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Anyone had any recent experience of vasectomy reversal?
valleygirl · 11/01/2003 15:29
Hi
Would be grateful for any advice regarding vasectomy reversal. My bf had a vasectomy whilst in a very unhappy previous relationship - he was 33 at the time, and never thought he would meet anyone else and have a chance at a new life.
However the problem now lies in the fact that I eventually would like to have children of my own(he has 2 sons with ex) but it appears that the NHS no longer does vasectomy reversals, and we would have to be refered to a private clinic to have it done. My understanding is that with the particular procedure he had done (tubes cut, not tied) also makes for a very poor success rate for reversal.
Does anyone else have any information/first hand experience? Another procedure I've heard of is Testicular Sperm Aspiration - but this also seems to go hand in hand with IVF, which again is expensive and not ideal surely? The other option would then be sperm donation, again not ideal, as one of the reasons for having children is to make up for the fact that he has children with another woman, and this is something that I would really like the two of us to experience in our lives.
Although I don't want to have kids now, I know this is something which has to be dealt with now before his sperm just gives up the game! So any and all info. woudl be highly apreciated.
Many thanks
Valleygirl
hmb · 11/01/2003 15:43
No personal experience but this site has some info from the BPAS
www.bpas.org/page.asp?id=50&page=51&cont=46
HTH
susanmt · 11/01/2003 20:39
No personal experience either, but I think the non-reversal on the NHS may be postcode related, as I know you can get it where I live.
My stepdad had cut tubes repaired just over 17 years ago - and my half sister is 16 now. They were told it was a one in a million chance as he was almost 40 when he had the reversal, but it did work for them. Hope things work out for you too.
SofiaAmes · 11/01/2003 23:22
Valleygirl, my dh had a vasectomy reversal 3 years ago on the nhs (north london). Similar story to yours, he had children from 2 previous relationships and thought he didn't want any more. Until I came along with my loudly ticking biological clock. He was way down on the waiting list as it's a non-urgent operation (vs. operating on men with prostate cancer), but I kept calling for a cancellation and we ended up getting one before too long. My dh too was only in his mid-30's. (By the way, I can't believe that the nhs actually paid to give him a vasectomy and then to reverse it. It seems like a bad way to prioritize limited funds, but ...anyway...) I'm pretty sure that his tubes were cut rather than tied. We were told that the amount of time between the vasectomy and the reversal (or resurrectomy as my brother called it) is one of the most important factors in determining whether it will be successful or not. The longer the time period the more antibodies build up to the sperm. After my dh had his done, he went back for the sperm tests and they said that he had no sperm at all after the second test and that the operation had not been successful. So we started researching the IVF route. The plan was to go private and do a second reversal at the same time as taking out the sperm to do the IVF. So, we decided to get married, go on honeymoon and then start the hormones for the IVF when we got back. Well to make a long story short, I got pregnant on the honeymoon and got pregnant again 2 years later without any trouble at all. So we never did have to do the IVF. Hope this story helps a bit.
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