Tom's story - added 15th July 2001
Nerves beforehand, but it went fine
In response to another newsgroup poster, who was extremely nervous one week before his vasectomy:-
If you've got the appointment made, that shows a good amount of resolve/willpower to start with. I bet you'll get through it fine.
I've never really liked hospitals at all - I'm 34, and get queasy just walking up from the parking lot, no matter why the visit. Stopping into the maternity ward to see a friend's newborn, or going to the pre-birth classes in the meetingroom downstairs, or going to see an older relative recovering from surgery - doesn't matter, I'd get a little sweaty and queasy. I went to see my regular doctor a month or three ago, for a physical and referral for vasectomy (kinda like buying four bags of potato chips along with your condoms, to cover them up at the store!). They decided it'd be fun to take a blood sample for routine testing, and I got faint and sweaty from the blood draw. Took a while to get cooled off enough to walk to my car and drive home.
Having said all that, when I went in for the procedure (7:15am Friday morning) the roughest part was getting registered at the sign-in desk. I didn't think I'd need to identify my religion and next of kin for a 45-minute minor surgery. The urologist and assisting nurse met me in the minor surgery room, I got changed, they put about 20 towels all over me, and tried to find a good radio station. Typical rush-hour morning radio teams isn't what you really want to hear - they finally found something calmer.
The anesthetic injection was much less bothersome than the doctor's office blood drawing - about the same as dentist novicain, if I remember properly. There was some tugging during the procedure that was uncomfortable; seemed like he was massaging/moving things around to find the vas, but more disconcerting than painful. There were a few parts where they obviously knew it was going to be uncomfortable, based on how they started trying to distract me with conversation.
After the first side was stitched up, they switched sides and did the other side. At one point I smelled some burning hair (guess I didn't shave enough!) but nothing else offensive or medical smelling, no scary sounds, nobody said "oops". The doctor fitted me with the new suspension, handed me a package of gauze pads and a prescription for Tylenol with Codene if the over-the-counter Extra-strength tylenol didn't do the job. They encouraged me to jump right up and run out to the changing room, but I took it a little easier. After lying down for 45 minutes I had to let my heart start pushing blood uphill again before I stood up. I asked for a little water; she brought back two cups of orange juice. I walked overly-cautiously out to the changing room, got my pants back on, and headed out.
My wife dropped off the 3-year-old at daycare (they were in the waiting room for the hour-long procedure) and we headed back home, by way of two pharmacies looking for the Extra Strength Tylenol. I headed straight to bed with two snack-sized Ziplock baggies filled with frozen peas, popped two Tylenol, and spent the rest of the day in bed with a computer on a breakfast-in-bed tray. That tray works wonders to keep the cat from pouncing on your lap, too. I swapped with new bags of peas every hour or two, as they thawed out, and kept on the Tylenol every four hours. Didn't feel bad, really, just being really really cautious. Managed to sleep overnight, woke up at 5am for more Tylenol (again, just in case) and slept a bit more.
Didn't bother with the peabags the next morning, just got up, showered, dressed, and acted somewhat normal. I carried the Tylenol around for the next three days but never needed any. I was apprehensive about what I'd see when I undressed for the first shower (picturing some Frankenstein-style 3-inch scars and stitches) but could hardly see the repairs he'd made. The first side he'd done was bruised, the second side was about the same as it had been three days earlier.
Now it's six days after the procedure, still feeling okay, able to lift a 35-pound toddler and fly him airplane-style into bed. My doctor said to bring a specimen after 10 ejaculations, which is a lot sooner than everyone else I've read here in the group this past week. We'll see how it goes. My wife's sister and our baby-sitter's youngest sister were both post-vasectomy babies, so we'll be asking for a notarized legal document from the doctor when he says it's all clear. Not really... but I might see if he'll do yearly checkups cheaply, or maybe buy a $99 microscope: http://www.intelplay.com/products/qx3/index.htm if 200x is enough magnification to see the evil swimmers.
Tom