Just found out....... - Long-term TTC & infertility

MrsS1981

27/02/2012 at 05:35

Hi ladies, where do I start? After 5 cycles of TTC, we were visiting the in laws at the weekend, MIL said she couldn't wait to be a grandmother and I knew she was wondering so I just told her that we were trying! She then said to me "well don't wait too long to get DH checked out as when he was little one of his testicles didn't drop and had to be removed"!!!!!!!! Now I was sat thinking "I'm sure I would have noticed that" but didn't want to go into detail about her son so just skirted over the comment and let it drop.

Later I spoke to DH who was annoyed and said he had an op down there as it was stuck and they got it out and all is fine and they are both there! I can't believe a mother doesn't even know this about her son?!?!?! He had told me about an op when he was little but that as far as he was concerned everything was most definitely there and in working order.

Anyway, I started reseraching and it's really common that they don't drop and a simple operation sorts this.........however, it should be done very early (by 24 months) and his wasn't even discovered and was done when he was 10 years old!!! I've found out that this can possibly lead to infertility and a high risk of cancer! I'm a total mess, one minute I'm terrified that he won't be able to have kids, the next I'm so upset that we could have realised this years ago and started getting checked out, frustrated that we don't know either way, etc, etc. I really don't even know where to start. Some websites say that as long as one testicle had dropped that everything would be fine, but I just don't know?

Has anyone had any experience in this?

Any advice would be appreciated.

MrsS1981 xx

MrsB_2008

27/02/2012 at 08:59

Hi MrsS1981,

I haven't got any experience of this sorry hun but could you and your DH both get checked out together just incase? Or just speak to the doctor about it? They might give your DH an SA just for piece of mind.

Can't believe your MIL came out with it like that mind but at least you know about the op now and can start looking into it further.

How long have you been TTC? x

Edited: 27/02/2012 at 09:00

wibblewobble1 Platinum member

27/02/2012 at 15:35

Hi hun

our situation is similar to yours. We'd been ntnp for a while then ttc for around a year, when we decided to go to our Gp. A sperm analysis was done and came back with zero sperm.

At first we were given no reason why it had happened, there was talk about hubby having mumps when he was younger maybe that was the cause, all the tests came back showing no apparent reason for it/no blockage so Non Obstructive Azoospermia. A raised fsh was the only indicator given that hubby was suffering some form of testicular failure.

The very last investigation the specialists do is surgical sperm retrieval via a tese/pese/pesa/mtese and then they freeze the sperm they find.

I've gone a little off track I have a habit of rambling :lol: It turned out once me and hubby had got as far as the him having the ssr/tese and we were waiting for the results his mum casually dropped the bombshell that hubby's testicles took a lot longer to drop than his brothers, but had however dropped by themselves not long after he was walking without the need for surgery. So it was more likely the not dropping that caused the problem by them not having room to develop properly. I'm not saying that this will have happened to your husband you may not have any problems at all. All I'd advise you to do is to go to your Gp and request a semen test, it's taken us nearly a year to go through all tests and I think if we'd known about things earlier we would have done more sooner

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CM87

27/02/2012 at 18:44

Hi Mrss1981,

My situation is a bit different from yours, but thought i'd share my experience anyway so it can hopefully give you piece of mind

My DH was diagnosed with testicular cancer when he was 21, and as a result he had to have one of his testicles completely removed. After all his chemo and everything, his fertility was tested, and he was told by numerous doctors that if one testicle is no longer there or not functioning properly, then the other one will compensate for it. The tests showed that even with only one testicle, he actually still produces an above average amount of sperm, which I would never have thought possible, but it's true!

Having said this, we are about to enter month 6 of TTC (unless I get a BFP on Wednesday- FC!!), so I guess this hasn't been proved yet!

I know this is different from your situation, but I just wanted to let you know what my husband was told after having one of his removed. I imagine that even if one of your husbands isn't functioning properly, there should be no reason to assume that it will stop you TTC if the other one is fine

On another note, my DH's friend damaged one of his testicles when he was younger, and had to have it removed as a result, but him and his wife now have a beautiful 3 month old baby boy

and they only got married the September before last, so I don't think they were trying for very long.

Don't panic, it might be worth a test just to be sure, but you'll probably be fine

I hope this helps a bit xx

MrsS1981

29/02/2012 at 06:07

Hi, thank you so much for your responses.

Loopy I'm booking an appointment with the doctors as soon as we know DH shifts (he starts a new job on Monday) so will see what they say then. We've only been TTC for 6 month (onto cycle 6 as we speak) but I may tell the docs a white lie as they might not give him an SA if they know it's only been 6 month. What do you think?

wibblewobble thank you for replying, I want to get the ball rolling as I don't want to leave it too long to have children if we even can. I think one of his dropped naturally but they didn't even know the other hadn't dropped until he was having pains in his legs and went for a check up at 10 yrs old. If we'd known about this then he could have been tested years ago before we even started trying.

CM87 thank you also for replying. I have read that if they only have one working one then it works just as well so that is a little piece of mind but I guess if they didn't know that one hadn't dropped the other may have not dropped for quite some time so def going to the docs asap! FC for you for today for a BFP! We must have started trying at almost the same time as I'm on cycle 6 now

day 15 of 25-27 month cycle.

We are still trying and I guess I'll just have to be patient until we can see a doctor. I've calmed down a bit since the weekend, I guess we will just have to deal with what we are dealt and see what happens, I was just starting to think I'd stop thinking about TTC and hope it would happen that way and then this bomb shell! Nevermind!

Thank you all for being so lovely xx

MrsB_2008

29/02/2012 at 06:42

MrsS1981 I'd tell a white lie if it puts you mind at ease hun, the CD21 bloods and SA wouldn't hurt and if you do need treatment (even though I'm sure it will be fine) its better to get on a waiting list sooner rather than later becuase everything takes forever!Good luck x