Denervation for PVPS

There has been a lot of chatter about denervation to help with the PVPS symptoms of pain lately. I will be looking for some articles about this surgery and posting a summary here in the next few days.

In a nutshell, denervation is a surgery that cuts away all or part of the nerves found in the spermatic cord that innervate your scrotum and penis. The thought is this, the pain will cease if the message cannot be sent to the brain.

Sounds reasonable, but there are always downsides, as I've spoken before. This procedure isn't always effective, there are other side-effects, etc.

Stay tuned and I'll hopefully be able to find something good to report here shortly. 

In the Pit of Despair

One of our favorite movies is the "Princess Bride". In it the heroic lead is taken to the pit of despair. There he prepares to be tortured and relies on his own strength to get himself through the imminent pain. In the end, the pain wins and the scene cuts away with him crying. That's how I feel today.

I know my own strength is not sufficient, God seems to be teaching me that everyday. Only in him can I get through this desperate time. To say the least, I'm really bummed! I woke up this morning to a nocturnal admission. I don't like those, but always think that maybe an E.J. will help the pain. This morning, I took my shower and then sat down to start home school with the kids. I was sitting down for all of 15 minutes when I started to experience severe inguinal nerve pain on my left side. I stood up and started teaching - lecture style, pacing back and forth with a sure grimace on my face. I also took some tylenol.

When will this thing stabilize to the point where setbacks either occur months apart or won't be so intense? Someone asked me the other day if I regretted having the reversal. I told them no. But one solid week's worth of pain later, I might have to rethink that answer.

I've even debated having another surgery to "clean out" the scar tissue that I am sure is causing this nerve pain. But will a third surgery in my scrotum make things better, or just cause more scar tissue in the long run? I simply don't have the answer to that question. I'm not sure anyone does.

So I'm just praying and coping and hoping for the best.  

Pain After Vasectomy Reversal

I wanted to take the time to reiterate the difference between post vasectomy pain syndrome and post vasectomy reversal pain syndrome. Basically, the symptoms are not different. The actual physiological causes are probably not different. It's the primary surgery which causes the pain that is different. In my case, I only had epididymitis after my vasectomy. The actual pain didn't come along until after my reversal last December.

I say this because I say that I have PVPS in my postings. I don't really consider the pain I have any different than those who started off with pain after their vasectomy.

I guess the point is, anytime a doctor does surgery on your boys down there, you run the risk of pain. There are just a ton of nerves down there and so the surgeon has to be careful during the procedure. This is why many with pain are so hesitant to have further surgery down there. It's not because of the cost, although, that certainly plays a role. Instead, the idea of potentially further injuring your testicles is what keeps many from exploring surgical options. It is also difficult to predict success from surgery which also keeps sufferers from exploring the invasive solutions.

So do everyone a favor, including yourself. Just don't have the surgery in the first place. Condoms are kind of clumsy, but nobody ever got put on disability because of them.

Today, I have almost no pain. Just the rare "full" feeling on the right side. We'll see how the rest of the week goes.