Surgical Sperm Retrival

[Catsnkidsistheplan]

Hi all
Looking for some advice
My husband has a zero-low SA result. Only 26 sperms in his sample. Bit of a shocker / blow to us obviously. We are getting in touch with a urologist next week re retrieving sperm and chances of success. Has anyone been through this and was it worth doing? Or did you cut your losses and face reality and consider using donor sperm from the offset?
I would love to have my hubby's kids but I'm feeling the odds are against us the more I read and understand about the process

My DH had zero sperm in all his samples, and referred for surgery. On the day they were able to get absolutely loads from PESA rather than having to do the actual surgery which was brilliant. I'm aware that's a very fortunate result, but going into the surgery we were told it was a 50:50 shot of getting anything at all by any means. I was pretty happy to go down another route (it would have been adoption for us) but for DH's mental health it was definitely worth doing the surgery, and thankfully paid off.

@mayihavesomecakeplease thanks for responding. Did ur hubby end up having a blockage? Do they need a scan to see structure? My hubby has had a fsh and testosterone test. FSH came back high which we have been told is basically his brain trying to correct the downstairs problem and make sperm. It's bloody hard. When we were told he was low I thought it would be a couple of mill. But 26 seems all doom. Off the 26, only some are twitching. I guess u found healthy sperm from PESA?

Hi @Catsnkidsistheplan, scans didn't show anything but there must be one somewhere! Similarly was told had high FSH as brain somehow knows the sperm isn't getting out. They put him on clomid for a few months the year before the procedure, but he was off it for about 6 months before he had it so I don't know that it made any impact, I think it was just part of their checklist of things to try. As far as I know it was healthy! We had a freeze all IVF cycle last month with good results, so no BFP yet but a massive step closer.

We were in the same situation. Had an ssr and got a very low number of sperm, managed to get one top grade embryo for day 3 transfer - unsuccessful. Had a second ssr with no sperm found. We then saw a urologist who gave various bits of advice - I can go into more detail if you like. We were hopeful for a better result going private and having a urologist do the final ssr. Even with all these changes no sperm were found on our final try. We really thought as some were found previously, with the various changes we could get enough to fertilise remaining eggs. We don't regret giving it our best shot. We did spend a lot on various consultations and sperm tests. My regret is doing it all in various stages, freezing eggs, separate ssrs. I have done meds 5 times and only had 2 transfers. If I could do it again I would have had back up sperm ready to use.

There is every chance in your situation there are more sperm to be found. Unfortunately costs really add up, but we felt we really needed to be sure.

@mayihavesomecakeplease glad there are others in our situation! Sounds positive - hope u manage to get those 2 lines! Did you ever get to find out the root cause of the issue?

@Rd12 you both deserve a medal for going through all that. You definitely gave it a shot. What's your plans now if you don't mind me asking? And did you guys ever find out a root cause. Genetics etc has been mentioned to us.

Thanks to you both as it feels like it's worth a shot and I suppose if it doesn't pan out, you can look back and say we tried. Which is all you can do really!

No idea! I think once they had a successful PESA they didn't have any reason to investigate. All the normal screenings came back fine.

@mayihavesomecakeplease it's so hard at times as I would want some kind of closure. But I understand finding sperm is their no 1 goal. Hope it all goes well for u both x

Everything was normal, we have no idea what the problem was. The urologist said occassionally this happens and no cause is found. We just don't see how a few were found first time but then none after. It is a very difficult thing to go through and accept. We have now gone for donor sperm. It wasnt what we wanted but the alternative is no children. I have just had my first transfer with the donor sperm. I will test Monday. No idea if it has worked or not. From what i've read symptoms from meds are the same as pregnancy. I should know in the next few days. I have 3 lower quality ones frozen but after these are gone we have to give up.

I hope you have more success, at least if you have some in the sample thats a good sign? It could be a blockage which would mean they can extract what they need

@Rd12 Yes, it's difficult not to have any closure of why the problem existed in the first place. Yeah we have had a talk about the donor option. I suppose it is what it is. The alternative is no kids like you say! Well I hope u get good news on Monday. Think positive x