Vasect-omy, Vasect-oyou

[WOM]

Correct. There's also baseball cards and Star Wars.

Oh, and BNL are doing a Very Virtual Christmas on sessionslive.com if you know who is interested.

[DCI Harry Batt]

My guy had a great scam. If I got it done at the hospital on the provincial tab, he only did Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which meant I'd have to take a couple of days off work. If I got it done in his office on a Friday, I had to pay a 'tray fee' of $60, but I could rest up over the weekend and be fine by Monday. 'Tray fee' I was told covered medical supplies not covered under OHIP. Likely a complete crock of shit, but I paid up.

Is this because you have terrible laws / company policies on medical leave? Cos for me, paying extra so I could spend more time at work is all ends up a bad deal.

[gavc23]

My GP’s reaction when I mentioned it was joy as she’d never done a referral for one before and wanted one for her collection.

In this part of the East Lothian riviera it’s the first Friday of the month in Haddington so the Day Ward was full of middle aged men not making eye contact with each other. There was then a nurse who came round after each procedure with “party bags” to take home.

[Sporting]

Is this because you have terrible laws / company policies on medical leave? Cos for me, paying extra so I could spend more time at work is all ends up a bad deal.

This, I think, and maybe also because, legally speaking, it's a non-essential operation.

[Jah Womble]

Having read the last few pages of this thread (ie, since I last contributed), I can't help but think that people might be more inclined to 'talk openly about this' if they weren't immediately wrestled to the floor by folk who disagree with them.

But that's just my opinion.

[DCI Harry Batt]

There was then a nurse who came round after each procedure with “party bags” to take home.

What was in them?

[DCI Harry Batt]

legally speaking, it's a non-essential operation

Is there a law in Canada about which elective procedures are "essential" and which aren't?

[MsD]

There was then a nurse who came round after each procedure with “party bags” to take home.

*Apparently* (according to the good Prof) men in the developing world were given transistor radios as an incentive at one point, I must look that up.

(Edit) Ah yes, will put it in context later.

It was India.

[MsD]

This article mentions past programmes.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...rder-withdrawn

No-one I worked with in population/repro rights was or is in favour of any sort of coercion.

[E10 Rifle]

Ooh, winced a bit at Ian's post up there.

Anyway, I had the snip in 2017, 18 months after our second child was born (would have been swifter but, you know, waiting lists). Seemed a no-brainer once we'd decided we didn't want any more. It did smart a little and I was sore and on heavy-duty antibiotics for a week or so (so couldn't get wildly drunk to celebrate the merciful takeover of my football club, which happened at the same time), but, really, it was a mild inconvenience.

They asked lots of serious questions beforehand - including about the state of your relationship, whether you might want future kids with another partner in the event of a bereavement, etc - but I found that quite reassuring.

[Mumpo]

Biggest problem when I had with my snip was that it turned out the anaesthetic nurse was one of m'lovely wife's best friends, so they had to find a last-minute replacement.

[Balderdasha]

*Apparently* (according to the good Prof) men in the developing world were given transistor radios as an incentive at one point, I must look that up.

(Edit) Ah yes, will put it in context later.

It was India.

There was also once a programme of "free guns if you get sterilised" in India, which, I guess if your aim is reducing overpopulation, could be seen as a two-pronged approach: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.the....randeepramesh

[MsD]

Having read the last few pages of this thread (ie, since I last contributed), I can't help but think that people might be more inclined to 'talk openly about this' if they weren't immediately wrestled to the floor by folk who disagree with them.

I thought I’d missed something, so went back to look, but I can only see one person taken to task, and that person enjoys “robust” debate and has no problem sharing his views on here. There are a couple of other people saying they don’t fancy the idea, and no-one’s having a go.

[WOM]

Yeah, that.

As for my paying the ransom, I think I might have wanted to avoid using up sick days at work or something. Can't remember now.

[DCI Harry Batt]

Sure. Not everyone has up to six months on full pay in a year.

