Mike C’s experience: Vasectomy and cystoscopy all on the same day

Well, I’m now one week post-vasectomy. I thought I would give you all a full update.

For review, I did a lot of research and reading online, and at first was totally paranoid about getting a vasectomy, something my wife had wanted me to get for a few years, but I never seemed to get around to looking into it. But this site has been a great help, and I finally got up the courage to go ahead with it.

I wanted an open-ended vas, was sort of indifferent as to if I should have an NSV, but would opt for one all else equal. Anyway, after not finding a doc near me that would do an open-ended, I went with a doc I felt comfortable with and that I felt was well qualified. He is a Urologist that does a fair number of vasectomies a year, does reversals, and a lot of other surgery, but doesn’t like the NSV or the open-ended procedure. But, he did a good job calming me down on my first visit but did not try to make me feel like all my worrying was for nothing, but said the skill of the surgeon was perhaps the biggest factor in success, and I would agree. Also, he did a fairly full exam when I first visited him. He seemed just a bit concerned with how often I said I have to use the bathroom (I get up 2-4 times a night), and he recommended that I also have a cystoscopy to examine up inside my urethra and bladder. After much thought, I agreed to both, which meant he would do the procedures at the same time, in the operating room, and I would be under heavy sedation.

I thought the day went off without a hitch, and I was totally out of it while everything was being done. And in the first 48 hours, I was almost pain-free. The most discomfort at first was from the cystoscopy and a slight burning sensation the first day, as he did find a stricture and fixed it, and I had just a bit of blood in the urine for about 8 hours. I took it real easy and stayed in bed or on the couch most of the first two days. By Sunday I started to get up and about a bit more. I had no bruising or swelling that I could notice. I used frozen corn/peas pretty much the first 36 hours off and on which probably helped. I wasn’t taking any pain pills, the only drugs I took were Cipro for infection (because of the cystoscopy) and Bextra, a cox2 type anti-inflammatory drug I was taking before the procedure for arthritis pain. I did have a bit of blood ooze out from the gauze the first day but that was nothing to worry about, and the incision looks really good, he used the type of stitches that are on the inside as nothing is showing on the skin.

However, by Sunday afternoon I started to feel a slight pain in the left testicle, nothing really bad, but it has persisted since then off and on. Hard to describe it, it has gotten to the point a couple of times where at worst I would call it “discomfort”, but then it will sort of go away. I sometimes think I’m probably wearing too tight of pants, as sort of moving around and readjusting things seems to help. I did wear a jockstrap until Monday morning, then switched to tight-fitting underwear. I hope this is the normal sort of discomfort people describe and will go away in about another week or so. I’ve also developed by Tuesday night a sort of pulled muscle feeling that also sorts of comes and goes at about my beltline, probably 2 to 3 inches to the left and below my belly button. I don’t know if this is related to the vas, or I may have actually slightly strained a muscle or something, I’ve got a call in to the doc to ask him about this but he hasn’t yet called back. I did go outside and gently kick the soccer ball around and shoot a few free throws with a basketball with my son on Wednesday, that might have not been a wise idea. As far as the other side goes, I would just about say it’s 100%, I almost would think he forgot to do anything on that side, it’s been so pain-free.

I’ve yet to try the plumbing out though, I had planned on waiting a full week, so maybe this weekend. I’m getting around fine, walking without any problems, going up and downstairs is not a concern, anything that is sort of normal daily activity does not cause any problems. But I’ve yet to try anything real physical other than that night with the soccer ball, I had hoped to start slowly getting back into my regular workout routine by this weekend, but I almost think I should wait for the strained muscle feeling in my abdomen to settle down.

One minor follow up, the doc did call me back about the lower abdominal discomfort. He said that it is not unusual. He suggested if the discomfort is any worse, to add Tylenol to the Bextra I’m taking. But as of right now, I’m feeling pretty good, so I’ll hold off until I think I may need it. He gave me the go ahead to start working out, so I’ll start back slowly today.

Here is the 2 week post update.

