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Hi. One year post op. I think I am seeing some signs of erectile recovery but wanted to ask...I am assuming erections do not just miraculously return one morning, but that it is gradual? I am seeing not length but some firmness and some girth...not too much yet. Should I take this as a sign or am I being overly optimistic?
Thanks!

There is nothing wrong with being optimistic. The doctors have to be getting the success stories from somewhere. Maybe you'll be one of them. I pray you are. I doubt you'll find any of those success stories hanging around on this forum so don't expect to find anyone that can share one.

I am a success story, so I can share some of what I went through. I had firmness not all that long after the implant was inserted, which was great and what I wanted in the first place (my wife, too). I continued to pump up and remain pumped up for significant periods of time, and eventually I had regained my original (meaning pre-prostatectomy) length. And recently I regained my original girth as well.

Is it a natural erection that occurs as I am aroused? No. Does it happen "automatically" without my having to do something mechanical? No. Do I miss both of these things? Well, I guess I do to some extend -- but the advantages of having a hard dick again that I (and my wife) can enjoy far outweigh those two things. (And not only can I get hard, I can get hard anytime I want to and it will stay hard for as long as I want it to.)

[In a similar vein, do I miss having an ejaculation when I cum? Yes. But not having prostate cancer far outweighs that subject -- and my orgasms feel 99% the same as when I did shoot cum; there's just no feeling of fluid shooting through my dick. No semen? OK. Great orgasms? Oh yeah, baby!]

I would think that it depends on what was the operation.

Nicotunes wrote:Hi. One year post op. I think I am seeing some signs of erectile recovery but wanted to ask...I am assuming erections do not just miraculously return one morning, but that it is gradual? I am seeing not length but some firmness and some girth...not too much yet. Should I take this as a sign or am I being overly optimistic?
Thanks!

You refer to being one year post-op, but you didn't say what type of surgery you had. If you're referring to a prostatectomy, this could be a good sign -- or not. There are so many variables -- your age, your erectile capability before the prostatectomy, the skill of the surgeon, the degree to which nerves were spared, and the degree to which nerves were traumatized, and more. All are factors in how soon and show well you can regain erections.
It would be helpful if you created a signature with some details about yourself and your surgery.
Back to your question; any sign of life from your pecker is a good sign, and can indicate that whatever method you may try in order to get usable erections will have a better chance of success.
Bob 2.3.1

Nicotunes wrote:Hi. One year post op. I think I am seeing some signs of erectile recovery but wanted to ask...I am assuming erections do not just miraculously return one morning, but that it is gradual? I am seeing not length but some firmness and some girth...not too much yet. Should I take this as a sign or am I being overly optimistic?
Thanks!

Please create a signature. It makes things much easier to answer your questions without asking a lot of questions. Here's how you do it
Click on your name in the top right corner and select "user control panel"

Then under the big letters "User Control Panel" there is a row of words... select "Profile"

Then down the left had side of the "User Control Panel" select "Edit Signature" (You might have Create Signature or something. I don't know exactly what you'll get because I already have a signature to edit)

Most guys put something like what I have, but you can put whatever you want. Here is mine -
"AMS 700 (18 + 2 rte's). Implanted March 30, 2017 by Dr. Brock of London, Ont, CANADA. Great surgeon. Went in to septic shock and had to have implant removed April 29, 2017. I'm from Belleville, Ontario, CANADA. Appt. for consult for second attempt is on November 6, 2017... I can't wait."

Don't get too carried away with the doctor like his name, address, phone number, etc (anything that looks like advertising for him).. you can certainly say Dr. Jones (great Dr.)

If you need further help, please ask, that's what I'm here for.

Larry
Moderator

Nicotunes wrote:Hi. One year post op. I think I am seeing some signs of erectile recovery but wanted to ask...I am assuming erections do not just miraculously return one morning, but that it is gradual? I am seeing not length but some firmness and some girth...not too much yet. Should I take this as a sign or am I being overly optimistic?
Thanks!

There is some evidence (reported in medical literature) that restoration of spontaneous tumescence is possible after implantation. Speculation is that 5he most likely cause is that venous leaakage might be mitigated by insertion of the implant.

This is by no means assured and sufficient erection for coitus happened in only one known case, so it is a bad idea to count on it. However the potential is encouraging and made me seek out a surgeon who would seek to preserve as much as my cavernosum tissue as possible.

To expect it would be overly optomistic. To hope for it is not.

Thank you for your replies everyone. Updated my sig. Sorry for the utter lack of info and details....and half my job is tech support...you think I'd know better.

I’m about a year behind you so I can’t share a success story for natural erections... yet.

But I can share success with trimix injections. You mentioned that pumping does not generate an erection that is usable for sex, so you may want to ask your URO about trimix. I’ve used it 3 times so far in last 2 weeks and all 3 times produced rock hard erections that lasted a couple hours. Good luck!

Jeff

Sorry for the late reply..

My case is similar to yours, but as Tolstoy should have said, everyone who has ed has it in their own way. I had a radical prostatectomy on Nov 21 2016, contained within the prostate, believed to be nerve-sparing. I am also continent except for some urge leaks – I just don’t wear light-coloured trousers. At the time of the op I had just turned 75, fairly lean and healthy. Prior to my diagnosis I could get erections and masturbate, although not as easily and as hard as twenty or more years ago. I am married to a loving and lovely wife whom I wouldn’t change, but we have not been sexually active for a few years so I find relief on my own. After a biopsy in mid ‘16 I found it far more difficult to get an erection, but it was possible. My last hard erection was on 19 Nov 16, two days before my op.

My aim was, and still is, to maintain a healthy penis, regain it’s pre-op size, and perhaps get back the pre-op pleasure. Since the operation I have had nothing more than a soft semi erection. I have tried Viagra but, apart from a mild warm feeling below, nothing but a headache, so I stopped. I also pumped with a Bathmate both before and after the op, and could get up to a substantial more than pre-op size and girth, but lately I was getting fluid buildup, which looks scary, so I stopped. I also tried L-Citrulline with Maritime Pine Bark extract, but with no significant results. My present regime is morning and evening manipulation in bed, which is discreet and quite pleasurable. I masturbate about once a week, which is not easy on a flaccid penis and is not explosively pleasurable. My penis still looks good, has lost about a quarter to half an inch in length, but remains stubbornly soft.

I don’t think that things are suddenly going to change after two years, or three for that matter. Perhaps, if you’re lucky, you will get a gradual part recovery towards how things were, but more likely never regaining the old abilities. As my surgeon presented me with the final consent forms a few minutes before being wheeled away, he said ‘You know you won’t get an erection again.’ ‘Permanently?’ ‘Yes.’ From my experience, and my needs, I am sticking to the daily massages. Perhaps I’m no worse at my age than I would have been without the op. Who knows?