Men as a species are pretty good at adapting to the new or different, to judging and taking risks and to responding to the unknown. I didn’t say perfect, but pretty good. Indeed, this ability has allowed them to surf waves the size of mountains, run the mile in well under 4 minutes, run companies,...Continue reading
They were young. They were in love. They came in holding hands. And they were concerned. “I’ve been timing things for well over a year and absolutely nothing has happened,” she said leading the conversation. “My cycles are like clockwork and we haven’t missed a month,” she continued. “I’m wondering whether it’s my man here.”...Continue reading
They were in their early thirties and had been trying to conceive for 5 years. He was diagnosed with azoospermia and had a thorough evaluation in New York near where they lived. Genetic testing was negative and he was told that there was no clear reason for him to be infertile. About 1 year prior to his visit, he...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: My wife and I are having trouble conceiving. After putting us through months of testing, the fertility doctor we’re seeing says that the problem is on my end. I’m devastated. I just assumed that women were the ones who had fertility problems, and I feel like a complete failure, as if I’m...Continue reading
Dear Mr. Dad: My wife and I desperately want to be parents. But after years of trying and tens of thousands spent on fertility treatments, our doctor is telling us that we should either consider using donor sperm or eggs or adopt. We’re considering those options, but I’m finding this whole thing rather emasculating and...Continue reading
“Less is more.” Is there a better description for the modernist architectural style of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe? His Barcelona Pavilion is one of the world’s most exquisite examples of architecture as sculpture, akin to the Parthenon in Greece, or the Pantheon in Rome. It simply works. It also reminds us of how complex “less”...Continue reading
Not sure about you, but I like to see the good in the bad. By focusing on the flipside of adversity, I get stronger instead of weaker. Hey, I’m the first one to fess up to the unpleasant, abominable and awful, but there’s gotta be a way to make silk…or something…out of a sow’s ear....Continue reading
Masculinity is a complicated thing. And there’s no more masculine way for a man to express his, well, masculinity than by making babies. That explains why being infertile or having erectile dysfunction (ED) is so strongly connected with depression (in both directions—depression itself can cause ED, and ED and/or fertility problems can cause depression). Infertility...Continue reading
How do you solve tough problems? Maybe you pick at them until they’re gone. Maybe you dance around them until they’re contained. One thing I like to do is to step away and examine them as an outsider, from a completely different perspective. In other words, get out of the trees and look at the whole...Continue reading
Infertility is often looked at as a disease that only affects women. In reality, infertility is caused by female factor and male factor equally at 30% each. In the balance of cases, the infertility is the result of both partners or unexplained. Even when the disease is not a direct result of issues with a male...Continue reading