Greg’s story: My childfree vasectomy experience

Let me start out with an introduction. I am in my early 30s, live in Florida, have been in a stable relationship for 6 years, and value my freedom. I don’t like the concept of marriage, I despise the idea of being responsible for a woman, and I hate the perspective of being bound to finance a mother’s lifestyle by paying for some offspring resulting from failing birth control. In so many words, no kids for me.

I had contacted a doctor before, but the guy wanted roughly $4K for the procedure which was slightly more than I had hoped to spend. Last year I became aware of a local county program at Pinellas County Health Department. The program appealed to me because it came at a good price (supposedly even discounted or free depending on income), used an established physician, and included follow-up labs to confirm the success of the procedure.

I contacted the county nurse in charge of the program to arrange my attendance of the compulsory information session and attended the group meeting in May 2006. It included an information video, a briefing on various aspects of the procedure, and paperwork. At the end of the session, there was an opportunity to schedule the procedure about a month in advance, and I scheduled it for June 2006.

I did not disclose to my girlfriend that I was going to have the procedure. Instead, I informed her that I was going in for an invasive test.

I am generally shaven, so I did not have to go out of my shaving ways for my public hair in preparation for the vasectomy. On the day of the procedure, I naturally washed, went to the clinic, and was seated in the room for the procedure. I was asked to put on a jockstrap provided by the nurse below my underwear and jeans and wait. The nurse returned and asked me to lower my pants/underwear/jockstrap and lay down face up on a table, the legs hanging off the table bent on the knees. She used some sort of holding mechanism to hold the penis pointing towards the chest and left.

When the doctor arrived, he applied a solution to sterilize my genital area and started the no-scalpel vasectomy. He used a pen-type tool to apply the local anesthesia. It felt like a cold spray and really was not uncomfortable. While I looked up at the ceiling, the doctor then started the vasectomy. We were chatting about this and that, and I will admit I had to focus a bit on the desired outcome as the beginning of the procedure was slightly uncomfortable. I did not feel the pain of course, but being a bit sensitive (taking my blood is no fun for nurses), I got a minor cold sweat and made a good effort to breathe good air to avoid any feeling of illness.

The discomfort ended within a minute or two, and the doctor and I continued to chat while he performed his art. I distinctively remember the smell of cauterized flesh when he finished the first half of the procedure, but at that point, it was already very bearable. Overall the procedure took approx. 15 minutes, and while I obviously didn’t see it, it involved cutting two vas tubes, applying metal rings to the upstream ends, and searing the ends.

The procedure ended with the doctor applying gauze to the single incision about the size of a piece of rice at the bottom center of the penis shaft and pulling up the jockstrap/pants combo to set everything in place. I drove home, informed my girlfriend that the test had been performed, and spent the rest of the day in bed, basically resting and watching TV. I cannot say that I had any problems, I took it easy, didn’t rush bathroom breaks, and followed all instructions provided by the physician who actually called to check in on me (much appreciated), so all in all everything went well.

When the period of prescribed abstinence after the procedure ended, I started working to empty the upstream vas tubes. I understood that the procedure would not put an end to fertility right away, so I figured that protected sex with the girlfriend (or masturbation as the lazy way out) once a day should be a good way to get the tubes emptied.

I took in my first sample about two months after the procedure and was a bit disappointed to find that I was not in the clear yet. So I returned home to continue working on getting them emptied out, and I got the all-clear a couple of months later following my second sample. At that point, I informed my girlfriend that it had been determined I could not have children.

Now, about one year after the vasectomy, I am happy, without problems, and looking forward to taking in another sample to ensure that there is not some freak late failure of the procedure. The scar from the incision has entirely disappeared, I got exactly what I wanted, the definitive birth control, my sex life has remained unaffected, and as such, my vasectomy has been a smashing success.

Submitted by Greg