[angiefl]

Hi to all and thank you for those who helped me feel better about the DS. Nothing new to report on us. We did the genetic testing and the MD said it would take at least 30 days to get the results. So we are kind of in a holding pattern--which is great and bad at the same time. Wishing all you ladies the best who have been posting recently!!!!!

[SFBaygirl]

Singing: I asked Dr. Turek about that and he said that men don't get the bad side effects that women do. They can have sore breasts but that means that estrogen is too high I believe ( I could be wrong) and that he would need the Arimidex.

Dr. T didn't give us a percentage but he said he wants to try the Clomid for 3 weeks then retest T levels. If that doesn't work then hCG shots are next. He said he would like to find even a few sperm in a centrifuged sample then he would freeze them. He said he was cautiously optimistic. I liked the fact that he was mainly concerned that my DH feel better since his T levels are so low.

I really hope your DH does well. I will let you know if my DH also has the appetite increase.

Angie: I am glad you are starting to feel better and I hope you get good news from the genetic tests. This is all a process and involves so much frustrating waiting. At least you guys are doing something. My DH is going to get the genetic testing done very soon too. to all of us.

[tuie]

Singingirl - What type of surgery is your DH having? My Dh has been on clomid for 4 weeks now with no side effects.

SFBaygirl - The biopsy is not evasive. He has a blockage. Scar tissue in the vas deferns. The dr just wants to be 100% positive he is making sperm before he removes the scar tissue to restore the flow of sperm. We will not be freezing or anything like that. We are to restore natural flow. If we cannot restore his fertility we will move on to DS.

[erinvt]

Tuie,

I just noticed in your signature you got the results of the zero sperm count for your DH on June 5th of this year. That's the same day we found out that my DH had a zero count too!

I still remember that day like it was yesterday....

[tuie]

Erinvt - I remember that day well also. It was his birthday.

[SFBaygirl]

Hi everyone.

Erin and Tuie: I remember the very day we got the diagnosis too and exactly what I was doing at the time. Tuie, I am glad to hear your DH had no side effects from the clomid. My DH is worried about gaining weight (nice to know men worry about these things too). I sincerely hope that the surgery does the trick and you can have a bfp the old school way. How long after the surgery will they know?

Erin, not too long now until November, are you guys getting excited about your consult? I have a feeling you are going to get some good news.

Hi to Kris, TTB, 3rdtimes, Dreamer, Katie, Schatzi, Singing, Diana and twins, Ewebey, Millie and anyone I can't think of right now. At least we are one day closer to Friday.

[Singingirl96]

Tuie - We intend on having and mtese/ivf/icsi combo in June of 2010.

I sent an e-mail to our doctor (who responded within 20 minutes)... and she wants to see him in 6 weeks to test his test and do other lab work.

She is only going to do another sa in 4 months, she says that it may be too soon to do it any earlier.

She says that if clomid doesn't work she'll put him on hsg shots as well.

I asked her about the fna mapping procedure and what she thought about it. She said that when he had his biopsy that is what she performed on him. She says that although it gave us a better idea of his issue (SCO), she said that it is not a good predictor of whether or not mtese will be successful or not.

Now she's mostly concerned about getting his testosterone as high as possible because it will dramatically increase our chances to find sperm if his testosterone is stabilized.

Hello to all.

[erinvt]

SFBayGirl: I also remember exactly what I was doing when we got the azoospermia diagnosis. Isn't it funny how certain events stick in your mind so clearly? But then again, how could anyone forget a phone call like that...! I was at work and my OBGYN called my cell phone. It completely caught my off guard because I didnt think for one SECOND that it would be an issue with him. I remember having to lean against the wall in the hallway because I honestly thought I was going to collapse. I had to leave work...thank god it was a Friday and I had the weekend to compose myself before attempting to focus on work again. What a sad day that was...

And yes, I am very anxious and excited for our 11/17 appointment with Dr. Schlegel! DH hasnt talked about it much (I'm not surprised) but I know he is just as anxious. I have a feeling we are going to get good news--but I am trying not to get my hopes up. The initial reaction from Dr. S was that we have a 70% chance of finding sperm through mTESE, but who knows--after taking a closer look at his file, he may change that percentage...so I am definitely trying to keep that in mind. I dont know what we'll do after that appointment...we will have some BIG decisions to make....and I'll have a lot to research! I am the type of person who will research a subject to death until I become an expert on it. It's pretty bad!! But, I've had doctors tell me they appreciate an educated patient, so I guess it helps the process a little.

Oh, I also wanted to share with you all a great website I came across called Air BnB. It's a temporary housing/rental website and I think it would be great for those of us who have to travel for treatments and appointments. The housing options range from a room in an apartment, to an entire apartment or house! I briefly looked for places in NYC near Cornell and there are a ton--and a lot are pretty reasonably priced! the website is AirBnB: Vacation rentals, private rooms, sublets by the night. This will definitely be an option when and if we decide to go through with the mTESE and IVF procedures later down the road.

Hope you're all having a great day!
e

[Dreamer16]

Angiefly: So glad you are feeling better about it. It will definately take some time but you will get there!

SFBaygirl, Erint, and Tuie: I can remember that day like it was 5 minutes ago too!!! I was at work of course, and I had my phone on vib in my pocket cuz I was waitin for the call. Sure enough when it came, I was horrified. I had to call another teacher to watch my class so that I could compose myself. Of course the nurse couldnt have been more cold. Her exact words were "Your husband must have had a vasectomy right?" I was like "uhhh no why?" and she was like "Really? Thats so weird. He doesnt have any sperm.....are you sure he didnt have a vasectomy?" So clearly, I was not happy!