[MsD]

To add to the Indian story: the men forcibly sterilised were understandably angry, for the women it was generally much worse:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-30040790

[Bruno]

I saw this hitting six pages and thought it might have turned to circumcision or something...

[WOM]

Sure. Not everyone has up to six months on full pay in a year.

I wasn't having a baby.

[Jah Womble]

I thought I’d missed something, so went back to look, but I can only see one person taken to task, and that person enjoys “robust” debate and has no problem sharing his views on here. There are a couple of other people saying they don’t fancy the idea, and no-one’s having a go.

I must be misinterpreting one or two of the responses then.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Let's hope so. Selfishly, I'd barely given it any thought until my best mate said he was having one and then it was, "why not?"

Our experiences were very different though. His appointment was in a medical facility that was little more than a portacabin on a B&Q car park. I was referred to a nearby private hospital, where I was given tea, toast and a newspaper. Apart from the fainting it was quite a pleasant afternoon. I've certainly had worse days!

Which newspaper was it?

[Artificial Hipster]

my testes provide me with testosterone.

Interesting* aside, testes are the root of the word testimony too, by one theory on account of Romans having to, as it were, lay their balls on the line when giving evidence in court (I did a balls round for a recent zoom quiz).

We were chatting earlier this year about me having it done. The cauterisation bit makes me wince a little - I've had my nose cauterised and it was the most painful split second of my life but this thread has settled it and its one for the new year.

[Jimski]

After the birth of our youngest, knowing we wanted no more children, it seemed obvious to me to get a vasectomy. I wouldn't want to take a hormone cocktail every day, and there's no way I'd want my wife to do so either. The main trouble was actually *getting* a vasectomy. I've skimmed the thread to some extent, so not sure if this has been touched on, but in the UK it's not necessarily that easy,

The first time I tried, I was told that the closest place I could have it done was about a 45 minute drive away, which seems bizarre (especially given that was in a small town, and I live in Oxford, a city with big hospital, etc.) And you really don't want a long drive just after you've had the op, I can vouch for that. You just want to get home and lie down.

So I waited a year or so, and found out that a clinic in Oxford had opened, so immediately signed up. Luckily I got mine done then, because not long later funding for getting vasectomies on the NHS in Oxfordshire was dropped. Not sure how this compares to the rest of the country, or whether it's changed again since, but it seems bizarre to me that this isn't treated as an important healthcare service.

Anyway, as for the procedure itself, the main problem was my nervousness about it, as it really wasn't objectively bad. Zero pain at the time, a bit of tugging, I don't even remember any burning smell. I did feel a little faint afterwards, but I suspect that might have been due to my nerves. Tbh a routine trip to the dentist is a reasonable comparison in terms of discomfort, although the vasectomy does take longer.

I did have aching pain for about a month though, nothing bad, but enough to make me worry something had gone wrong. (A month of aching is distinctly longer than average, which was what worried me.) It hadn't though, and here I am 6 years later seeing it as one of the better things I've done in my life.

[Foot of Astaire's]

Which newspaper was it?

The Daily Mail 《ducks》

[Patrick Thistle]

There's an advert for a car website called Cinch running at the moment. A rueful bloke with 2 kids and twins on the way is having to buy a minivan all because he wouldn't have the "mimes snipping with fingers". Probably the most pro-vasectomy piece of mass media currently.

[Greenlander]

Mrs G and myself both have one child from our previous relationships and it was decided when we got married I'd have the operation.

All I can say is that the drugs they gave me were fucking amazing. I spent the whole time either in hysterical laughter or drumming my hands furiously on the table. Nothing could stop me from doing one or the other. My wife, who's an ex-nurse, was mortified by my behaviour and I'm forever grateful she didn't walk out and leave me to go through it on my own.

Being on my feet for a long shift the following day wasn't the best of ideas as I was pretty sore but that's as bad as it got.

And even though it's ten years on I still get a slight feeling of panic every time that she gets her period late even though I know it surely can't happen now.