So yesterday we drove four hours and slept in a cheap hotel to get ready for Mr. T's eight am appointment the next day. All this for a little itty bitty varicocele. But this little itty bitty varicocele could hold the key to our infertility. Emphasis on the COULD. And who of us wouldn't drive to the ends of the earth, let alone for four hours, to find that out?
The hospital staff were wonderful and treated us with such care and understanding. The surgeon, who is not really a surgeon, but an interventional radiologist - I think that's the correct title - made it clear to us that there is no firm evidence yet to show that varicoceles are a cause of MFI and that there were no guarantees with this procedure. We understand and accept this. Hey, IF will show you that nothing in this life is guaranteed and that no medical procedure is either. But. The theory makes sense. There is a logic: Pool of blood around the testicle caused by a varicocele equals too much heat which equals f@*ked up sperm. Love my medical terminology?
After Mr. T's initial work-up and a kiss good luck from yours truly, they took him down to the theatre (btw he deserves a round of applause because for the first time since I've known him his blood pressure was normal. This is a major achievement, all his lifestyle changes and hard work have done that). An hour later he was wheeled back in. That was quick I said. The assistant nurse replied, no really it wasn't. What happened? I suddenly thought that Mr. T might be one of the 1 in 200 people who can't have embolization, did something go wrong? No, she said, it all went well, your husband just has a weird anatomical structure, what we call anatomically variant, which meant we had to do a little detour.
Let me explain. When they do a varicocele embolization they make a small cut in the groin and then insert a dye and a catheter. The catheter follows the vein up toward the kidney and then down toward the testicle. When the catheter is at the right point, several metallic coils are put in place to block the vein and stop the varicocele.
However Mr. T's vein was not in the normal place. It took the doctor a while to find it. He said that Mr. T was very odd (I had accepted this a long time ago). In normal people the vein runs in front of the kidney but with Mr.T it runs behind the kidney and does a weird loop thing. Anyway they eventually found it and the coils went in without a problem. He did have a slight reaction to the dye they use to map the veins. He started itching and sneezing like mad and was sure he was going to vomit - this happens to some people, but in the end he came back to me in one piece. And with one varicocele successfully embolized.
Now it is a waiting game. It takes 74 days for sperm to be made. Therefore we have to wait a minimum of two and half months before we MAY see any improvement but six months is the usual wait for real improvement to be seen. Right now I'm too exhausted to think about this and how I feel. All I can say is PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let this be the final hurdle, let this finally be it!
