In over 30 years of practice, Dr. Errol Billinkoff rarely saw a man without kids come into his Winnipeg clinic to get a vasectomy. But since the pandemic began, he says it's become an almost daily occurrence.
And he's not alone.
"At first, I thought I was the only one who was noticing this," Billinkoff, who brought a no-scalpel vasectomy procedure to Winnipeg in the early 1990s, told CBC News in a November interview.
"But I am part of an international chat group where doctors who do vasectomies participate and the topic came up, and it's like everybody notices it."
Fairly fast, fairly simple. I arranged a friend to drive me and I was content the inconvenience fell under what I would ask of a friend. Got a local anaesthetic, the doctor and nurse talked about mundanities the entire time, which was comforting in a way. But I could see "why aren't you focused right now" being a valid question.
Recovery was pretty speedy, but I knew I was going to be on strong pain killers due to a surgery and timed my procedure for that.
Lasting effects, other than sterility and slight scaring, is that pulling my balls hurts much more than it used to. The 'suck on the balls' move in the vids would have me doubled over, they do not want to be tugged any amount, for any reason. For a time I got a periodic sharp pain in my sack that has long since gone.
All in all I'm happy I did it, would do it again. Would probably endure more for the benefits.
As to the article I count in this number. Knew I didn't want kids before my 18th and starting nagging the gp to establish a pattern. I had life changing injury at 26 due to a dangerous hobby, asked again and was referred then accepted. I don't want kids because I'm lazy, and I will orphan them young.