Actually MY DH suffered terribly - but this wasn't 'normal' I'm sure.. so don't let any blokes who may need to have the snip one day, read this..
He couldn't have it with a local anaesthetic.. he actually got as far as the table in a gown with me waiting in a waiting room outside with baby DD, watching the other men hobble out every ten mins or so! (It really was quick!) (And DH said this whlst he was in there he was almost knocked out by the obnoxious smell that the previous patient had left behind.. which was obviously because the poor man had had an accident due to fright! There was a gown hanging out of the linen bin that was covered in.. poo.. sorry..!! How gross of them not to take it away before calling the next bloke in! Anyway...I digress!)
DH has psoriasis and is affected a bit down below and they decided, having got him on the table, that the anaesthetic might not be effective due to various areas of thickened skin on the scrotum so he would have to go on the waiting list for a general instead.
2 months later, he went in to have it done under a general and they rang me later to go pick him up. They wheeled him out to me in a wheelchair which was HOURS after the GA so I thought this was bit dramatic but when I got him home and saw his bits I could see why.. it was all HUGE and already turning black!! Over the next few days it all got bigger and bigger, despite us following the instructions for attmepting to reduce swelling/bruising. In the end it was all the approximate size of a rugby ball, that's the whole scrotum.. we have polaroids of it!... even his willy was bruised, battered and swollen! I remember him joking at the time that he could not envisage ever 'using' it again.. so in that respect the vasectomy was already effective!
Worse still, he had dark black brusing in the shape of thumbs and finger prints at the top of his groin area as if he has been really manhandled. He was in lots of pain. We went to the GP who was shocked and said she had never seen post op trauma from a vasectomy this bad but said it was not that uncommon for it be done 'very roughly' under a GA because the patient was alseep and unable to complain!! He also only had one incision on one side - apparently it's usual with a local anaesthetic to make two on incisions, one on each 'ball' and pull each tube out to snip. With DH they had pulled both tubes through the one incision and this had added to the trauma.
He also had lots of lumps. He was due to go for scan but they disappeared before the scan date. The GP said they were probably blood clots that dispersed themselves!
He is ok now.. and everything 'works' and no more babies have arrived since he had it done )4 years) so at least it was effective!
CJ x