V-day - Vasectomy Day

[Mikayla1]

Christmas Day - Well it was a great Christmas with Mikayla and the boys. After the boys are down for the night, I plop down on the couch and Mikayla looks over and says, “12 hours till ‘snip snip’ – are you nervous.” As it had been a pretty exciting day, that was the last thing on my mind. Leave it to Mikayla to remind me as I try to relax. Trust me; it only got worse from there. Mikayla has to know as much about anything as possible, so she proceeds to start researching vasectomies again. Keep in mind; we had already done this many weeks before. “OH MY GOD” moans Mikayla. I ask her what is wrong and she says she found a video of a vasectomy. God love her, but this is not what I needed 12 hours before my boys are going to get sliced and diced. If you watch the video, you will see that it isn’t that bad but trust me, don’t watch it the night before the procedure. At this point, I figured I would let Mikayla “do her research” and I was going to go hit the shower and shave the boys smooth. Since it was the holiday, I had gotten a bit lazy so was just a bit scruffy down below.

December 26^th - 7am -

Ah crap, the alarm is going off. I promptly get out of bed and proceed straight to the medicine cabinet and find my single dose of Xanax prescribed by my doctor. He said this would help take the edge of my nerves and keep me relaxed. I really feel like I am going to throw up at this point. My nerves have a tendency of making me extremely nauseous. Hopefully the Xanax will help this pass as well. I hop in the shower so my boys can have some serious soaking time. As I stand there in the shower, I realize that I will be out of commission for the next 7 to 10 days so I decided to pleasure myself one last time. Who was I kidding, I was so nervous nothing was working right today and the boys were rebelling.

8:30 am – Right on time, we walk into the doctor’s office. Lucky for me, I was the first appointment so there was no waiting. By this time, I was mega relaxed (Xanax had kicked in) so Mikayla went and checked me in as I sat down. After waiting about two minutes the nurse comes to the door and calls my name. Well here goes nothing. She leads me down the hallway to a much larger room than the one I was greeted in during my consultation. Once in the room, she gives me a paper gown and tells me to “remove all clothing and put the gown on.” When you are ready, lay down on the table. After she leaves, I become very peeved. I think people in the medical profession are a bit on the sadistic side – Dentists for sure and now urologists. As I sit down on the edge of the table, I see on the tray a plethora of “tools”, scalpels, scissors, needles and syringes. Why can’t they leave that out of my sight until I am lying down???? For a few moments, my nerves surged past the very powerful effects of the Xanax. I lay down on the table and the Xanax begins to regain control. After laying there for what seemed an eternity, the Dr. comes in along with the nurse that originally greeted me. They didn’t waste any time. .The doctor sat down and rolled up to the end of the table and pulled my paper gown up. At his best attempt for humor, he said “wow, that’s the biggest one I’ve seen today” which would have been an ego boost for me had I been the last appointment of the day AND if he were not wearing these HUGE goggle-like eyeglasses. At this point I wonder, “does he NEED those glasses to see, or are they just for getting extra close up?” Nonetheless, he tried to make me relaxed with humor, and this was not the case and I wasn’t amused. He then offers me a viewing mirror to watch the procedure. I explained that my wife was kind enough to pull up a video on the internet last night and that would suffice. I don’t need to be witness to the massacre of my boys. With that said, I feel a strong tug on my scrotum. The Dr. stated that my boys look to be extremely cooperative today and I should get by with one central incision. The super hot and long soak paid off and they were hanging very low. The nurse then scrubbed the boys with what felt like a wire brush and the doctor grabbed a hold again. “You are going to feel a pinch now.” Ok, I was scared at this point. Everything I researched said that this was the worst part of the whole procedure. Obviously that pinch is going to save me feeling a lot of other pain but man, a needle in the boys is just scary. . .and…… “pinch”, there it was but it wasn’t bad at all. Reach down and grab a hair on your balls and give it a yank out. That was the extent of the “pinch”. From that point on, I felt nothing except a little tugging and pulling as the vas deferens was pulled out of its cozy little home to be cut, tied and cauterized.

After each side was cut, the Dr. would show me about a ¼” section of the “vas” that was cut out. It was actually a pretty thick tube. About the only thing that scared me after the initial pinch was the smoke rising from my crotch on two different occasions when the Dr. cauterized the cut ends of the vas deferens. My balls were LITERALLY on fire!!!

