In My Opinion, Get a Second Opinion

When we learned of James' vericocele, our first question was if we could fix it surgically. We were hoping that if we fixed the problem, we could possibly increase our chances of having children naturally.  The doctor we were seeing at the time simply told us that IVF was our best option for having children and that any surgical fix for the vericocele would not only be too expensive, but would also have little effect on our fertility. He sounded pretty sure of himself so we took his word for it and left it at that. That was our first mistake. Here are a few suggestions for whenever you get a serious diagnosis.
1- Go to the proper doctor. The doctor we were seeing was a general physician, or a family practice doctor. We should have been seeing a urologist or reproductive specialist. Doctors specialize for a reason.
2- If, like us, you're seeing a general physician and they suggest that there is something wrong, ask to be reffered to a specialist. Don't have their suggestion even be the first opinion.
3- After seeing a specialist, if you can, get a second opinion. Or third or fourth... Don't look for someone to tell you what you want to hear but be sure that you are given correct and up to date information.
It wasn't until after our 2nd cycle of IVF that my MIL actually recommended that we have the vericocele fixed. We told her what our doctor had originally told us but she still suggested that we see someone about it. James was also covered under his dad's insurance and they had already met most of their deductible that year, so it was worth a shot. We set up an appointment with a urologist and discovered that not only would the surgery be affordable,but it could also have a great impact on our fertility! Though it wasn't guaranteed, it was worth a try. That September James had the surgery. Looking back on it now, to be honest I don't know why we decided to do our third cycle of IVF. After the surgery we had to wait 6 months to find out if there was any improvement in James' sperm count, which there was. He went from less than 1 million to over 10 million. You would think that sounds like a lot but "normal" for a fertile man is at least 15 million sperm. I don't know if we were too impatient to keep waiting for improvement or if we were just inspired, maybe it was both but I'm so thankful we decided to go ahead with our final cycle anyway.