AFM: I am feeling depressed today because I am almost positive that this IUI didnt work either. I can tell because I have this bladder condition (IC) and it acts up the week before my period just like clockwork....and of course, this morning I wake up and the pain was there...just like every other unsuccessful month. I just cant handle the disappointment anymore....it takes such a toll a me emotionally. I am sure you all feel the same way. Sorry for the vent.

Happy Wednesday.....half way there.

[SFBaygirl]

Dreamer: I am sorry to hear about the IC (is that interstitial cystitis?). I hope that maybe you can feel symptoms from that while pg too. Ok that sounded bad, I don't want you to be in pain, hopefully you know what I meant there. I know that it can also be affected by diet. I am going to hold out hope for you until your beta test. When I think about IUIs I always think about Kris who had several done before her bfp.

Singing: So, they are waiting for 4 months after the Clomid for the SA? That seems like a long time. I will have to ask Dr. Turek about his time frame next time we talk. He didn't say at our consult.

Erin and Tuie: I was actually driving home from work when my DH called me on my cell phone and said, "well it is me, I have azoospermia" (we had never heard of it before). I also assumed from the beginning it was me because my mother had fertility issues.

[schatzi]

tuie - Good luck with the biopsy! I hope they are able to get things worked out so you can have a baby without any treatments!

SFBaygirl - the clomid does the trick and you guys can avoid any invasive procedures. That would be amazing!

Singinggirl - I hope the clomid does it for you guys too! I hope time flies for the 2 of you - the waiting is so stressful.

angiefl- I hate being in the holding pattern and not being able to do anything or make decisions/plans. Hang in there!

Dreamer - your symptoms are wrong. If it's still a week until your period, maybe it's still too early for your body to even know you're pregnant? I hope that's the case.

erin - your appointment is going to be here before you know it.

Hi and (hugs) to everyone I missed. We're halfway through the week!!

AFM - I remember where I was too. DH texted me that our Dr had called him and they didn't find any sperm. I was just getting ready to leave work to go to my HSG and remember thinking it seemed pretty pointless. I felt like my heart was breaking for a long time after that (still do from time to time I guess...).

I got a pretty big shock at work last week. I was in a small meeting with a couple of coworkers and boss and at the end of the meeting one coworker said she was going to have a lot of drs appointments because she was doing IVF! She just squeaked into last months class at our clinic - and if she hadn't gotten into that one, we would have been in the same class next week! That would have been a huge shock for the both of us

I told her that DH and I are doing IVF (not brave enough to tell my boss and other coworker yet). It's been nice to have someone IRL to talk about it with. She let me look at the consent form and has given me some pointers on the insurance for the medication.

We've also had some venting sessions about how hard it's been to be at work the last year (there were 4 pregnancy announcements in Jan, one person who was pregnant, and 2 that were just getting back from maternity leave). I just that IVF works for her.

[3rdtimesthecharm]

I just wanted to pop in and say hi to everyone! I am heading home late tomorrow for a weekend with DH; it should be very nice! I will write more on Monday after I have my baseline.

[Sarahlouise1980]

Hi there, i am new to this thread. My DH and I have been ttc for 9 months and two weeks ago my Dh was diagnosed as having azoospermia. I am completly devistated and lost.

He has been on testosterone therapy for a while and I have been reading up on how this can cause azoospermia.

He had blood work done which came back normal, urinalisys which came back normal, and now we are being referred to another urologist who specializes in "sexual health", what ever that is.

Does anyone know what we do from here? Is there any hope that we can get pregnant without having IVF? Will his sperm count return? With medicine? What can we expect as far as testing?

Sorry for all the questions, I am just completly freaked out and I don't know what to do at this point.

Thank you to anyone who can help me.

[SFBaygirl]

Sarah: to the thread and so sorry you have to be here. You are in a great place, the ladies and occasional DH are so supportive. It is very natural to feel devasted and lost.

The good news is that it is possible that once your DH stops the testosterone supplement he will have some sperm. The urologist may put him on something like Clomid which several of our DHs are on or starting including mine.

The first step will likely be stopping the T supplement and retesting after being on a different type of testosterone raising medication. Keep in mind that testosterone supplements are actually almost a male birth control and stop sperm production completely in most cases. There are several men in this forum whose sperm counts have returned to normal. If you read the entire thread look for Crob. Her DH went back to normal and she had bfp the old fashioned way eventually!

Best of luck.

Good night to everyone else.

[Sarahlouise1980]

Thank you so much for the welcome SFB. I am so glad to have found this thread I have really needed someone to talk to. I have been talking on a ttc thread on bbc for a long time, but I am finding it harder now that I know that we are infetile. Wow, it is still crazy to even say (or type) that.

I have been trying to read through the thread but I have been reading for hours now and I am still only on page 35, lol.

I am very hopefull that his sperm count may return, even if it just becomes a low count so that we could try an IUI, that would be something.

In these other cases that you have heard of before where it did return, how long did it take for the sperm count to return?

How is your DH dealing with the Clomid? Is he having any adverse side effects?

It is so nice to meet someone in the same situation, but sad at the same time. I am so sorry that you are going through this, I would not wish infertility on my worst enamy.

GL to you and thanks.