Thursday, February 9th, 2006...5:44 am
Qualms about my vasectomy reversal
I have to admit to some trepidation as the surgery approaches. All along, the idea of having a child while in my 50’s has terrified me. Been there, done that — I have an 18 year old daughter from a previous marriage.
My qualms fall into multiple categories… There is the financial part. As a staff member at work said, “you’ll be working forever!” And then there is the physical challenge; I’m relatively fit, but will I have the energy to chase a toddler around the house? My wife has said that she realizes she will be taking on more of the required physical effort. Still, just the thought of it can be exhausting.
My concerns now are not what they have always been. The dissolution of my first marriage left my faith in the longevity of relationships quite shaken; is my marriage going to hold up for the long haul? Maybe time has something to do with it, but this doesn’t bother me as much now. Not that we have the perfect marriage — we have issues like most couples. But I know I’m committed to sticking with it and making it work.
Lifestyle is another concern. My wife is my partner in outdoor adventure. We mountain bike weekly, and go canyoneering, snowboarding and backpacking whenever we can. But that has slowed down some over the last couple of years, partially due to me taking on writing a book and, not content to settle for just my day job, I have another blog besides this one. We do get out though; our adventures have actually picked up a little steam recently. Sort of a pre-surgery, last chance. I expect to be severely restricted from those types of activities for at least a month, post-vasectomy reversal.
There’s more to discuss on this subject — the physical pain resulting from the surgery, and I also want to elaborate on the financial implications sometime soon, time permitting. But that’s it for today.
4 Comments
February 11th, 2006 at 10:58 am
When’s your surgery scheduled for? My partner has his reversal done 8 years ago. It’s challenging trying to conceive post surgery, but from what I’ve read length of time between original vas and reversal are less a predictor of success than the age of the female partner.
Still, I’ve met several women whose partners have gone through the reversal and ended up with anti-sperm antibodies. My partner has sperm morphology issues but no antibodies and we’ve conceived twice on our own but had two miscarriages.
Come check out my blog and you can see some of what I’ve learned.
Best wishes,
A
February 12th, 2006 at 9:51 am
Hi Agness,
My surgery is scheduled for next Friday. I had refrained from publicizing this because I was afraid I might chicken out. Reading the post that included your partner’s experience (”His balls were swollen to the size of large oranges at least and it took weeks for the swelling to go down”) hasn’t exactly helped either! :-0
Anyway, the cat’s out of the bag now. I’ll be posting about the experience, although my wife may get first crack at it, guest posting for a day or two next weekend.
February 12th, 2006 at 10:01 am
Rich,
Sorry about that. But know that you can do it and that once its over you will have a new beginning.
Will your wife be able to be with you?
I’ll be thinking of you this week and sending you healing thoughts after Friday.
Best wishes,
A
February 12th, 2006 at 11:20 am
Thanks Agness. Hey, I figured out how to add sidebar items in Blogger, so I’ve got you linked up now. Thanks for including me on yours.
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