We'll See How It Goes.
I think my lab people just wanted to worry the crap out of me for no reason... I went to the doc today... and he double checked the results... seems they put the sample I gave them in a centrifuge to get all the sperm into a small area.. then checked it... where normal would be about 3 million or so... there were 3... yes only 3! The chances of getting pregnant with 3 are about the same as getting oral sex... it's just not going to happen unless there is divine intervention somewhere... here's an interesting article on why it takes so many sperm to impregnate a woman:
This question always comes up in regard to human fertility. If it takes only one sperm to fertilize and egg, why does a low sperm count make a man infertile? A fertile male human ejaculates between 2 and 5 milliliters(ml) of semen (on average about a teaspoon). In each ml there are normally about 100 million sperm. If the concentration falls below 20 million sperm per milliliter there is usually some trouble with fertility. Twenty million still seems to be a lot, so why the problem? Only a small fraction of the sperm deposited in the woman's vagina end up in the uterus. From those that make it to the uterus, only a small fraction of those find their way to the oviducts. Usually the egg is all the way up at the other end of the oviduct(Fallopian tube). Of those that are in the oviduct only a small fraction make their way from the lower to the upper oviduct. So, in fact, the number of sperm successfully arriving at where the egg is located is actually very small. Another problem is that the egg is not just waiting to be fertilized by the first sperm to come along. The egg is usually covered by a thick layer of cells called the corona radiata that serve as a blockade to restrict sperm from getting into the egg. Sperm cells contain enzymes that break this barrier down. It may actually require an assault of many sperm to break down the corona sufficiently to let one sperm get through to the egg. So the whole process is somewhat like a marathon run in a maze filled with mucus followed by breaking into a fortress. That one sperm that finally makes it is the champion of Mother Nature's triathlon. If you don't have enough competitors to start, none are left at the finish. We don't know for sure but this may be a way of selecting for a healthy sperm to do the job of passing genes to the next generation. Modern in-vitro fertilization techniques can by-pass this selection process and achieve fertilization with much fewer sperm. Successful fertilization is now even accomplished with sperm that can't swim. This is accomplished by directly injecting sperm into the egg with a tiny glass pipette (tube). Only time will tell what bypassing nature's triathlon will do to the human gene pool.
So the doctor is still going to do another test in April... but I have at least 100 times the odds of winning the lottery as making a baby.
On the plus side... I am going on a date tonight... it has nothing to do with my vasectomy though.. we'll see how it goes.
This question always comes up in regard to human fertility. If it takes only one sperm to fertilize and egg, why does a low sperm count make a man infertile? A fertile male human ejaculates between 2 and 5 milliliters(ml) of semen (on average about a teaspoon). In each ml there are normally about 100 million sperm. If the concentration falls below 20 million sperm per milliliter there is usually some trouble with fertility. Twenty million still seems to be a lot, so why the problem? Only a small fraction of the sperm deposited in the woman's vagina end up in the uterus. From those that make it to the uterus, only a small fraction of those find their way to the oviducts. Usually the egg is all the way up at the other end of the oviduct(Fallopian tube). Of those that are in the oviduct only a small fraction make their way from the lower to the upper oviduct. So, in fact, the number of sperm successfully arriving at where the egg is located is actually very small. Another problem is that the egg is not just waiting to be fertilized by the first sperm to come along. The egg is usually covered by a thick layer of cells called the corona radiata that serve as a blockade to restrict sperm from getting into the egg. Sperm cells contain enzymes that break this barrier down. It may actually require an assault of many sperm to break down the corona sufficiently to let one sperm get through to the egg. So the whole process is somewhat like a marathon run in a maze filled with mucus followed by breaking into a fortress. That one sperm that finally makes it is the champion of Mother Nature's triathlon. If you don't have enough competitors to start, none are left at the finish. We don't know for sure but this may be a way of selecting for a healthy sperm to do the job of passing genes to the next generation. Modern in-vitro fertilization techniques can by-pass this selection process and achieve fertilization with much fewer sperm. Successful fertilization is now even accomplished with sperm that can't swim. This is accomplished by directly injecting sperm into the egg with a tiny glass pipette (tube). Only time will tell what bypassing nature's triathlon will do to the human gene pool.
So the doctor is still going to do another test in April... but I have at least 100 times the odds of winning the lottery as making a baby.
On the plus side... I am going on a date tonight... it has nothing to do with my vasectomy though.. we'll see how it goes.
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