CD12, Cycle 6: I keep forgetting what cycle. Also, spermatoceles.

Since I have a couple minutes...

I really should update my main blog. It's been weeks now! WEEKS! Like, three of them!

Since I don't have that kind of time, though (despite all the cool things I want to tell everyone about), I thought I'd just update here real quick and save TCC for tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm on CD12 now, I believe, and we're just trucking along. I actually forgot to take my temp this morning, lol. I'm doing OPKs this cycle, and we're going to follow the SMEP to a certain extent. If we don't follow it by the letter, then whatever.

There is one new concern, though. Talk of a possible complication both with this whole journey and DH's overall health.

DH had hernia surgery when he was an early teenager, which left him with a pretty cool scar and some possible damage to his urological region. Recently, he's been experiencing some pain below the surgical site (it's right over his pubic bone, the scar), and part of the pain involves his vas deferens and possibly his epididymis.

After a bit of research, he concluded that it might be a spermatocele, basically a benign fluid- (often sperm-!) filled cyst that typically extends from the epididymis. They can sit near the top or behind the testicle, separate from the testis. They're more a nuisance than anything, but can become painful.

So not we're caught with that situation. Stubborn man that he is, DH is refusing to check anything until after this cycle, starting with a SA and, only if that's abnormal, getting this possible spermatocele issue checked. It might also be a hernia, which is leading me to push him even harder to go see a doctor (and the possibility that it might be testicular cancer -- hey, gotta leave all options open! -- is pushing me harder), but he's digging in his heels.

Men. Geezus.

Spermatoceles, while not directly the cause of a type of infertility, can cause a reduced sperm count. However, the surgery to remove it can cause even further damage as it may damage the epididymis or the vas deferens, so it's typically left alone unless it's causing pain. They're also really common -- about 3 in 10 men will experience spermatoceles in their lifetime, with the possibility increasing with age.

Excision of the spermatocele in more than 50% of our patients caused permanent deterioration of their spermiogramm. The number of sperms was reduced to less than the half of the preoperative counts. Obstruction of the epididymal duct caused by postoperative cicatrices is thought to be the reason. In consequence of these results operative treatment of spermatoceles should be though over. Our series clearly shows that the dissection of a spermatocele by no means should be practiced by way of treating infertility.

Dissection of spermatoceles and fertility

So we're just going to leave it alone, and DH will have everything checked if we don't conceive this cycle. Not just his SA, either; I won't let him go halfway with that. :P Better to find out that it's a spermatocele than something else!

Anyway, that's how things are. Chugging along, trying desperately to get some leisure mixed in with these crazy workweeks. Seriously, I've been swamped. Hopefully it'll slow down soon... :)