My partner and i had been trying to conceive for 5 years when we decided it was time to investigate it further. I had alway thought it was my fault we couldn't conceive because when i was teen i had POS, When we went to the doctors he just casually mentioned my partner should get a sperm count before we went through costly tests with me.
To our surprise it came back with zero sperm, we were referred to IVF where He was sent for tests, His blood came back good, his chromozones came back fine, his ultra sound on this testicles came back with no blockages and all was good, 2nd sperm count came back with no sperm as well.
My test results reviled i was all normal again no more cysts.
He is heart broken, all he has ever wanted is his own family, and now he cant have it.
The IVF specialist did mentions something about a biopsy but he said it was highly unlikely we would find anything. I don't know if he could go through the disappointment again if they were to find nothing.
He isn't open to the idea of a sperm donor cause he will feel like the child isn't his own, i hope he changes his mind as i don't want to get to 50 and realized i missed my chance.
Can someone please give me some hope???
And does anyone know how much it will cost to have a biopsy done?? (no privet health insurance)
Jen, I'm so sorry to hear your story. I'm afraid I can't offer any personal experience, but why don't you google some of the private clinics? Some of them publish a price list, and otherwise you could just phone a few and ask the receptionist. I'm sure they're very used to dealing with enquiries like that.
I really hope you find a solution.
Hi Jen, and welcome to BB! I'm sorry to hear of you and your DH's predicament. My DF had a snip 12 years ago so when we got tested before we tried for a baby his count came back at zero. Luckily wheh they did the biopsy they found enough of the smimmers to do a cycle. I guess the difference between my DF and your DH is that my DF had sperm but they just weren't coming down the tubes. I think from memory it cost around $500 but that was 3 years ago. I really hope they find some swimmers in your DH. All the best in your TTC journey hun.
It doesn't sound like your specialist was very hopeful but they did suggest it so maybe it is worth a try.
I know that you say that you aren't sure how your DH would cope with the disappointment if they can't find anything but maybe it would be the little push that he needs to think about other options and if they find something woo hoo! There is a possibility that there are some there but for whatever reason they aren't making it our (lack of strength etc).
I'm not in any way trying to push you towards having the biopsy if your DH doesn't want it but I am a no stone unturned kind of person and it would do my head in knowing that I hadn't explored every option.
I'm sorry that I can't tell you about the costs - but your specialist's receptionist would be able to tell you.
All the best - and don't be a stranger - we are always here to have a chat - the disappointments associated with long term TTC are well known to many people here on BB.
A friend of mine DH has the same issue - no sperm found but they opted for a biopsy & found some, so they are ttc via IVF atm. (first attempt, they had no success & are on their 2nd attempt)
I don't know the costs associated with a sperm biopsy, however this will be discussed with you prior to commencing IVF.
Muppity - I agree with you it would do my head in knowing all options had not been explored i just hope my partner will come around to idea... maybe hearing these stories will give him some hope.
RhiChiChi - thank you for sharing your story with me as it gives me more confidence that there may still be chance for us!! and best wishes for your friends.
Miss.B - even thought it was a couple of years ago it still gives me a rough idea of how much it will cost.
Pholi - thanks for that advise i might just give my local doctors a call to get a price!
Good news that you are going ahead with the biopsy! Do you mind me asking what your DH does as a job? The reason I ask is my DH is a diesel mechanic and after his open biopsy is took 6 weeks before he could be back on the tools. Even on light duties he split the stitches twice!!!
My DH is a delivery driver for a spare parts company. So in and out of cars and sometimes he has to pick up large drums of oil. Maybe he can ask his boss if he can be in the office when he returns for a few weeks if need be??
My DH is booked in for his surgery! I'm feeling very nervous for him, if the results come back negative I don't know how he will react.. I'm also nervous about the surgery in general, fingers crossed we find some baby making stuff!!
I think that would be a really good idea, then of he feels better he can always go back onto harder duties earlier.
I don't think hubby and I were prepared for the swelling or the amount of pain he was going to go through. Obviously you can tell from my ticker that it's was well worth it!!! I would suggest asking doc to take as much as they can while they ate in there. They only opened up one side on my DH, we got three straws of sperm plus what we used for our fresh cycle even though I'm young and have good eggs, they don't fertilise well so we are hoping the two straws we have left will be enough to complete our family.
