Akkam’s Razor

I'll be taking the next couple of days off to recover from a vasectomy.  It's been a unique experience - not for the procedure, mind you, but how other men react to it (and I guess how women don't).

The decision to do it is easy - I have three kids, all girls, all under 4-years old.  Ironically, when we first started to try having kids, we though we were infertile.  Well, not so much.  Three is a nice number.

After our third daughter was born, we dreaded the inevitable "are you going to keep trying for a boy" question.  My boilerplate response was that there is no tangible reason for needing to have a boy.  I don't terribly care about the legacy of my name, plus the simple fact that in this modern age, women can vote, own property, and execute contracts.  The need for sons to carry on the name, inherit the business, and work the fields are done.  My girls are all I need.

There could be horrible circumstances where something could happen to my family where I might want to start again, but I think and hope it would be more likely that I'd be too distraught to start all over again.   Baring  that, I'm secure in saying that I'm fine with a vasectomy.

My male friends and acquaintances?   Not so much.  Even gay friends who presumably have no interest in having children are leery of the idea.  Sure, if you talk about punching someone in the nuts, every man instinctively clenches his knees together, but this is a modern, minor, and justifiable procedure.  Some friends are legitimately afraid of all doctors and needles.  That's understandable.  But then there's others that have some sort of Samson-and-Delilah reaction, that our somewhat less of a man because your semen no longer contains sperm.  I don't think I've lost anything not being a breeder.

The procedure was short and relatively painless.  I had, um, taken care of the man-scaping the night-prior, based on the advice of a friend who said that you might not want a septagenerian shaving you down for surgery.  Then, during the procedure, I had two young nurses assistants and two doctors in the room.  It was strange to me, but I guess if one deals with penis and scrotum, all day, its no big deal.

The procedure simply involves local anesthesia, and incision on each side of the scrotum, identifying and extracting a section of the vas defferens, clipping, knotting, and cauterizing the same, and closing up.  I was advised to keep ice on the area in 15-minute intervals, no heavy lifting, no showers for 24-36 hours, and no 'activity' for 3-4 days, keeping an eye out for fevers and infections, swelling, and bleeding.  After 30 ejaculations, a sample has to be tested to insure their is no sperm present; Pregnancy prevention precautions should be used until then.

I felt pretty good when I got home, but feel a little achy.  We'll see tomorrow… 

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