John’s experience: Consultation and procedure on the same day

From early on in my wife’s third pregnancy we began to discuss whether or not we wanted to have any more children. She had been on birth control pills before our second and third child and we both were unhappy with their effects on her. After some discussion of other birth control options and whether or not we even wanted any more children, we decided on a permanent method. Obviously, that method was a vasectomy for me. My wife was a little surprised when I brought up the idea, but it didn’t take much research for us to decide that it simply carried less risk than tubal ligation. We also knew several men who had the procedure including her brother and friends at church.

After some study on the internet, especially on www.vasectomy-information.com, we asked my wife’s OB doctor for a referral to a Urologist. I was a bit surprised when I called to set up a consultation visit that they wanted to schedule the consult and vasectomy on the same day. I insisted on the consult and set the appointment. I took a personalized version of the list of questions provided here and was pleased with the qualifications of the doctor. Specifically, I was assured of his skill level by the fact that he typically performed multiple vasectomies a day and has successfully done reversals. He mentioned that he normally does closed-ended NSV and used small titanium clips on each end of the vans. After describing to him that I was primarily interested in an open-ended NSV he offered to do that procedure, but I decided that I would rather have him perform the method that he performed every day. His practice is the largest in town and consists of about 12 doctors, and I asked him if many had vasectomies themselves. He said that most of the younger doctors had, and in fact, the first NSV that he ever saw was his own.

Probably the biggest dilemma involving the vasectomy was in the scheduling. The consultation occurred over a month before my wife’s due date, but I was coaching my son’s under 6 soccer team at the time (not a time to take it easy). After several appointment changes, including my wife’s refusal to have me sitting on ice on Father’s Day, we settled on June 8.

The day of the procedure

After a morning shave from my wife, we headed off for the doctor. All in all the snip occurred with very little fan-fair. The doctor was around an hour and a half late seeing us, but the actual procedure only lasted 30 minutes. First, a nurse completed my shave (and was quite rough with my nuts) and proceeded to clean the area with iodine and very warm water. Meanwhile, a surgical assistant arrived and gave me an injection of Valium. As a blanket covered my lower half, I could not tell how the procedure progressed, but it did seem that the surgical assistant did most of the work. The doctor arrived shortly and I noticed the sounds of flesh being cauterized and shortly thereafter the procedure ended. The only pain I experienced was the slight discomfort of being shaved and the injection of Valium. I never noticed the injection of a local or any pulling of the Vas.

The doctor recommended keeping my nuts on ice for three hours after the procedure and I did so beginning during the ride home (about 12:30 pm) until I went to sleep around 10 pm. We also picked up some pain medicine (Lorcet Plus) that I took every four hours. I experienced no pain or swelling this day except for minor pains when I moved too much in bed.

After the surgery

Day 1

The next day was fairly uneventful, just rested and tried not to exert myself. I did become a little nauseated in the morning, which I attributed to taking the Lorcet without food. I decided to only take the Lorcet when I needed it (once or twice) and only had a minor “Kicked in the nuts” feel for the rest of the day. I still noticed no swelling or discoloration.

Day 2

Similar to the previous day, but we also made sure that everything was still in working order. No complaints.

Submitted by John