Dave from New Zealand's
experience - added 17th December 2003
My story
Hi, I thought I'd contribute my story for the website. Thanks for putting together a great resource.
I've been married since 2002, and lived with my partner for a few years before that. (I'm now 31 and she's 30). We've talked about the kids thing but neither of us are keen. Also, we both have a love to travel, and children would put that on hold.
My wife has been using oral contraceptives for the length of our relationship (about 5 years), but I've never felt overly confident about Birth Control, and a near-miss a few years ago made my mind up.
I got in touch with family planning and requested a vasectomy brochure. After reading this, I started looking on the internet for more information, and found this site and the newsgroup which I used to ask some questions.
I talked over it with my wife - it was a difficult decision, but she agreed it was the best solution, so I called up a nearby surgeon specialising in NSV vasectomies. I must admit I was very nervous phoning up to make the appointment, but the nurse was very informative and reassuring that the procedure was quite simple. I made the appointment for 3 weeks later.
The surgery was booked for a Friday night. The wife drove me there, and a nurse asked whether she'd like to sit with me during the procedure. She said she would if I wanted her to, but I decided that it would be better if I did it myself.
The surgeon was excellent - we had a good laugh while he was doing the job.
First he gave me a haircut - glad I hadn't done it myself, as he didn't remove as much as I would have done myself.
The whole thing took about 20 minutes without any real complications other than a bit of oozing which took a few minutes to stop, but before I knew it I was on my way home.
I went straight to bed after the surgery and relaxed. The anaesthetic started to wear off and i could feel some slight pain, but the pain killers I was prescribed dealt to that. I used ice on an off and that seemed to help as well.
Possibly the worst thing was getting out of bed the next morning - it felt like I'd done 5000 situps! I had some slight swelling on the left testicle, but this went down after about 24 hours and i had no other complications.
The first day at work was a little uncomfortable, but not too bad. Wearing tight underwear for the next couple of weeks seemed to eliminate any discomfort.
Probably the worst part for me was the hair regrowing - it was very very itchy!! There is no scarring and you cant see where the incisions were made.
I had my first semen test after 6 weeks - this came back all clear. The second test a couple of weeks later, and the test results came through this morning - all clear.
I'm officially sterile. It's a great feeling.
Dave NZ