Vasectomy, cancer and children - oh my

[tiddy]

Hi, My partner was diagnosed with cancer last year and has come through the treatment wonderfully! he is doing amazingly well. Just before his diagnosis we were considering, well more like planning for him to have a vasectomy reversal privately. when he was diagnosed everything changed. He has recently been thinking about it again, however the chemo may have affected any fertility he had left. has anyone else been in this situation? We arent really sure how to proceed. I am 35 and he is 53, and he has children from a previous marriage. We feel a little silly asking the doctor as we know he cant have a reversal on the NHS and also it may be to no avail. There are other options of course including removing sperm direct and using IVF.

Has anyone done this?

Doner and adoption are also options, but we would like to look at other options first.

Many thanks for you help.

Tiddy

[DianeArnold Partner Nurse Fertility Network UK]

Hi. Well, it’s good to know that your partner is doing OK after his treatment. After chemotherapy – assuming that he had this – it can take a few years for fertility to return, if it is going to. It might be an idea to keep an eye on his hormone levels to see if this is the case. An idea also, might be for him to be referred to a surgical andrologist who would investigate him further to see which would be the best way forward e.g. aspirating sperm from his testicles, if sperm is found to be present, and then use in artificial insemination or IVF types of treatment. This type of treatment is being used more and more and has replaced vasectomy reversals in many cases, and has proved to be successful in many cases. If you have a look at our website infertilitynetworkuk.com you will be able to read more about these procedures.

Diane Arnold