Long Intro/Male Issues (dd ment'd)

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2005
Long Intro/Male Issues (dd ment'd)
69
Thu, 12-20-2007 - 9:24pm

Hello!

My name is Callie (36) and I used to lurk on this board for awhile. I have a very long intro, if you'll bear with me. This will all lead to a question I have regarding male factor infertility. Dh (42) and I have been TTC#2 for about 1 1/2 years now. Dd was conceived via IUI due to a relatively low sperm count. I, too, have PCOS, and have developed, since dd's birth, hypothyroid.

Fast forward about 3 years, and we are ready to contemplate #2. After, haphazardly trying on our own for about 6 months, we decide to contact our re who helped us with dd. Since it had been a few years since our last visits with him, we went through the whole battery of tests again. It was discovered that dh's sperm count is 0. He was tested 2 more times. All 0. We were referred to a urologist who insulted my husband's anatomy, and told him that he should just tell me "Sorry, honey". We went back to re and demanded another referral. We were sent to an outstanding urologist who ordered her own tests. Again, sperm count is 0.

We are now up to May 2007. After discussions with her and our re as to how this could possibly be when we were able to conceive dd (albeit artificially), we are forced into the conclusion that it must be some genetic "time bomb" that "shut down the sperm factory". B/c he wanted closure on this issue, dh ordered a testicular biopsy to determine the cause. While we wait for the pathology report to come in, we both are working on ourselves to deal with the fact that we are done having children, and that our dd will not have any brothers or sisters. We are at relative peace with this when we get the results that the "factory" is working just fine! I should say here that through physical examination and u/s, there were no varicoceles (sp?)or blockages immediately visible. We were then offered two options from his urologist. Either microsurgery to correct whatever the problem is that is preventing his sperm from ejaculating or IVF with ICSI. We had hope again! We opted for IVF.

This brings us to today and my question. I am due to have my official b/w done tomorrow to see if I am pg from the ET which was done on 12/10. I can feel AF knocking at the door, and have had 2 BFNs on POAS. I will POAS again tomorrow morning before going in for the b/w, but of course, it will be the same answer. Due to insurance, we could only do IVF once. Since this option looks like it will be a bust for us, we are looking into the reconstructive/microsurgery next. Does anyone know anything about this? I suppose it would help if I knew exactly where dh's problem lay, but I hope to have those answers when we see her on Jan. 3. I've heard that it could take up to 18 months for "things" to start working again. I'll be 38 and dh will be 44 by then! Has anyone had any experience with this? Any info would be appreciated. :)

Callie

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2005
Sat, 01-12-2008 - 9:14pm

Hi there!

Just want you to know that I know (as we all do on this board) what a rough road it is that you're on. Since we did not have any embies make it to freeze, I can't offer any advice in the FET area. Apparently from what you said, the inability for embies to freeze after TESA, which my dh also had to do, is common. I hope that you are the exception to that rule!

I know what you mean about everyone getting pg. I had a good friend tell me a few months ago that she's pg. Then, just last Monday, a friend whom I haven't spoken to in a few years, emailed me that she's pg, and within hours of getting that email, my principal announced to us in a staff meeting that she's pg. Yesterday, a parent of one of my students asked me if I had a relative that just had a baby b/c someone with my last name (same spelling) just delivered at the hospital where she works--and my name is not very common. I'm beyond crying at this point. Just numb.

We cannot do any more cycles of IVF. We had to fight our insurance just to cover this last one. DH is now going to have surgery done in March to hopefully get his issue fixed. Insurance won't cover that either, but hopefully we can cover it if I sell my stocks. I'm curious if you have considered surgery for your dh. It sounds like you may have a similar issue as we have. If he's producing sperm, but it's not appearing in his ejaculate, it might be fixable. My dh's urologist is calling it a vasal obstruction, though until she gets in there, we really won't know what the problem is.

I know how scary it is to get your hopes up. Just try to take it a day at a time. Best wishes for your FET. This may be the one for you!

Callie

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2008
Tue, 01-15-2008 - 3:54pm

dear callie,


thanks so much for your support. i feel like this really shouldn't be so hard for me to deal with, but it is. the urologist believes that my husband's problem is a congential absence of the vas deference, ie: no tube there for the sperm to get out. thus, no way for surgery to correct the problem, and our only option is to physically extract it for icsi. although we live in

ana

mom to beautiful baby lia.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2005
Tue, 01-15-2008 - 10:21pm

Hi Anna!

We live in Illinois, too! Whereabouts are you? We're in Waterloo. We, too, have fallen into the mandate loophole. In fact, this summer when we learned that we would be able to do IVF with ICSI, we called our insurance (UHC) and learned that we were covered. We double checked twice (too good to be true, you know) and so did our re. They said every time that we were covered. Then, our school district changed our insurance from an HMO to a Point of Service in October, and there went our coverage. Through fighting with UHC, our NEA president, and our Human Resources Assistant Superintendent, UHC granted us the "favor" of covering us through midnight of Dec. 31. It was an ordeal, and as it turn out, for nothing. Now, dh's surgery is not covered, but his diagnosis is, which I do not understand at all! When this is all over for us, we will be writing our congressman Costello. It's not fair that only people who have money can have treatment, and therefore, children. ...Well, that's my tirade.

