Genetics, They are a Bitch!

During our very first appointment with the fertility specialist, he suggested that Brett get a sperm evaluation just to be sure that he was not a contributing factor in our infertility. Was there any doubt that the numbers would come back abnormal? Yeah, we didn't think so either. We were referred to a urologist. It turns out that Brett had a genetic disorder called varicocele. It is a mass of veins that causes problems in sperm production. So, right about a month after I had my laparoscopy, Brett had surgery to correct this genetic disorder. We were hoping that the procedure would increase his numbers, but we had to wait 90 long excruciating days until another test could be performed to find out.

All in all, we both stayed positive and the prognosis from both specialists were good. My doctor indicated that I should be good as new and we found out that Brett's numbers did, in fact, improve a bit. Both specialists indicated that we had a good chance of conceiving naturally at this point. Apparently, however, no one had checked with God first to see what he thought. Six more months passed and still not even a hint of pregnancy. It was time to go back to the specialists again.

Throughout our original ordeal, we realized that we weren't exactly happy with my current doctor. He had the bed side manner of a cold, dead fish and didn't make it a habit of elaborating on anything that came out of his mouth. We weren't given any information that we didn't ask for and, of course, we didn't always know what to ask. So, we requested to begin seeing the other fertility specialist in the practice. It was at our first appointment with this new doctor that we realized that we weren't given correct information after my surgery. Maybe I was naive and didn't do enough research, but we were originally told that the small bit of endometriosis found was burned off and taken care of. I didn't realize that the endometriosis was still an issue and it was expected to return within a year after the surgery. This would have been nice to know before we wasted six months trying again to conceive on our own. This little fact solidified our dislike for our original fertility specialist in a big way.

To be continued...