DH has already said regardless of the pain and recovery, he would do it all again if he had to.
I had no idea either, i watched a testical biopsy on you tube and it was just a little incision with 2 stitches.
When DH asked his Doctor, the doctor said they need to cut the sack, cut the testical pretty much in half and scoop out the middle of the testical and send it away for testing.
So now i understand why he needs the 2-4 weeks off work.
Fingers crossed there is something in there.
Will keep you all up dated in this post. The site wont let me make a blog???
Just to let you know, my DH had is biopsy done on Wednesday, he is doing really well, we thought the swelling, bruising and pain would be a lot worse!! The doctor said it doesn't look good, we have an appointment with the doctor next week just to confirm.
He will also probably put us on the wait list for a sperm donor. Does anyone know how long the wait is?
How has it all gone and what decisions did you end up making?
My husband and I have been through the same process. After the azoospermia (no sperm) diagnosis from his semen samples, my husband had the microTESE surgery last year. They told us from the start that our odds of finding any sperm were poor (less than 20%). I did a stimulated IVF cycle and had eggs retrieved at the same time so that if they found a lame sperm or two they would have eggs available to fertilise with ICSI straight away. The microTESE was unsuccessful and they froze my 20 retrieved eggs. Then our real pain began! My husband was utterly broken… and still is 15 months on. He too, really wanted to have children but struggled with the idea of donor sperm. After much agony, ruling out adoption, and me admitting how painful it would be to not have children at all, we decided to do IVF with donor sperm. We have had a lot of counselling and taken our time to get to this point. We put our names on the waitlist at our clinic as soon as donors became a possibility because the list was six months long. I also spoke to other clinics in Sydney – one had no waitlist at all (imports sperm from America) while others require that you BYO donor (which wasn’t an option for us). We stayed and waited at our original clinic because their program seemed good and we trusted them. We have just started IVF using an anonymous donor. Even now, my husband is finding the idea of me pregnant with another man’s sperm very tough. He has really struggled to be involved in the IVF process but will hopefully find things easier when we are able to talk about a baby rather than eggs, sperms and embryos. I have been finding the IVF cycle quite difficult too because I have been doing most of it on my own and my husband has struggled to even deal with the good news along the way. My little joys and successes seem to exacerbate his sadness and make him dwell on his own infertility. We are in the two week wait after our first embryo transfer and I am scheduled for a pregnancy test on Friday 13th. I hope we, and you, have happy times ahead! I would be happy to chat with you anytime if you want to compare notes or vent.
Best wishes!! I hope things work out for you guys whatever you decide! xx
I have spoken to lots of clinics in Sydney over the past year about their sperm donor programs and discovered that:
- IVF Australia has a good donor program - the wait is about 6 months long and then you get a choice of about 20 donors from Australia and the US.
- Fertility First in Hurstville has a good donor program with about 20+ donors constantly available straight away. Most of their donations were imported from the US at the time we looked.
- Genea does not have an anonymous donor program - they require you to find your own known donor.
- Westmead Fertility also does not have an anonymous donor program - they require you to find your own known donor.
I know that different states across Australia have very different laws about sperm donors that affect availability and waiting times.
I noticed that you mentioned one of the donor websites (Free Donors Worldwide) in one of your posts a while back but I think that it is better to go through a proper sperm bank at a clinic unless you want a known donor (like a member of your partner's family or a friend). Sperm donors in Australia are not allowed to be paid anyway so the fees that you pay for a donor at a clinic only cover the costs of the donor's testing, storage of sperm etc - it wasn't very expensive for us at all in the scale of the whole IVF treatment. Sperm banks in Australia are highly regulated and there are a lot of laws in place to protect everybody involved. The donors are tested thoroughly for diseases, the sperm is quarantined for 4 months, then the donor is re-tested to make sure no new diseases have shown up. The donors also provide a lot of info about themselves and medical history of their family. Also, on-the-books donors can only donate to four different women in their lifetime (in NSW - this varies between states) to avoid a situation like in the US where some men end up with hundreds of donor offspring. There are no controls like this on the donors who just advertise themselves to provide sperm and I think it could potentially be a little risky.
Hope this helps a little. Feel free to ask me any questions because I think we are one step ahead of where you guys are at the moment.
Thinking of you! xx
Last edited by DizzyLizzie; September 4th, 2013 at 05:11 PM.
No Sperm found, should be do a Biopsy
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