We have news on both. Ovaries first: I went for my scan yesterday expecting to see follicles ready to pop (since I usually ovulate early) but there were two follicles only at 13mm and so they still need a bit more time to develop. I need to have at least one follicle at 20mm before they trigger the ovulation. I was only on CD 10 so I guess 13mm is about normal. Dr.B said the egg starts maturing quite quickly from this point. I think I'm getting a little impatient - I was so disappointed not to be there already! Note to self - good things come to those who wait. My next ovary scan is on Monday and if I have a 20mm follicle he will inject me that evening and then 36 hours later, the insemination is a go-go.
Now for the testicles. I am attaching a TMI warning to this part of the post. But this is important news for Mr. T and why his little fellas have not been functioning so well. Varicoceles. Mr. T has got 'em. Yep. Through all this time. All those doctors. And not one. Not one told us to see a urologist or to consider the cause for his sub-optimal sperm. They all immediately suggested ICSI.
(Wonder why? $$$)
Mr. T went to see a urologist a few days ago, who with a simple exam found varicoceles. Mr.T said he felt so weird during the exam, he kept saying he felt violated having a man feel his balls! Don't worry ladies, I gave him the look which said, don't even go there, you don't know the meaning of the word! Anyway for those of you wondering varico-who-what-the? These are basically varicose veins. The problem with having them in your testicles is that the flow of blood through these veins should be toward the heart and away from the sperm making and storage area. But with varicoceles the blood flows back into the testicles. The temperature of blood is much hotter than what is needed for the sperm and so this heat affects their shape, motility and the quantity. Aha! Finally! There's a concrete reason!!
The urologist applauded Mr. T's efforts with the lifestyle change, the diet, the supplements and the acupuncture. In fact when he looked at Mr. T's improved SA he was surprised that such an improvement had been possible given the varicoceles. He advised Mr. T to keep up everything that he's been doing as it was obviously having a positive effect.
We're still going ahead with IUI as there is still enough sperm for that and they are going to filter out the malformed ones and keep the fast swimmers for the insemination. Then Mr. T will be having the varicoceles treated. We just came back from the radiologist who found a Grade 3 varicocele and a Grade 1-2 varicocele. Varicoceles are graded from 1-3, grade 3 being visible to the eye, grade 2 being visible with the sonogram without coughing and grade 1 being visible with the sonogram with coughing. Apparently varicoceles are quite common in men, up to 15% of men have them. The urologist told Mr. T that in Morocco it's 30%, I have no idea why it's more common here.
I am so fascinated by biology I had to go to the radiologist appointment with Mr. T. He's very cool with me being there, as I am with him in all my appointments. I think it's good for us too see what the other goes through. Especially some of the stuff Mr. T has seen, he's certainly squirmed on his seat and squished his eyes when he's been to my appointments! Anyway all the staff were looking at me strangely as I went into the room with my hubby for his testicular scan. They were asking him 'Are you sure you want her to go in with you?' It's a Muslim country so I'm sure they thought it was a bit weird for a woman to be joining her husband for the scan of his tackle. But I just explained I'm really interested from a medical point of view and I won't be staring voyeuristically at my husband's genitals - I've seen them enough times anyway! Well I didn't say the last part.
And it was fascinating. If you're interested in that type of thing. The radiologist had this heat imaging on the screen so you could see the blood flow through the veins. He asked Mr. T to cough and you could see the blood flow back through the veins where it shouldn't. He explained that with Mr. T's varicoceles getting me pregnant would be nigh on impossible - which is why the latest SA was so surprising and shows how much all those lifestyle factors can have an impact on sperm production. So now we have one final hurdle to overcome. Well I hope it's the final one anyway!
To treat the varicoceles there is a choice of procedure. The older, more common one is surgery with general anesthetic. It's quite invasive and Mr. T will be out of action for a while - no heavy lifting allowed for 6 weeks. However there is another option, though he may have to return to Europe for it. This is embolization - where they insert a metal coil via a catheter into the affected vein to block the flow of blood. It is much less invasive, performed under a local anesthetic and he can go home after a couple of hours at the hospital. He will also recover much faster. So all in all it looks like the better option but we have no idea if there is someone who can do it here. If not, Europe is but a 3 hour flight away.
I feel a strange mixture of relief that we now have a concrete reason for Mr. T's sperm problems but also frustration that it took us this long to get the diagnosis. I really felt that we were on our way with all the changes we made to our health and lifestyle but now there's another six month waiting time ahead if this IUI doesn't work. I suppose six months is nothing in the big scheme of things. But I know you TTC ladies out there will understand just how torturous ONE month can be.
