Diagnosed with Varicocele

WARNING! Wall of text ahead due to non-availability of digital camera.

Today I had a pretty eventful day.

I was scheduled to consult Dr. Leong Wing Seng, a urologist early in the morning for further diagnosis on my left testicle problem.

Since Lam Wah Ee Hospital does not allow appointment to be made in advance, I was advised to register myself at 7am sharp to avoid long queue.

7AM?

Who in the heaven would want to wake up in the ungodly hours just to queue up in front of a yet-to-be-open reception counter? 6.50am and I was literally smacked into reality when I was behind approximately 30 sleepy souls waiting for the receptionist WTF?!

Lam Wah Ee Hospital has 2 urologists and the amount of patients these 2 doctors attended to simply amazed me. By 9am, the whole waiting area were full of patients that some of them had no seat to rest on at all.

At about 10.30am, I was being called into the clinic. A quick glance across the room and I found myself in the company of:

• Dr. Leong who is sitting at his table
• a female Malay medical personnel with the doctor's lab coat on
• 2 young Chinese nurses standing idly beside Dr. Leong
• a bed with an ultrasound machine

I can totally understand the presence of Dr. Leong since this is his clinic but WTF is the other 3 females in the clinic for? SIGH~

As usual, I got molested again. Nevertheless, I have to admit that I liked the way Dr. Leong touch conducted the diagnosis. Every single ultrasound scan on my kidneys, urinary bladder and prostate gland was shown and explained to me. So far so good. Dr. Leong's probing hands failed to find anything wrong so I was referred to the Imaging Department to get another ultrasound session; this time on my testes. Apparently, Dr. Leong's ultrasound machine is not suitable to scan the sperm-producing-organ. O.o"

30 minutes later and I was back in Dr. Leong's clinic again. Ultrasound result showed that I had bilateral varicocele. Dr. Leong immediately went into serious mode and explained to me the risk of having untreated varicocele:

• continuous discomfort or dull ache at the testicle
• shrinkage of testicle which would result in infertility in the long run

In normal situation, a varicocele patient can afford to delay the treatment as there is another testicle to spare. However in my case, bilateral varicocele means that both testes are affected and the only solution would be to go under the knife. :'(

Dr. Leong claimed that varicocele is something that I was born with. There is no trigger that caused varicocele and in most cases, the symptom can be felt during teenage years. I am now 24 going 25 and that makes me at least half-a-decade behind WTF?!

Radiology report:

ULTRASOUND SCROTUM

Both testis are of normal size (R: 3.5 x 2.2 x 1.8cm, L: 3.5x 2.2 x 1.7cm).
No mass or cyst.
No hydrocoele but there is prominent vascularity (left more than right) seen in the veins.

CONCLUSION: Slight bilateral varicocoele.

2 tasks now lie ahead of me:

1. check with Dell on whether I am able to claim the cost of operation since varicocele is not covered by personal insurance
2. abstain from ejaculating for the next 5 days to collect semen sample

Task#1 is all about the money. I have consulted Dell's in-house clinic and was told that I can claim for the cost but I shall require the approval of the in-house doctor who will only be available on this coming Monday. Let us pray for no more molestation session. :(

Task#2 is important as the sperm count would indicate the urgency of the problem at hand. The lower the sperm count, the faster the operation has to be performed. The only thing that I still cannot come to terms with is how the heaven am I supposed to prepare the sample in the hospital. T^T

11pm and I just discovered that my motorcycle's rear tyre was punctured WTF?!

Eventful indeed.