. My body is out of wack sometimes. Im still going through my fertility work up. I just started getting more intense. We had stopped for a while. If you have any questions Im here. How does his sperm get? My hubbys used to ball up like glue.

[Joliving4Jesus]

I don't have any experience in this area but I wanted to wish you luck in your decision and hope that if your dh has the surgery that it really helps and you get that bfp.

I, like you, conceived my son naturally 3 years ago, we were aware of my dh's low counts though, it just took 27 months to conceive him. They were never able to pin point why my dh's counts were so low, they ran various tests, still don't know...and we have no idea where his counts stand now since he hasn't been tested since we were trying for our son. But at least we know its happened once and can happen again...

[wishfulgal]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I didn't mean to sound "snarky" earlier, it's just that this journey can be very overwhelming and lonely sometimes and I just need to talk about it and get some support. It seems like all of the other TTC boards on JM are more geared towards female issues and it is hard to relate because there really is so little that can be done to help MFI. I almost wish the problem was with me (I don't think I'm the *most* fertile person anyway, I never get EWCM without taking supplements, but I do know I can get pregnant and carry a baby. Me and DH are probably the 2 least fertile people on the planet who managed to make a baby in 6 months of trying).

Jo, that is what always give me hope....that it IS possible, it happened once! Although sometimes I fear that our son was our once in a lifetime miracle...it makes me sooo sad to think of him growing up without siblings. We are just trying to have faith that whatever God's plan is, we will understand it someday and something will work out.

[gatorbaby24]

I don't get on here much but, my husband had his varicocele repair in March. When we started our MFI process, DH had 750,000 sperm (total). The doctor found a small/moderate varicocele that he surgically repaired and also put DH on clomid. He's now up to 19 million/mL and over 80 million total. Whether it was the surgery or the drugs we don't know but, something worked!
We started thinking our only hope was IVF with ICSI and now can talk about IUI or possibly conceiving naturally! We were in a similar situation and the financial cost to us was minimal. We're glad we did it and the procedure/recovery wasn't too bad.
DH has another SA next week to see if his count has been maintained/improved since the end of May and then it may be super-ovulation IUI for us!

[Joliving4Jesus]

Originally Posted by wishfulgal

Jo, that is what always give me hope....that it IS possible, it happened once! Although sometimes I fear that our son was our once in a lifetime miracle...it makes me sooo sad to think of him growing up without siblings. We are just trying to have faith that whatever God's plan is, we will understand it someday and something will work out.

I understand this completely and at times I feel this same way, but do you really deep down inside feel that your son is all that God has in store for you? I truly feel in my heart that God is going to allow me to become pregnant again, when everyone told me I may not be meant to have kids or I may be meant to adopt, I always had that feeling that they were wrong and I know God is going to let me become pregnant, and he did, I have that same feeling again, I just know it, I know its not going to happen in my timing but his, and thats what gets me through each month...easy? No...not at all...and I look at my son all the time and get sad when I see how fast he is growing up because I don't know when the time will be that I'll have another little one to hold...its so incredibly hard but I always try to see the light at the end of the tunnel and know our timing is going to come again.

[mariposa7678]

I'm new in the board, I'll introduce myself in another post.

My DH had surgery for Varicocele on Nov 2004 and 7 month after I got a BFP... here we go again TTC#2 .. We went to the RE and my DH was diagnosed with low mobility, so the Drs said he could still have varicocele, so we need to schedule an appt with an urulogist to see what is the next step, we really don't want to go to IVF, we want to try it natural... I'll give you a little tip, tell your BD to use ice pack, or ice before you BD...My DH after surgery used ice pack between 15 to 30 minutes before we BD.. then we wait like 10 minutes to warm a little, then we BD..I remember 1 time we did it to quick and was SOOOOO cold we couldn't finished..we start laughing... Sorry TMI.....I really don't know what helped, the surgery or the ice pack...lol

Good Luck!

[LoLo'sMama]

I would like to share my input if I'm not too late

DH also has mild var but we were never told a "grade". Dh has very poor sperm count at 4 mil and very poor morphology. We were told my the fancy RE for MFI that var surgery was only about 40% effective at "increasing" sperm count. I was extremely frustrated with this, it seems that all the research tells you only if sperm count "increases" not from what level to what level, ya know? Anyway, we had decided to with IVF with ICSI b/c of his chances of the var really being the cause of his low counts (since they were soooo low) were not conclusive and the fact that his var was mild. We were extremely blessed and ended up pregnant one month after finding out about DH MFI and right before our IVF cycle started. It was just so crazy, but a testament to the saying "it only takes one", btw, so annoying to hear that!!!

His boss actually had a vasectomy (so weird that some people are so fertile they get the complete OPPOSITE of what we are hoping for) and his doctor told him he had a var! He just had his second child, getting his wife pregnant after only 2 months each attempt. So, that is a case where the var had no effect of fertility.

Sounds like you are going to go ahead with the surgery which we are as well while I am pregnant for increasing our chances at future siblings.

It does only take one, but I think the bigger question is "how long are you willing to try and wait?". For us, we were already exhausted and stressed out from trying only 1 year and that is why we were willing to do IVF. Plus all the doctors we saw told us our chances were slim to none at ever conceiving naturally.

For our next child, I seriously doubt that we will do IVF, but I do want DH to consider getting the surgery since it is covered by insurance. I guess I just wanted to share my experience with you and hope it helps! I will be hoping that you are part of the 40% who see enough of an increase after the surgery!!!! I've also heard that you are more fertile after having a child, so I'll be praying for that for you!!

[wishfulgal]

Jessica, Thanks for responding! I remember you from the Fertility Charting board and followed your journal for awhile. I actually used you for an example of hope to DH when we first found out about his super low counts. I was like, "There was this one girl and her husband on JM..... "

It took us 6 months to conceive our son and we were about to get DH tested when I got my BFP. So we'll never know for sure what his sperm count was when I got pregnant. Part of me thinks maybe Dh's count was always low ( he had two SAs, the higher one was 3.2 million/ml) and Mason was just our "miracle baby" even though we didn't know how much of a miracle he was at the time. But I do believe it does just take one

I do hate the thought of waiting and if we didn't have a child already I don't know if I could. But IVF is not much of an option for us...we could afford to do it one time but I am not sure I want to put us through the emotional turmoil if it would fail. We are also considering adoption in the future. I am trying to be positive but not get my hopes up *too* high for the varicocele repair.

[LoLo'sMama]

Wishful, I will be praying for you and your hubby for the surgery! Please KUP! I'm sure my hubby would like to know how it feels before during and after. He is scared to death of it at this point. I'm like "get over it and get it done buddy!" but you know men, all of them are babies!
Oh yeah, use PRESEED! It's hard not to think it made a difference for us, because we used it for the first time when we got our BFP! I'm sure you already do, but I just had to add that! GL mama!!

[*babylove*]

good luck. Did your doctor give you a website based on ther surgery? our doctor gave us one. this is the website they gave us. Male Infertility - Microsurgical Varicocelectomy