Dave’s experience: New Zealand vasectomy story

Hi, I thought I’d contribute my story for the website. Thanks for putting together a great resource.

I’ve been married since 2002 and lived with my partner for a few years before that. (I’m now 31 and she’s 30). We’ve talked about the kids’ thing but neither of us is keen. Also, we both have a love to travel, and children would put that on hold.

My wife has been using oral contraceptives for the length of our relationship (about 5 years), but I’ve never felt overly confident about Birth Control, and a near-miss a few years ago made my mind up. I got in touch with family planning and requested a vasectomy brochure. After reading this, I started looking on the internet for more information and found this site and the forums which I used to ask some questions.

I talked over it with my wife – it was a difficult decision, but she agreed it was the best solution, so I called up a nearby surgeon specializing in NSV vasectomies. I must admit I was very nervous phoning up to make the appointment, but the nurse was very informative and reassuring that the procedure was quite simple. I made the appointment for 3 weeks later.

The vasectomy

The surgery was booked for a Friday night. The wife drove me there, and a nurse asked whether she’d like to sit with me during the procedure. She said she would if I wanted her to, but I decided that it would be better if I did it myself. The surgeon was excellent – we had a good laugh while he was doing the job.

First, he gave me a haircut – glad I hadn’t done it myself, as he didn’t remove as much as I would have done myself. The whole thing took about 20 minutes without any real complications other than a bit of oozing which took a few minutes to stop, but before I knew it I was on my way home.

After the procedure

I went straight to bed after the surgery and relaxed. The anesthetic started to wear off and I could feel some slight pain, but the pain killers I was prescribed dealt with that. I used ice on and off and that seemed to help as well.

Possibly the worst thing was getting out of bed the next morning – it felt like I’d done 5000 situps! I had some slight swelling on the left testicle, but this went down after about 24 hours and I had no other complications.

The first day at work was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad. Wearing tight underwear for the next couple of weeks seemed to eliminate any discomfort.

Probably the worst part for me was the hair regrowing – it was very very itchy! There is no scarring and you cant see where the incisions were made.

I had my first semen test after 6 weeks – this came back all clear. The second test a couple of weeks later, and the test results came through this morning – all clear.

I’m officially sterile. It’s a great feeling.

Submitted by Dave