While I didn't face the issue myself my understanding is that sperm quality is generally pretty poor because of the vas. From memory what happens is that after a vas sperm are still produces but they die as they can't go anywhere and this changes the environment within the testes slightly and reduces the quality of the new sperm that is produced.
What this means is that they may have to use a type of IVF called ICSI (depending on sperm quality and there isn't really a way of telling until you get a look at it) As an aside, your DH does know how they get it out doesn't he? Mine would have freaked and put a stop to everything if someone had gone near his boys with a needle!
Back to the serious point though - just because he was clearly fertile before isn't a guarantee that he still will be quite as fertile as he was before. But I am absolutely not saying that IVF won't work, but it may be that you would have to use a significantly more expensive process - I'm not sure of the current costs in Sydney but when we did ICSI last year it was just over 10K.
Several of the IVF clinics give an indication of costs on their websites - and it may be that if you want more than one kid together it may be cheaper to have a reversal (although as you said - you hear plenty of stories where reversals don't work).
Whatever happens that you have a little bundle of joy in your arms soon.
my DH has had a vasectomy, and we opted to get it reversed first, because it had been <5years and i am young with no issues. unfortantly it didnt work. the dr said he has heaps of good swimmers there...they just cant get out because there is too much scar tissue. we are only just looking at what our other options might be.
our reversal didn't cost half of that though!! wasnt even a quater...and he did go to a good dr (not some cheap one). the dr said that dh is the only one his done that hasnt worked.
My DH had a vasectomy for abouy 5-7yrs when we met. I explained I wanted children and he agreed to a vasectomy reversal. He had that in Nov 07 and in Dec 07 we conceived our DD who was born in Sept 08. We were not told to wait at all after his reversal just as soon as he is ready to go for it. We were incredibly lucky.
Anyhow in Sept 09 we decided to start trying for No2. Fast fwd to April and I finally convinced my Dh to get a SA done and it came back zero..... Apparently scar tissue has formed so it was like he never had the reversal done....
We are now onto out 1st FET after our fresh cycle failed.
For me I would always have the reversal done....it was so much better. We keeping it as a backup if IVF doesn't work for us but because of already having one reversal done our chances of the 2nd one working is only 50%.
Goodluck, I see you are nearly at your appointment time. I wish you the best whatever you have decided.
My story is not the same as yours, but I did do IVF/ICSI due to me having PCOS and my DH having okay sperm, but not great. For our stimulated cycled we were out of pocket about $2,000 but this was before the government made changes to the Medicare rebate with IVF. Our FET we were only out of pocket about $500. However that is just the clinical costs. There is a lot of medication involved that is veery expensive. I got a BFN for our stimulated cycle, but got lots of embryos that we froze. I fell pregnant on my first HRT FET and now have a gorgeous 20 month old DD. Whilst I was pregnant with DD I had to stay on HRT medication and daily pessaries until I was 10 weeks pregnant. The pessaries are not cheap and I probably spend at least another $500 on them.
Good luck with your decision. Ivf can be an emotional roller coaster, but it sure is worth it once you get your longed for baby.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks