Somehow in seeking opinions, I found Austin Fertility and Reproductive Medicine-Westlake IVF and Dr. Parviz Kavoussi. As seems to be the case with fertility clinics, my wife first became a client of Dr. Parviz Kavoussi’s brother at the clinic, Dr. Shahryar Kavoussi. The clinic is convenient as these brothers are specialized and equipped to treat both female and male reproductive issues. In that consultation, Dr. S. Kavoussi let me and my wife know that his brother deals with cases like mine routinely and he told us that he felt having the Micro TESE procedure with his brother would very likely yield some sperm. The percentage he shared with us was 90% as he said that Dr. P. Kavoussi has had very strong retrieval rates. We were somewhat skeptical given the consults that we had to this point all seemed to guestimate our chances at about 50/50 at best. Yet, here we were being told our chances were in the 90s! Following this consult, I set an appointment to be evaluated directly by Dr. P. Kavoussi. Dr. P. Kavoussi was patient with me and explained in his best estimation that my chances of sperm retrieval were high. He put me at ease sharing some stories about other patients in similar circumstances who had successful outcomes. Given his confidence about our chances, I decided to go ahead and have the procedure. The procedure itself was fairly painless-more uncomfortable than any real pain. It was performed early in January 2016. The anticipation of the surgery was worse than the actual procedure. I stayed home from work 3 days. More importantly however is that Dr. P. Kavoussi was able to find plenty of healthy looking sperm. Both doctors are very optimistic about our chances of having a biological child of our own. Whereas previously, most doctors would advise us to have donor sperm available for IVF, after the Micro TESE, Dr. P. Kavoussi told us it looked as though that would no longer be necessary given what he was able to find. We are still in the process but cleared a big hurdle and are looking forward to the next phase of this journey. I would highly encourage you to consider Austin Fertility and Reproductive Medicine-Westlake IVF.
02/18/2016
I was diagnosed with non-obstructive azoospermia (“No Sperm Count”) for the last 2 years. In the past couple of years, I have seen several urologists, went through several semen tests, began taking Clomid to increase sperm production and still no sperm was found. The urologists I had seen ultimately recommended a Micro TESE procedure. Though the doctors that we consulted all seemed to recommend a particular course of treatment in the Micro TESE, their prognosis of sperm retrieval was pretty limited. The three or four urologists that I consulted put my chances at sperm retrieval between 40-50%. I didn’t know, at with less probability of a coin flip, if it was worth the cost to pursue this surgery. I continued to investigate my options and was even considering going out of state and having a sperm mapping procedure by another specialist. Given the azoospermia, slim probability of sperm retrieval despite a Micro TESE procedure, most doctors and fertility specialists that we consulted, also counseled my wife and I to consider sperm donation banks to give ourselves the best chance at becoming pregnant. Though we still had hope of having a child it seemed less and less likely that we would conceive a biological child with each consultation.
