What is a “hat trick?” Click image above to find out!

What is a vas deferns “hat trick?” Well…

I am seeing patients one day and come to a room with a chart in the door which says “Post vasectomy.” I note that the patient had had a vasectomy by me about several years  prior to this visit.

I enter the room and there I see a husband and wife and the husband is holding a newborn baby. Only a urologist can really know how it feels to be told of a possibility of a patient having a child after you did the vasectomy. It is not a good feeling…like all the blood goes to your feet feeling.

I ask, “I did your vasectomy?”

The husband says, “Yes”

I say, “Is that y’all’s baby.”

The couple smiles and beaming in unison say, “Yes”

There is a pause. I don’t know really what to say. I was about to say, “I’m sorry. You know there is a one in 2000  chance of these tubes growing back together.”

The wife says, “We are here for a vasectomy.”

Aside: I have had pregnancies after a vasectomy in career about 5 times. Usually it is because the male did not assure sterility by bringing a specimen to the office to be checked. More commonly the couple will have sex too soon after the vasectomy assuming that “If I had a vasectomy then there are no sperm.” They forget that it takes approximately thirty ejaculations to clear the sperm after a properly performed vasectomy. So sex before the sperms clears can cause pregnancy as the sperm is beyond the vasectomy site of occlusion. So even though the urologist never wants to hear about pregnancy after the vasectomy, most commonly it is not because the vasectomy was not performed properly.

Aside 2: It is also common that when a couple has a child after a vasectomy, for whatever the reason, they are happy or shall I say not disappointed about it. Some will say, “It’s God’s will.” By the tone of the conversation with the referenced couple, I felt that they were happy to have a had a child and that were not angry at me nor blaming me for anything. 

Where was I? Anyway I say, “I am sorry about this. You came to me for the vasectomy because you did not want anymore children. Regardless of the cause I apologize and will happily do the vasectomy at no charge.”

The couple appears surprised and the wife says, “We wanted a baby.”

I am relieved and the blood in body is beginning to circulate to my upper extremities again.

Another pause and now the couple appears confused.

The wife says, “Doctor McHugh, there is no reason for an apology. We are very happy.”

The husband says, “Remember…you did my vasectomy reversal last year. We just had this beautiful baby and now I want a vasectomy.” The nurse had failed to put the most recent note in the chart of this patient which would have let me know this patient had had a reversal.

So…I do the vasectomy.

A vasectomy, a reversal and baby, and then another vasectomy. A urological vas deferns “Hat trick.”

Ta Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!