Rob’s experience: Vasectomy after testicular torsion surgery

First, it must be said that this site is a wonderful resource. I had planned on having a vasectomy two years prior to when I actually had it done, however, I had to postpone it due to emergency surgery for testicular torsion. I discovered at 35 years of age that testicular torsion is not just for guys in their teens and early 20’s.

Now due to the fact that I had a bilateral orchiopexy, my doctor required that I have my vasectomy done under general anesthesia in a hospital OR.

The vasectomy

Preparing for the vasectomy was simple; I had help from my wife with the shaving. We arrived at the hospital at my appointed time and were ushered back to the OR prep room.

At this point in the procedure everything is just standard surgery prep, remove clothes (rings, watches, and the such), put the gown on, and get connected to the various IVs for general anesthesia. I was wheeled back to the very cold OR and was covered in warm blankets while the OR staff got the anesthesia flowing. From that point, I do not remember anything about the next 2 hours as the urologist worked on my No-Scalpel Open-Ended Vasectomy. The surgery went better than the urologist had anticipated with very minimal disruption to the sutures that are in place from the bilateral orchiopexy. I was given morphine in the recovery room for the pain before I was sent home.

Recovery

My recovery at home was uneventful, was given a prescription for Oxycodone that I was to take every 6 hours for 3 days. Bruising and bleeding from the incisions was minimal, the swelling was more than I had expected. The right side incision was less swollen than the left side (I was told that the left side is generally worse off in the first place and that in my case I was told to expect very painful swelling due to the fact that I had had the bilateral orchiopexy done).

The next couple of days were completely uneventful; it may be that the Oxycodone made them uneventful. By day 5 both of my incision had become somewhat infected, I was seen by my doctor for the infection on day 9. The infection that developed was not deep in the ball sack so I was given the most unpleasant set of instructions for cleaning the incisions that I have ever been given by any doctor. For the next two weeks, I had the joy of scrubbing the incision sites with a nail brush soaked in alcohol until bloody followed by soaking the incisions in hydrogen peroxide until no foam developed then applying triple antibiotic ointment and a gauze dressing (this procedure needed to be repeated 3 times a day).

After 23 days my vasectomy incisions were clear of any infection and looked as if they were just made, by day 30 both incisions had healed.

Summary

It’s now been 37 days since my vasectomy, my nuts are very tender and I sometimes experience extreme pain on the left side of my nut sack. I’ve been told that since I had testicular torsion that it may take up to six months for the pain, which is from the spermatic cord on the left side, to go down to an acceptable level. If after six months and the pain does not go away then I’ve been told by the doctor that there are a few options for stopping the pain. I’m hopeful that I do not reach the point where I need additional surgery to kill the pain in my balls. I had my semen test done on day 30 and the results were immediate, no swimmers present.

So far, I’m very happy with my vasectomy. Everything works as it should; sex is great (with the exception of the pain in my balls right now). It’s great to know that I can have sex with my wife without the worry of any pregnancy. Now I’m just waiting for my wife to have her I.U.D. (aka the Inter Uterine Dagger) removed, then sex should really be great.

Submitted by Rob