Dave’s experience: Vasectomy story from 1986

In 1986 when nearing 30 years old my wife and I decided to opt for a more permanent form of birth control, with 2 children at the time we could not see ourselves wanting to keep raising a family after 50 years of age. So after consulting the physician, the appointment was made, bright and early August 14, 1986. Compared to the consult stories of today not a lot was said at the time, no prelim shave, no frozen peas, no “Are you sure?” etc. Just show up at 6:30 AM and snip snip as my wife would say when discussing our birth control options. After a quick round of sex, one final un-vasectomized ejaculation got going to the hospital for the procedure.

The procedure was fairly uneventful, the vas located and frozen each side, a small piece of each removed and the ends folded back and tied off, and then put back in place, with small stitches to sew it up. No pain killers were suggested, just take it easy, and no heavy lifting. Returning home found wife visiting with a friend who was telling her how she had just had her cat fixed, my wife could barely keep from smirking as she looked at me thinking “That’s nice I just had my man fixed”. Not a lot of discomfort, so went with the family to pick out school supplies and returned home. Later that night had to try things out to see if there was any change in the feeling of sex now that the vas was disconnected. Not much to report on that front – too early to tell, I supposed.

The next day things felt pretty good so loaded up the kids and went out a favorite fishing spot. Walked into the place where we would fish with all the gear etc. there was some discomfort but not enough to reach for the painkillers. After a few casts into the river realized this was probably not the best idea, but enjoyed fishing and family liked being out, stayed for 5 or 6 hours. There was some bruising on the right-hand side which quickly disappeared. As well as the stitches which I removed after about 5 days.

Returned to the doctor some weeks later he seemed disappointed that I had removed stitches myself, I guess it would cut into his income. At any rate, the lab test of the removed vas segments confirmed that they were indeed from the vas deferens, good news since that was the objective of the exercise. After some weeks and sexual activity, we noticed the ejaculate was slightly thinner and not as milky looking as previous to the vasectomy. Results of no sperm being present. Also for some time, my testicles were swollen a little larger and they would just lie there like they had been wounded, makes sense. My right testicle hung at right angles to the left for a long time, probably a few years before it returned to a normal position and hung parallel to the left one. It also took quite a few years before the testicles seemed to find their way to the bottom of the scrotum. As well the location of the tied off vas was swollen for some time before it became just a bump that can still be located between fingers as you feel along the vas. Some differences that I noticed when it comes to climaxing prior to the vasectomy the contractions to ejaculate would pull significantly on each testicle, that sensation was gone following the vasectomy, although a similar feeling does exist, but not quite the same. At the outset it did seem like the volume of ejaculate was reduced and the feeling like your testicles needed a release was dominant, this feeling has waned over the years, but when you think of it with the vas blocked off there was no release of built-up pressure from the sperm. On occasion, I have had a small granuloma which dissolves in a few days. One has to look quite hard to find the two scars for the vasectomy. Having sex without the worry was and is great and especially so for the wife, who was a little high strung about the prospect of being pregnant again. All around a good thing having the snip snip.

Submitted by Dave