I do so hope your FET works!! I think that no one deserves it more that us--b/c we've cried and fought and prayed and wished so hard for it. Maybe that was mean to say, but that's how I feel. Have faith! Even though I know how hard it is! When is your FET scheduled? If only they could reconstruct a vas deferens for your dh, like they can artificial limbs. I guess science hasn't caught up. No, it's not fair! But we will make it through, somehow!

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2008
Wed, 01-16-2008 - 12:58pm

dear callie,


we're in chicago. our insurance also covers diagnosis, but not treatment. they did cover my hsg test, etc. it sucks how much money it costs and that there are all these insurance loopholes. FET scheduled for jan 31. today i increase my estradiol to 2 pills/day. actually, i just realized that it is scheduled for just over 2 weeks! i'm just so afraid the embryos won't make it to blast stage, and thus we won't even have a transfer. nothing i can do about that now, though, so i have to just keep going. i know what you mean about feeling you deserve it. i got upset the other day when 3 celebs all gave birth on the same day. and you really can't avoid that news. i wish it weren't so hard. and it wouldn't be if we knew that there would be a positive outcome to all this, but no one can make any promises! is your husband scheduled for surgery?

ana

mom to beautiful baby lia.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-19-2004
Wed, 01-16-2008 - 6:23pm

---pg ment---

Ana, I really hope your FET works. I thought it might give you some hope to hear that for our FET, our grade 2 survived the freeze and so did 1 of our 2 grade 3's (scale of 1 to 3 1 is best). Our RE only gave us a 10% chance of the one grade 2 blast taking and a 1 in a thousand chance of the grade 3 creating a baby. Well, my beta is Friday but I started getting light lines on HPT's yesterday and a BFP on a digital test this am! I hope your FET works too- even when the odds feel like they are overwhelmingly stacked against you, it can happen, even with male factor infertility. I had started to feel like it might never happen for us with dh's "defective" sperm, and we were getting the SCSA test to decide whether to use donor sperm or try ICSI again, then to our surprise the FET, with the worst quality of the embryos we produced in our IVF cycle, is the one that implants! Go figure.

Ironically the cryoshipper for the scsa sperm fragmentation test arrived today, we are still going through with the test as it is very early, and we already paid for the shipping is is $150 of the $350 cost.

Good luck and I hope your FET brings you a nice sticky BFP! It CAN happen!

-Jenna

- Jenna
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2005
Thu, 01-17-2008 - 9:19pm

Congrats Jenna on your BFP! You deserve it, and I hope your numbers go up, up, up!!

Callie

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2005
Thu, 01-17-2008 - 9:30pm

The best thing you can do during this time is to take care of yourself. There is so much beyond our control when traveling this infertility road. All we can do is take care of ourselves and our dhs. At least that way, if it happens, we're healthy and ready for pg, and if it doesn't, we're healthy and have a stronger marriage.

I know how hard it is to get your hopes up, but you do have a chance that it will all work out and you'll get a BFP. Try to stay positive. I will be thinking about you on the 31st.

Dh's surgery is scheduled for March 14. Talk about staying positive...I'm trying to prepare myself for after his surgery when his doctor says that she tried, but there's nothing that could be done. I guess I'm a hypocrite. I've spent the afternoon on the phone trying to get someone who will tell me how much his procedures will cost us--with no answer yet. Again, I'm preparing for the worst.

This is certainly not an easy road--but so worth it if it turns out positive!

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2008
Fri, 01-18-2008 - 12:33pm
thanks for your supportive and encouraging words. i'm trying to be positive. i had a similar experience that you did. when we found out my husband had a sperm count of 0, the urologist told us that he needed to do a biopsy/tesa procedure to see if there even were sperm in there. i was nervous for months, and just terrified that we would be told that there was no sperm and nothing to be done. and we, too, had to deal with the insurance and financial stuff (it was not covered and ended up costing about 5000$).

ana

mom to beautiful baby lia.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-01-2005
Mon, 01-21-2008 - 6:29pm

Thanks for the thoughts!

Gosh, you have just 2 weeks left! Take good care of yourself. You want those embies to have a nice, cozy place to snuggle down in!

If you don't mind my asking, how did your dh's urologist discover that he was born w/o a vas deferens?

I hope everything goes well for you on the 31st. Keep positive thoughts.

We're still trying to track down how much dh's procedures will be. It's frustrating.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-08-2008
Tue, 01-22-2008 - 11:41am

dear callie,


i'm trying to take care of myself. the estrogen is making me pretty anxious and emotional, but i'm feeling much more optimistic. in terms of dh's diagnosis: the RE sent us to a urologist (after a sperm count of zero) and the urologist could not feel the vas deferens during physical examination. he is not 100% sure this is the case, but suspects it, and given that they can get sperm through tesa/biopsy, that's what we're going on. it's confusing that it is not definite, but given the complete absence of sperm in the semen, but some sperm in there that can be taken out, it makes sense.

ana

mom to beautiful baby lia.

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