Fertility and Apocalypse

This Jay Tea post inspired me to write a related post of my own, except I didn’t get around to it until now.  Nor did I leave a comment pointing out that there is a microsurgical practice in Houston that specializes in vasectomy reversals.  They advertise on billboard after billboard along the interstate, which gave us some amusement during our drive across the country.

Anyway, as long as I have known about surgical methods of sterilization, I have had a nightmare relationship with the concept.  It goes something like this: 

The world as we know it has ended, leaving almost no survivors, of which I am one.  Naturally we want to start rebuilding the population.  Having had a vasectomy prevents my participation in that.  The race dies out with a final whimper.

The alternative is the “stranded on an island” scenario, with or without the accompanying apocalypse.

Is it any wonder I like disaster novels, given that I internalize such slim possibilities as sources of fear and fascination?

That always bothered me more than the idea that I might have some kids, lose them after the procedure, and want more that are my own progeny.  However, the last thing I’d have done was to get “fixed” before having any kids.

On the other hand, being genetically predisposed to hyperfertility, it’s going to be necessary when we’re sure we’re done.  I might well have had kids sooner, had I not been among the accidentally celebate.

Anyway, I wonder if any other guys have that same nightmare scenario freak them out about becoming sterile.  It’s probably just me being my strange self, having absorbed too much disaster/survival fiction, having taken the Cold War into my soul, even having been influenced by a certain amount of apocalyptic expectation among the religious around me.

1. Tina and I had number 3 a couple years AFTER my vasectomy.  Just sayin’. 

   Posted by John  on  06/14  at  06:58 PM

2. Nah. It’s probably just a subconscious (or not) fear of sharp instruments slicing through your....ah....nevermind. heh

   Posted by Pammy  on  06/14  at  08:14 PM

3. In my ex-girlfriend’s defense, I had made that decision some time ago; she just helped me make that commitment. And my decision was largely based on my own medical conditions and medical history. I once listed the genetically-linked ailments of both myself and my immediate family alphabetically, and I think I made it up to “I” before I was stumped. I have absolutely NO desire to inflict those conditions on another generation, especially a child.

   J.

   Posted by Jay Tea  on  06/15  at  06:25 AM

4. This reminds me of a conversation I was having with my friend last night about Tom Cruise and his bid to wipe out Catholicism one girlfriend at a time....

   Posted by caltechgirl  on  06/15  at  10:38 AM

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