Bob CollinsMarch Madness, the NCAA tournament time, is the perfect time for a vasectomy, according to some people who have figured out how to spend a few days on the couch and get sympathy for doing so.
Jim Stingl, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel columnist, reports today urology and basketball increasingly is going hand in hand.
“This didn’t use to exist,” urologist Jay Sandlow tells Stingl. “I think somebody was savvy enough that they were like, ‘Hey, what a great opportunity to market to guys with doctors’ orders that you have to sit on the couch for four days during March Madness.’ ”
Who can say ‘no’ to a vasectomy when they’re throwing in ice bags with the logo of your favorite team?
It may not surprise you that men, babies that we are when it comes to doctors and medical stuff, are reluctant to get a vasectomy and only about 10% ever do. Tubal ligations for women, a far more serious procedure, still happen twice as often.
“I think a lot of it is fear, which I totally understand. It’s an area that we spend our entire lives protecting, and this is voluntarily letting somebody do something intrusive down there,” said Sandlow, who estimates he has performed 6,000 vasectomies since 1995.
Two small tubes in the scrotum that carry baby-making sperm are cut and sealed off. It takes maybe 15 minutes, and Sandlow said he’ll play whatever kind of music you like.
If this basketball connection can bring in more men for the highly effective and safe family planning procedure, he believes that’s a good thing. These guys are taking one for the team, and in this case the teams.
It’s OK to enjoy a beer or two while watching the games afterward because narcotics are not needed for pain relief. The gold standard for icing the tender region is still a bag of frozen peas just like when I had it done a couple decades ago.
Stingl notes that the recommended position for recovering from a vasectomy — relaxing with your feet up — just happens to be the approved method for watching basketball on TV.