It seemed like this whole process was taking a lot of time but in the end, it was 9:20am and I the doctor was helping me sit back up from the table. I looked down and was very happy to see that I had only one little stitch and all else looked OK. The nurse then went over some of the rules for the next week to ten days.

· Wear a jock strap – the extra support will make your “boys” much more comfortable. On a side note here, there are different “support” levels of a jock strap. Some are meant to be worn for only a short time during extreme activity, others are meant for general support that can be worn for any length of time. DO NOT get the short term jock or you will be hurting very quickly. I found this out very quickly and after Mikayla made a trip to Sports Authority and returned with a general support jock, I was much happier.

· Go home, feet up and ice on the boys. It is very important to ice as much as tolerable on the first day. This minimizes the swelling and associated pain. Guys, I had ice on them all day long and it was well worth it. I was back to work the next morning and feeling pretty good.

· No heavy lifting for a few days. A sandwich is about all you should lift for the few days afterwards.

· Keep some Neosporin and gauze pad over the incision. I did not do this and my small incision got stuck to the jock strap on night 2. That was probably the most painful post surgery incident.

· Take prescribed pain pills as necessary – please see comments at the end of this article provided by Ms. Mikayla. This has been a conversation point for the last few weeks and she just won’t let it go.

· No sexual activity for 7 to 10 days. Let me explain why. Your balls do not remain stationery during sexual activity. It is a bit painful when they swing back and forth. I think by day 6, I masturbated slowly in the shower. All seemed to work OK but I was concerned as I reached the ejaculation point. Was it going to hurt? Well, there was no pain and honestly, the orgasm was pretty intense. Waiting CAN be a good thing every once in a while.

Well guys, I am 3 weeks post “V” day and everything is A-OK. No pain and all parts are working perfectly. Have had sex many times – was cautious at first, then through all caution to the wind and pounded my wife with vigor!

I was reminded on surgery day that I am not sterile until I have had at least 25 ejaculations AND the Dr. does two sperm counts to ensure there are no mobile sperm in my semen. This is typically done at 8 weeks and again anywhere from the 3 to 6 month mark. However, some doctors only wait for the first “clean” sample and pronounce you Sterile. Yes guys, you are sterile after this process. Don’t look at it as birth control. . . it is a procedure to make you sterile. The reversal surgery is effective less than 5% of the time. You should enter this process with the mindset that you will be sterile and you will no longer be able to father children. If you are in that spot in your life, this is a great avenue to look into.

So here is a breakdown of what it COST for me to have this surgery:

Office Copay $30

Surgery Copay $105

Pain Killers $10

Jock Strap $12

Never using a condom again – PRICELESS (**)

(**) Please keep in mind, a vasectomy does not prevent STDs. If you are not in a 100% monogamous relationship, you should use a condom during each and every sexual act with all partners.

Well guys – it was a no brainer. I am very happy with my decision and hope to have provided a little insight to you in case this is something you have been pondering. I am going to turn this over to Mikayla to wrap up now because the pain killer issue has been eating at her for weeks now.. .

OK, I just have to say, I am so grateful to my hubby for doing the vasectomy! I mean, come on girls and guys, I barely read a magazine before he was done! It took no time, was loads cheaper, he didn’t have to go to the hospital, and it was more effective than the female version.

However, I am disappointed in one, teeny, tiny thing. When the doctor was talking to me about his ‘pain’ and ‘pain management’ he handed me a prescription for Vicodin -30 pills, and 3 refills! Yes, you read that correctly, 90 Vicodin for a 10 minute procedure that was only supposed to be ‘mildly uncomfortable’ for a day or two. 90 stinkin’ Vicodin! I had a terrible C-section, a 4 day hospital stay and came home with TYLENOL – not even TYLENOL WITH CODEINE…but Tylenol. Um, can someone please explain to me why he needs all those drugs?

I can tell you why? The ‘MAN CLUB.’ You know what I mean. Oh poor, poor baby, had to have his teensy weensy balls cut and one stitch put in…boo hoo…let’s reward him with some good old fashion ‘forgetting pills’ …whaaa, whaa, whaaa…Men, they could never have a baby!

OK, my rant is over. He only took one Vicodin, so I guess we have some leftovers. I would say on a serious note, that this was definitely the right choice for us. It may not be for you, but if you are through having children, consider both options for permanent sterility as well as other options for birth control. Your doctor will have more information on whatever you need.