Not all has been well. Literally, since I last updated, things went downhill. I don’t know what happened, but my guess is it is related to the fact I used my equipment a couple of times to see if it still worked. Starting on Monday, the pain I had that was coming and going on the lower left side went way up and basically wouldn’t go away. It would sort of go from a kicked feeling to an almost worse tingling/hit in the funny bone type feeling. Throughout the day it kept getting worse, and I added some Tylenol for pain and tried the hot bath routine, that didn’t seem to help. That night I was lucky if I slept one hour. The next day, not much different, this radiating pain, followed by what almost feels like an electric shock sensation, and back and forth. The tight underwear I was wearing almost seemed to be making it worse so I went to boxers. That night tried ice, which seemed to help, I did fall asleep for a while but it came back, and then ice didn’t seem to do anything. Again maybe another hour of sleep that night.

Unfortunately, my doc is out on vacation this week, but I did call the doc backing him up while he is out and set up an appointment. (It was a young Indian lady doc, she made me feel so old, she looks 25) On Wednesday morning it was bad but did seem to get a little better by the afternoon, and I got in to see the doc at 4:00 pm. My thought was that I may have an infection on that side, but the doc didn’t seem to think so. She simply had me describe the symptoms, did an exam, said there is a bit of swelling on the testicle on that side, and said some “congestion” can be normal. She did give me a prescription for some Vicoprofen. I took some of it that night, and after almost no sleep for a couple of days, it did knock me out. But I woke up in the middle of the night feeling quite uncomfortable again, took some more but didn’t get much more sleep. Yesterday, the pain was about the same and I also felt sort of lousy from the Vicoprofen, almost a hangover feeling. That night I went back to try the hot bath and then the heavy drugs, and finally, it did seem to help. I pretty much slept most of the night, and right now it’s sort of back to where I was a week ago. The actual pain level and shock type feeling is a fair amount less and is now not constant, I feel like I can at least function again today.

My doc gets back on Sunday, if things don’t get better by Monday I’ll be calling him to see what he thinks. I’m sure he will want to just give it some time to see if it gets better on its own.

One thing I had talked about when I first met with my doc on my consult was a possible infection that was causing my frequent need to use the bathroom. My wife has a history of UTI, it seems she has been treated for it several times over the life of our marriage. He didn’t seem to be worried about it, saying it’s much easier for women to get them than men due to the different physiology. And she hasn’t had one for quite some time IIRC. But…..if I had contracted one year ago, and it has laid semi-dormant for years, IMO, it could explain many things. But he never mentioned that any tests showed an infection.

Having said all this, I feel an awful lot better today, almost no pain, nothing like a few days ago. Maybe an occasional feeling like something is a bit tender, none of the “shock” feeling to speak of. If I adjust things just right, it feels just about normal. But I do have just a sense that something feels different on the left side, just not like the other side which feels just about 100% normal most of the time. However, another but……I’m very leary of trying sex again as I’m afraid it will start to hurt all over again. I guess I’ll just have to wait for my doc to get back in town and see what he says.

April 12, 2003 update

I don’t want to make this sound like a soap opera, but here is the THREE week update.

Basically, things have gotten much, much better. When I last updated, I said I was back to where I was before the pain flared up in a big way, which was some pain/discomfort that sort of comes and goes, but is not real bad. That lasted for about two days, then things have gotten progressively better. At worst I would say right now I have just an occasional sensation that something is just a little different at the same spot where I had the worst pain, at best things feel just about normal. The most discomfort now almost seems to be from being the hair growing back. I did try out the equipment one more time, quite fearfully I might add, and everything seemed fine, and I had no after effect that I could notice.

Since things seem to be getting better, I never did even call the doc back to check-in, I’ll just wait until I have my scheduled visit in about 2 weeks. I’d say right now I’m about 99% back to normal. I’ve been jogging on the treadmill, lifting weights, sleeping fine. I just hope I don’t jinx myself by saying all this.

Overall the experience has been probably better than average for me I would guess, as I’ve read so much of guys having what seems to be a fair amount of discomfort the first week or so. I’ll try to keep this story up to date.

Submitted by Mike