Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Never thought I'd be one of those...

First of all -
If you have found yourself here, thank-you. My intentions for this blog are to openly share our struggles with infertility, and to give myself a place to ramble on about the many ideas floating through my brain.
Many thoughts cross my mind when I think of blogs and why people start them. And, until recently I found myself as one of those people that had no use for one. It wasn't until I began searching the internet for couples stuck in the same situation as us that I realized I needed a place to vent. It's a small percentage of the IF population that is dealing with azoospermia and PCOS and I have cleaved so much information from the blogs from those few couples. May we add our advice to the mix for those who share this path with us.
Our Story:
DH and I have been married almost 5 years. We come from large families. I finished nursing school in Dec '09, and our intentions were to start a family soon after. I got off BCP in November and started cycling every 60-90 days. Finally went to see my GYN after about six months of frustration. Most likely diagnosis was PCOS, although I passed my glucose challenge test. So we talked about options and decided to start Clomid the following month. Hubby got a SA as well. 3 days from my "most fertile" time the doctors office called DH to report that no sperm was seen in his analysis. Appointment was scheduled with a reproductive endocrinologist to go over the results. Then lab work was sent to rule out a hormonal issue. FSH came back one of the highest he's every seen at 30.1. All other lab work was fine.
Two weeks ago DH met with a Urologist that specializes in male factor infertility. He also commented that DH's FSH was one of the highest he's ever seen. (Oh, joy!) Did an exam and became quite concerned that DH had an undescended teste. So, emergent CT scan. Stress over testicular CA for 24 hours. CT came back negative for any masses THANK GOD! Urologist suggests removing teste as soon as possible related to high risk of testicular cancer. So, here we are waiting for the surgery schedular to call back with a date for his orchiotomy.
(Please someone tell me how a man goes almost four decades of life without someone detecting an undescended testicle!!!)
In the mean time we have discussed our options and the very small possibility that DH will be able to biologically have his own children. We are seriously considering IVF with donor embryo at a well recognized clinic in Zlin, Czech Republic. For those of you who don't know, it's about 1/3 of the cost for donor embryo as here in the US.
Some might ask why not use donor sperm? Because my DH is adamantly against it... So, end of that discussion. I see the "fairness" in making our child none of ours biologically. It balances out the playing field.
Welcome to our adventure...

5 comments:

Michelle said...

I have PCOS and my husband as Azoo. Please feel free to read my blog and my history and email me if you have any questions. Having both male & female infertility is a bitch and Azoo is a freakin hard diagnosis.
I hope you find comfort & information in this community. Welcome.

Chickenpig said...

Hello and welcome! My husband and I also experienced dual IF, although of a different stripe. My husband has sperm, but he has 100% sperm antibodies and very bad morphology, and I had a gigantic embryo swallowing fibroid. We also agreed not to go the donor sperm route for the same reasons, either from both of us or neither. I hope you achieve success and are able to negotiate the holidays without going insane. LFCA

Anonymous said...

I know what it's like to feel like there's no one out there in your position. We're not sitting in exactly the same place, but there are certainly similarities. My husband was diagnosed with azoo three and a half years ago. (One undescended testicle corrected surgically as a child.) I was the one who said "no" to DS, and we wound up going to the Czech Republic for (frozen) embryo donation. It didn't go all that smoothly and we worried for a long time that there might be some issue with me causing our difficulties, and it was hard to get any diagnostic work done with dh's situation being so clear cut. But we are pregnant (finally!) and quite a way through the pregnancy - so I want to offer you some hope. - hedwig

Lulu said...

Welcome to blogging, found you through LFCA. I too have PCOS and we just found out today that my DH has male factor infertility, although we don't understand it or know anything about it yet. I look forward to reading along with your journey.

foxy said...

Hi D,
Sorry that you have to join us all here. But thank goodness for this IF blogging community. It really is INCREDIBLE, and has been like a lifeline for me this past year.

We were diagnosed with Azoos July 09. Our world shattered. Its been a long journey of grief and attempts to treat it, but despite every medical theory available to date, we are left to start our family without the benefit of my husbands genetic link. I swore at the beginning that we would never consider DS. Time and the reality of our options have changed things for us, and we did our first diui in november.

This journey is most certainly different for each one of us, and knowing that there are others who are sharing similar experiences has been so comforting for me. Reading about the stories of others has been so therapeutic, and writing has been such a great release for me.

I hope that you find the same comfort and support here that I have.
good luck!
-foxy

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