[thunderchild]

My hubby had the V about 2 1/2 years ago and I would agree that it is a good choice for couples in that situation.

My hubby had a week off work as his job is very manual but the he was only in real discomfort for 2-3 days. I did catch him about 2 weeks latter cutting his stitch out with my posh pairing knife but he said he felt much better once it was out (i have never used that knife since!)

I agree tho on the painkillers purlease! Men, they don't know pain, I had a vontous and the salad tong things and was cut and bruised till i was black down there and got bugger all! Bloody wusses! Its manflu in a different guise!

I would recommend the procedure, I think it took about 15 minutes for them to do my man, he has not looked back. The only thing he has noticed is that I cannot play with his balls as much during sex or they start to ache a bit but thats it.

In the UK tho you have to have 2 clear samples before you are safe to not use a condom. They are done at 12 intervals.

[hdbtwnurlegs]

I thought I should jump in on this thread, share our experience and add my two-cents worth on this topic. Back then, we would agree that this was the best decision we'd ever made.

Back in the days when we were still having sex, my wife did not like the taste of my cum, so I tried the fruit and vegetables routine, but that didn’t really help very much. For a totally different reason, we decided that I should have a vasectomy, and that cured the taste problem as well. So, if you and your wife no longer have the desire to have any more kids, you might want to discuss that with her and give it consideration.

If you go to: http://www dot vasectomy-information dot com you and your DW can find out everything you’ll need to help with the decision of whether or not to have the ‘snip’.

In the Features/Personal Experiences/Personal Stories section you'll find all kinds of descriptions of how those who've done it feel about it. Our story is posted there; the webmaster's summary says:

LEE

Added July 27, 2002

Lee's story is written 23 years after his vasectomy. He had his vasectomy before he got married. Both he and his wife to be had medical problems, so he had a vasectomy and they ultimately adopted a child. He concludes: - "The FREEDOM of worry allowed us to grow and glow together and become one-flesh. In our early married years we were able to explore and experience all the joys and pleasures of our sexuality without fear of pregnancy. It allowed us to get to know and experience each other more fully, at any hour of any day, at any time of the month. This spontaneity brought us together more than any other aspect of our wonderful relationship."

Our full story (see:<http://www dot vasectomy-information dot com/stories/lee.htm>) describes in detail the benefits and the degree of discomfort (not much) I experienced. It is an easy procedure, and in comparison to the cost of BCP's over my wife’s reproductive lifetime, is relatively inexpensive. In our case, insurance paid for it, so I really can't say anything about the expense, and since it was 28 years ago, costs then would be irrelevant today.

We decided to have a V before we got married. That may sound strange to some, but for us, it was easy; we were both in our late 30's, had lived together for quite a while at that time, and our desire for children was zero. I am a type 1 diabetic since age 4, and we didn't want any accidental offspring to have the experiences I had growing up with the disease. My wife would have required surgery to correct fallopian tube problems and was having problems with the pill, so making birth control my responsibility was easy. (Three years later we changed our minds about children, so we adopted our son.)

I had a scalpel based vasectomy. It was done on a Tuesday morning at the Doctor's office (he was the head of the Urology Department at UCLA, so was very knowledgeable) and I experienced minimal discomfort during the procedure. The procedure took about an hour, and I 'rested' in the Dr.s office for another hour before driving home.

I drove myself to and from the Dr's. office, and by the time I got home, I was feeling a bit of discomfort in my scrotum; it felt like my testicles had swelled somewhat. I used a bag of frozen peas on my scrotum to ease the discomfort, watched TV and slept most of the day and went to work the next morning, still with a bit of discomfort, but not enough to keep me from being productive.

I took a semen sample to the Dr's. office Friday morning and since it tested free of sperm, we resumed our sexual life that evening, the following morning, and several times during that first weekend. It had to be the best decision of our lives!

I admit my scrotum and testicles were still somewhat sore, but not enough to keep us from doing what we wanted to do that weekend, and with each ejaculation, the soreness eased so that by the end of the weekend, there was no discomfort at all. The FREEDOM of worry allowed us to grow and glow together and truly become "one-flesh."

In our early married years we were able to explore and experience all the joys and pleasures of our sexuality without fear of pregnancy. It allowed us to get to know and experience each other more fully, at any hour of any day, at any time of the month. This spontaneity brought us together more than any other aspect of our wonderful relationship.

Lee