Azoospermia support - Part 2

[WhiskeyInTheJar33]

@2022ttc
@Ljp2022
@lemons44
@IslaO
@Carla2601
@TheFanciestPants
@HoustG
@Sleeter0893
@Creatingspace
@Nats140
@pomdownunder1
@Annies1992
@Lily1994

As the old thread is almost full, I thought I'd start up a part 2 so that we can all continue our journeys together!
Apologies if I have missed anyone x

@jaspercats really sorry to hear what you are going through. I hope it gets better. With the AMH I think it’s depends on age but I’m not too sure. Are you having your fertility appointments via NHS and are they doing the genetic testing? From memory it took 6 weeks for genetics to come back but DH did this privately with Dr Pippa, so you should have it by Feb.

My husband had successful microtese and they managed to find 5 vials that can be used for a few cycles of ICSI. Does anyone know how much sperm is in 1 vial?

Hi ladies,

just checking in to say merry Christmas and hope you are all doing ok. I remember this time last year really leaning on this group as Christmas and new year can feel like it shines a light on what you don’t yet have. Always thinking of the gang here and hoping 2024 brings everyone what they want.
@Sleeter0893 hope you’re pregnancy is going well. @lemons44 @WhiskeyInTheJar33 and all the other ladies who have helped me so much, thinking of you and would love to hear of your updates. Equally if you have no updates and are just trying to switch off over the holidays, then great too ❤️

@IslaO thanks for the lovely message. Hope you're having an amazing time too x
Not going to lie this holiday period has been and is continuing to be incredibly sad and difficult. Hoping and praying that this time next year we are in a happier place 😞

@Nats140 congratulations on the successful mtesse!! I've not got that far in the process so not too sure.

@jaspercats so sorry you've had such a rough few months. Hoping things become calmer and easier for you soon!

Hi Ladies, hope you have all enjoyed some downtime and a few indulgences lately! The festive season can be quite a challenge.

@TheFanciestPants that’s wonderful, congrats! Hope everything continues to progress well.

@jaspercats so sorry to hear, that’s a lot to cope with, especially all at the one time. You have done so well to get through it all and maintain a positive outlook. Hope your kittie is doing well too, I can only imagine how stressful that would be. Thanks for your kind words, I’m feeling much more optimistic about doing a FET next year and for the moment I’m trying to really enjoy all the amazing things in my life.

@Nats140 thats amazing, you must both be so relieved! Although having said that I was in a state of disbelief for weeks afterwards. I’m not sure about the actual number of sperm but we have done two rounds of ICSI (28 eggs in total) and have only used 1 straw of sperm. It could vary significantly couple to couple but hopefully 5 straws will be more than enough for you to be successful.

@Runner77 We are so relieved. My husband had a TESE procedure that didn't go to plan, so we were incredibly nervous about the microtese. We are overjoyed and so happy that my husband does not need to go though anything else. We have a meeting on 30th Jan to over meds etc and then starting on 8 Feb.

We have been waiting nearly a year for this point, so very excited 😍

Hope that everything goes well with you

@Nats140 soo pleased that they found sperm! 5 vials is a great number to have in the freezer! I can't answer your question about how much per vial. I was wondering the same myself.

Does anyone know if they thaw 1 vial, can it be refrozen?

@IslaO How is your pregnancy going? Have you had any scans yet? Little update from me, am hoping ping to start first cycle in February!

@TheFanciestPants & @Sleeter0893 how are you getting on?

@IslaO @WhiskeyInTheJar33 Thank you for checking in on me! Baby is growing healthy and I'm 17 weeks along. I can't believe we started this journey 8 years ago, didn't know if we could even have a biological child this time last year, and now we're waiting for this new journey this coming year. Ask of you ladies are wonderful in your support and encouragement this 2023 and hope to see much more good news coming from everyone finding themselves in this group for 2024!

@Sleeter0893 glad your pregnancy if progressing well. Can't believe you're almost half way!

So glad to have the support from this group to help us on our "journey". To finish the year with 1 baby and several more pregnant gives us hope! Here's to hoping that 2024 will be everyone else's year!

@Sleeter0893 congratulations!! Lovely news and hope you continue to have a happy and healthy pregnancy :)

Thank you ladies for all the support and kindness and advice - I don't think I could have got through the last 3 months without you and no doubt will continue to lean on this group for support next year

@WhiskeyInTheJar33 do you know if the embryologist tests the size, morphology and quality of the sperm before freezing? I am probably overthinking it, but wanted to check

Sorry to hear that some of you are having a hard time over the Christmas period, I also keep reflecting back naively thinking where we thought we’d be, and we’re still so far! However, grateful for the lessons learnt.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2024, I sincerely hope we all get our wishes this year. Thankful that I get to share this journey with others that also get it.

So happy for you all getting to those next steps, whatever they might be! They’re all a step in the right direction. Just two more days until we hopefully get a plan of action! Fingers crossed.

Hi everyone. Hope everyone had as good of a Christmas and new year as possible.

While I had a lovely time, something just didn't quite 'sit' right. While i enjoy things, and I by no means felt glum, infact I barely thought about ttc, but I feel like I'm ready for a change on a visceral level, its like a cloud over me.

We have had lots of baby talk last couple of days, about where we hope to be this time next year. In an ideal scenario, iui is an option and we would have a Christmas baby but that's highly unlikely. I'd be extremely disappointed to enter 2025 not pregnant.

Our first appointment with Fertility clinic is in 10 days.

