Urologist Debrief

The urologist visit was pretty straightforward. Urine test, quick physical exam for varicocele (varicose veins in the scrotum that can hinder fertility - C doesn't have them), and an order for another semen analysis and some blood work. I tell ya, it's rather odd to watch your husband making silly faces at you when he's getting squeezed on an exam table.

The urologist said that C's analysis was actually kind of unusual in that the count was OK but the motility and morphology were low. It's too early to tell what might be wrong but C will drop off his sample on Monday and we will get results soon after that.

So it's a step forward, which is encouraging, but if they're just going to treat C it'll still be a few months after they start that before we can expect to see any results. Patience is my new mantra.

Tomorrow

C sees the urologist tomorrow morning. I'm going with him, partly for support and partly because I know the time between his appointment and the time he calls me will seem like eons.

I've spent a little bit of time surfing around trying to figure out what to expect and what to ask. I'm assuming besides a physical exam & a lot of questions they'll probably ask for another sample and hopefully some bloodwork too. Surfing has made me feel better (I was nervous about the appointment earlier today), but I fear it's made C worse - he's not sure he can sleep now that I've talked to him about what to expect. Sorry, C.

Feelers

I'm spending part of the day (the part that I'm not crocheting) looking for people on the interweb that are in the same boat as me. So far, every male factor-related blog I've looked at is written by a relatively new parent. It's a weird feeling; I'm super happy that so many MF bloggers have babies since that means I have a good chance too, but I can't find anyone to keep up with who's not yet pregnant!

#

Sperm Motility: 2% (normal: 50-100)
Activity: Immotile
Directional: 0%
Volume: 2.3 mL (normal: 2.5-5 mL)
Count/ml: 20.5 million/mL (normal: 20-100 million)
Total count: 47.2 million (normal: 60-300 million)
Normal Morphology: 1%

Numbers

My doctor called me yesterday morning during work to follow up on the lab work from December 22nd. She reiterated what the nurse had told me about my levels; she said she'd like to see my progesterone at a 10 but my blood was taken a day or two earlier in my luteal phase than we'd planned so she wasn't especially worried.

Then I asked about C, even though I kind of half thought that she wouldn't be able to tell me any details, but she wasn't nearly as closed-lipped as the nurse last week. "It isn't good," she said. "Normal sperm count is 20-100 million, he is at 20.5 million. There was no motility, it was immotile. And the morphology was 1%." She went on to say that the issues could always be due to illness, and that he'd get tested again, etc.

I called Mom and cried. All my what-ifs and it's-not-fairs came flying at me at the same time, and I had to hide on the patio so none of my coworkers would stumble across me. I felt better after the news had a chance to sink in; I'm relatively quick to buck up but apparently I have to let go of it first.

C has an appointment with the urologist a week from today. Hopefully the options are easier, less invasive and cheaper than I think they're going to be. We can rise to meet whatever comes, but because I like to over-think I get worried when I don't know what our options are. Now to keep myself distracted for a week.

I called the doctor's office a few days ago to schedule a yearly and also see if I could get the results of the labwork that was done a few days before Christmas. The appointment-scheduler transferred me to a nurse, who sounded like she'd had a long day, and she said "your thyroid and MMR are fine, your progesterone is 8.78, and your prolactin is 18.4. We usually like to see prolactin between 3 and 18.6." She said she wouldn't release the results of C's lab to anyone but him, so I had him call.

C's results were low count and low motility. Nice double-whammy.

So we at least feel as though we're on the trailhead, rather than wandering around trying to find it like we've been doing for the past year. A urologist is going to be calling C sometime in the next week to talk about his options. I don't know any details yet in his case; it may be that they're just slightly low, or it may be that they're very low, so I'm not worried quite yet. But there's a possibility that we may have a very hard time getting pregnant even with help. I'll cross that bridge when we come to it, though. Or I'll try, anyway.