Art’s experience: No more kids, condoms, pills, and spontaneity

Here’s my story if you’d like to add it.

First, of a bit of background, I am 30 years old and have been married for 7 years with 2 kids (3 1/2-year-old son & 6-month-old daughter). I am a stay at home dad and have been since my son was born. Before that, I was a computer programmer.

Before the operation, I did plenty of research, both online (www.vasectomy-information.com is the best site), and through talking. I knew five friends & neighbors who had it done, one within the few months prior to mine. In talking with other people, telling them I would be out of sight for a few days, I found even more people I knew had it done. I decided to have my surgery done by the same doctor who my neighbor had used just recently. He is in charge of the urology and some other stuff around here & very well respected. Also, he does a couple of vasectomies a week and had done them for years at that pace.

Our insurance required a consultation/pre-op visit and I wanted one too. It was good to talk to the doctor and ask the questions I did not see online, was unsure of, or just wanted to know what he thought. Besides the standard questions, I also asked a few others:

1. Since there will be clips in there if I get nailed in the balls after totally healed, could they cut or cause any more damage than the hit (think 3 years old’s height, running into dad… not pretty)? He said nope, I wouldn’t even know they are there unless I look for them.
2. How long should I wait before walking up & downstairs? Right away is ok, but really try to avoid it, as with really any walking, you want to just lay down & stay there.
3. Would getting an erection cause problems immediately after surgery? Should I try not to get one for a few days? No problem, it won’t matter.

I was already sure I wanted to have the surgery, but now I really wanted it and wanted to get it over with. Unfortunately, I had to wait a week and a half for an opening. I had my surgery done on a Wednesday morning. My wife took Wednesday Monday off work, so I didn’t have to do anything, as we all know from reading, picking up my daughter during that time would not be good. Prior to the surgery, I picked up some frozen peas and my support.

The surgery was not that bad at all. Like everyone says, getting a filling at the dentist is worse. The initial shots didn’t really hurt at all, just felt like a hair being tugged. The shot on the left side felt weird in that I could feel it from about mid-belly to mid-thigh on the left side. Not pain at all, just odd. The only problem I had during surgery is just a standard problem I have when I get cut open by a doc. I got pretty light-headed & felt like I was going to pass out. Told the doc and he called his nurse in to help out (was originally just us in the room). Cut, snip, snip, clamp, clamp, burn and stitch that was it. It was like I was a car on the assembly line how smooth and efficiently he worked. It didn’t seem like he was rushing though. I felt more at ease seeing how confident he was performing the surgery. Add some gauze, weave on the support, and I was done.

I was given some Cipro antibiotics to take and told Tylenol if needed. Not until about 20 minutes after the surgery did I start to feel discomfort. When I got home, laid down on the recliner, got my bag of peas, and stayed there.

For the next two and a half, I just laid down most of the time. I kept fresh frozen stuff on there for about 36-48 hours straight. I took the pain killers a few times, figured who cares how macho I am; I don’t need the pain, even though it was super minor. Late into the third day, the groin muscle (not anything in the scrotum) started to hurt. I contributed it to walking around too much and just added more ice when it hurt. We went to the stores during the weekend and I just brought a cooler with ice in case I needed it after walking (slowly) through the stores. Picking up my daughter again, having sex and some other things scared me at first, but then when I realized they didn’t hurt me were ok.

The pain in the scrotum was almost gone totally within a week. When the bruising started it was pretty funny all the different shades of colors the sack changed. It did still seem like I had gained another pair of balls, as where the section of vas was removed had what felt like another ball there. Since the pain in the groin muscle was still present, I called the doc to ask him. First, those other “balls” were normal and it was just the healing process. The groin pain they said was not from the surgery (but I didn’t have it prior!) and said to use warm compresses on it. Well, the warm compresses did the trick; in a few days that pain was gone (it came and went before totally going). I think that I may have used ice a bit too much & froze that muscle.

Two months after my surgery things are just fine. Those other two “balls” are gone and all healed up. I still can feel something was done down there, mainly after I’ve done a bunch of hard labor or rode my bike, but it is not painful in the least. This week I go drop off another sample, as my first test had two dead sperm, and I don’t want any chance of a third kid, no super-sperm hiding and waiting here, a few more weeks of condoms will not kill me! I didn’t really get the post-vas depression like many others. I probably just didn’t have the time, as being Mr. Mom, I barely have time to take a peaceful dump, much less have time to think.

One thing I found hard to find on the net was how much the surgery costs. After my deductible ($300) and everything is said and done, mine will cost me about $350 for the consultation/pre-op and the surgery. I asked them how much it would be without insurance and they said about $500 (no pre-op needed). I am very confident that this will be one of the best investments I’ve made.

So far, I am extremely happy with having a vas. No more kids, no more condoms, no more pills, and spontaneity!

Submitted by Art