Hi @wateringcanface happy new year! I completely understand the cloud you refer too, but also really happy that you and your OH are having such open conversations. I genuinely think it’s the only way to get through it. 10 day countdown, amazing, you’ve got this. do you know the intention / potential outcome of the appointment? Is it for you or him?

Little update from us, we had our call from Andrology yesterday where we found out he has a Y-chromosome deletion. So unfortunately the doctor stated that’s the end of the road for us. Micro-TESE is very very unlikely to find anything and likely something he was born with.

We had lots of good chats yesterday, and mostly feeling really sad and pissed off. Our options are donor or adoption so going to think over the coming weeks. Anyone else have this diagnosis? X

@Disco24 I'm so sorry about the outcome of your tests. Hope you're both as well as can be, I imagine it's a lot to absorb and a lot of emotions to overcome. It's such an awful journey this is..

My husband and I have started initial discussions about what plan B would look like (chances of us finding sperm are quite low) and we definitely won't be going down the donor route so would want to start thinking about adoption, but have no clue where to even start.

@Disco24 I saw your recent comment and didn't want not respond... my husband has a y deletion too. Do you know what type your partner has?

An AZFC deletion means it's possible to produce sperm but very unlikely with AZFB.

We were fortunate that my partner does produce small amounts in his ejaculate and so we had a successful round of ICSI.

We saw Dr Ramsay who prescribed medication to increase the count for our ICSI cycle. I would really recommend speaking with him if you have an AZFC deletion as it may not necessarily be the end of the road for you.

Hope you are coping ok with the update, it's such a hard thing to come to terms with.

@Disco24 I'm sorry to hear that, what a terrible start to the new year for you. Me and OH had discussions about what we would do if in the same situation, ultimately, we had ideas about what we thought we would do, but decided we would have to be faced with the situation to make our minds up. So basically - I'm not sure.

Have they offered you any counselling to discuss both choices? Have you any idea where you are leaning at present?

In terms of our appointment, it is the first one with andrology. We don't imagine there will be any medication/lifestyle changes we can trial etc, so hopefully they can just put us straight on the ISCI list. We are hoping that they can get either electroejaculation or a TESE done quickly, that way we have the option for a private round as NHS waiting list is about 9 months. If electroejaculation is an option, we are going to ask for IUI but that is a long shot.

Hi @Disco24 sorry to hear about your outcome. My DH also has a Y deletion (c deletion) but was told it’s still possible to find sperm in an MTESE. Do you know what type of deletion it is?

@poppiggy thanks for sharing your story and congrats on a successful icsi. Did the medication Dr Ramsey prescribe have an impact on the sperm count?

@Lily1994 yes by the time we got to our cycle, along with a severe overhaul of lifestyle, diet, exercise, he was able to produce a couple of million rather than the thousands previously. We were 'fortunate' (if you in can call it that) there were any to start with as low numbers aren't a huge issue for ICSI but it was reassuring they had much more to choose from.

I have a friend in the US whose husband has the same and I believe he didn't have any (or possibly very very little) in his ejaculate but through changes did end up managing a successful ICSI round without surgical retrieval.

Hi everyone thanks for your lovely messages. It’s a kick in the gut, but I truly believe we’ll have a family regardless of how it formulates.

@poppiggy oh that’s great news! I’m not sure of the type yet, we’re awaiting the results to be sent. The doctor seemed quite adamant that a TESE wouldn’t provide anything, so I’m keen to check the type. If it is the same, I’ll book in with Dr Ramsey, thank you.

@wateringcanface i think we’re leaning towards donor, I’ve always wanted to carry a child and he wants to have the experience of going through that too, so that’s what our gut is saying. NHS Andrology have been the most useful step for us so far (and we had initial consultations private), so wishing you get some answers and they get you on the road quickly! Keep us updated!

@poppiggy glad it all worked out for you. When doing ICSI/IVF were you able to do genetic testing to see if the y deletion would be passed down?

@Nats140 I'm not sure if embryologist test it. I assume they must do some sort of "quality check" to ensure it's good enough to freeze. When my DP had his micro tese they froze 2 vials straight away. They weren't sure with some of them, so they left them overnight and decided in the morning whether to freeze them (and managed to get a few more for a third vial).

@Lily1994 no, we knew that if we had a son the deletion would be passed on and we had to accept that. The hardest thing we found with infertility is the shock of it, our child would grow up always knowing, also we figured it is only relevant if they definitely wanted children, plus so many things could happen in someone's life to affect their fertility anyway. We also figured in another 30 years time IVF is likely to have advanced so much further to assist if they did want a child.
We did query whether we could test embryos and only transfer a female but that isn't allowed in the UK for this specific issue as it doesn't affect anything to do with health or quality of life whatsoever, literally just sperm production. Clinics in Cyprus (Turkey) do allow testing and selection though for any reason.

Hey @poppiggy and @Lily1994 thank you both for encouraging me to check the type of Y deletion, we received the letter today so I've been having a good read. It seems his deletion is ACFa, which on further investigation is the rarest and most absolute form of Y deletion. His is complete deletion too, not partial, so unfortunately the doctor was correct when she said it's the end of the road.

Been doing lots of reading on donor, so if anyone else has gone down that road do let me know. It's too soon to make a decision, but I'm going to continue my fertility referrals in the hope that by the time we get funding we'll have muddled through these current feelings and be confident in that decision❤

@Disco24 sorry to hear your news! There is a guy on instagram called "knackered knackers" he has azoo and used sperm donor. He has a WhatsApp group and a podcast (the male fertility podcast) where he shares his story and is really supportive. Your partner may find this helpful (and you too), I know some others on this group have found him helpful too!