Richard’s story: Avid mountain biker’s experience

Let me first start off by giving some background information on myself. I’m 37 years old with two kids, 17 and 10, from a previous marriage. I’m now remarried and my wife should not have children. The childbirth process would be a danger to her life and so would any unnecessary surgery. For that reason, we decided that a vasectomy would make the most sense. We’d been talking for a few years about me going in and getting it done, but the timing was everything. I’m an avid mountain biker and the procedure had to be performed in the off-season to not affect my riding. Actually, it’s funny in reading a number of personal experiences a lot of men are concerned about having sex again and my number one concern was getting back on the bike (yes I am addicted to the sport).

I had the vasectomy performed on a Thursday evening at my local hospital under a local anesthetic. I arrived at the hospital and had to endure a 60-minute wait because the doctor was late, talk about nerve-wracking. Once I was admitted the nurse helped the doctor get his equipment together and once my shaving was cleaned up, yes I didn’t shave enough, the nurse left. It was just the doctor and myself. He started with the dreaded needle on the left side, and I must say it was not just a little pinprick, there was some discomfort. Once he got going though, everything was ok and the pain was very minimal. The oddest sensation was the pulling and tugging as he performed the procedure. He then moved onto the right side and again the needle. This time there was a bit more painful because my right testicle sits higher and he had a bit of trouble keeping the vas exposed. He had to press down on my scrotal area, high up, and this pressure was rather painful. Another odd thing was how once he got going we got into a discussion about my father’s surgery that he had performed a number of years prior. It’s always weird talking to a person as they have parts of your body in their hands.

After about 20-30 minutes he completed the procedure by suturing everything up and soaking the area in some liquid. He then applied lots of gauzes and had me sit while I held the gauze in place. He passed me my clothing and I went about trying to get my briefs on with just one hand, which was a chore. After getting dressed I left the room and went and met my wife in the waiting area. She was very sympathetic and went and got the car. I grabbed the bag of frozen peas from the trunk and sat in the passenger seat and enjoyed the drive home. Once at home I took my position on the couch and iced the area all evening. Overall the first evening was good, the pain was minimal and I was able to relax. The doctor had prescribed some pain killers and I took one before bed. Sleeping that first evening was a little difficult because getting into my normal sleep position was tough, but I was able to sleep enough.

On Friday I spent the day on the couch icing and watching TV. I removed the gauze in the morning, rather it feel out when I went to the washroom. The bleeding had stopped so I never replaced the gauze. The pain, at this time, was minimal and everything looked good. The right side of my scrotum had developed a nice bruise where the doctor had been pushing down. The swelling was also limited and overall everything looked good. I stopped taking the prescribed pain killers and just used over the counter Tylenol if needed. I skipped a shower on Friday and decided to have one Saturday morning. Once the shower was done I was feeling very good and my wife and decided to go out for a bit, nothing major just some shopping. I did this again on Sunday and then did some work around the house on Monday. I paid for all this activity on Tuesday when I returned to work. I started having more pain on the right side and by the end of the day, I was not feeling too good. I think I had overdone a bit on the weekend and also was only wearing one pair of briefs. For the next few days I wore two pairs to work and that really helped. I also kept icing and taking the Tylenol when needed.

By the next Friday, I thought I was coming around and tried the bike. I have my bike set up on a stationary trainer and I had planned on doing an easy 30-40 minute spin. Everything went ok and I suffered a bit with the incisions due to the tight shorts. Once off the bike I quickly had a shower and made sure everything was ok. Saturday morning I awoke and everything looked pretty good so the ride didn’t do too much damage. The only issue I had was that my right incision was still a bit sore and looking red and a bit inflamed. It had actually been looking like that for a few days. I decided to head to the hospital to have them look at it to make sure there wasn’t an infection. The doctor had a look and he felt there might be a slight infection and prescribed some antibiotics to be safe.

As the next week went by the bruising began to disappear and the swelling was pretty well non-existent. I was able to start getting back into my regular workout routine and feeling like normal again. At this point I started having problems with my left incision and the stitches. The stitches were starting to come out and getting caught in my briefs. It was rather annoying and painful. I also had to start dealing with my hair growing back and that again was a pain. I had been soaking in the tub off and on for the last week and now I started doing it on a regular basis to see if I could get the stitches to come out. I also started covering the affected area with Polysporin and gauze to ward off any infection and protect the area. The soaking and covering helped and at this point, 16 days later, all the stitches are out except one. I’m playing the waiting game with this last one because the others came out with a light pull while I was in the tub, yes I removed them, and this one is holding on. I won’t force it and I wouldn’t recommend anyone to do that.

Now I should provide a sexual update for those interested. My wife and I stayed away from intercourse until 17 days after. This was a mutual thing because with my stitch problems and the gauze I wasn’t feeling too sexy and she was worried about hurting me. My body took care of the first shot, in the middle of the night, about 7 days after surgery (I hadn’t had that happen in a very long time). Then a few days later I took care of number 2 in the shower. After 15 days my wife joined me in the shower and pleasured me for number 3. Everything functioned as expected and there was no pain what so ever.

The one piece of advice I can give anyone is to be patient and to rest. I think I jumped the gun the first weekend and set myself back. I also probably rushed get back onto my bike and into my workout routine, but that’s me.

19th March 2005 update

Like I said above I had my vas almost 5 weeks ago and things are progressing along, albeit slower then I had expected. I had been under the impression, after talking to the surgeon and quick searches of the web, that this was an easy procedure and that everything would be a-ok and back to normal after a few weeks. Granted things have not been too bad for me, but not as easy and as good as I would have wished. It’s even made me think at times if it was worth doing. I’m sure a year from now that I will feel differently and be happy to have had the procedure performed.

My incisions have finally healed with my last stitch falling out in the 4th week. Actually, the last stitch was ripped out and didn’t actually fall out. I went to visit the washroom at work and when lowering my briefs I felt a small tug and pain around my incision, I looked down and the stitch was gone. The small amount of pain was worth it to get the stitch out. At this point, the incision was a bit red and I made sure to use Polysporin for a few days to make sure everything healed up nice.

I’m able to ride my bike on my trainer for 60 minutes, like before the procedure, and am virtually pain free. The only issue I’m really having now is a discomfort on the right side at the top of my scrotum that radiates into my pelvic and hip area. I find that overdoing it at the gym, or around the house, lifting weight will increase the pain and discomfort. I’ve continued wearing briefs at night and using ice and ibuprofen when the discomfort is present.

I must admit that lately that this pain has become less of an issue, in other words, I am seeing progress on that front. On the sexual side of things, I have noticed a slight change. My ejaculations seem to have less force and there doesn’t seem to be as much volume. There is no real pain or discomfort, however, which is a good thing. The one thing I did notice last night in the shower was that my ejaculate had a small amount of blood in it. I am aware this can happen, but always thought it was something that occurred with your first few ejaculations and not after 5 weeks. Also, a few days ago my ejaculate looked odd, it seemed to have a small amount of a darker thicker substance… I think it might have been dried blood… Are these things to worry about, or is it normal? I know I could call the surgeon and will if it continues.

Submitted by Rich