injector thinking of taking the leap

[Robert66]

Ok i have been injecting about 2 years most of the time it works and there is not much control at times to get a towel bar you inject and find it was a 30 min romp and now you have to deal with this stiffie for hours more... So being a VET disabled and 100% with ED as a serviced connected disability how do i get the VA to implant me ... Are we talking a year or faster ... thru the va i have tried viraga and edex so i can claim i tried the cheap way... i am almost 70 now so dont want to spend a year trying ... Any input

[Robert66]

Well i tried a search VA INPLANT VETERANS ADMINISTRATION IMPLANT NOTHING

[544kenmatt]

Do you have medicare part B?

[GoodWood]

I would start by contacting the urology department at the VA medical center near you. If there is a larger one within travel distance to you contact them too. Ask them if they do implants. If so, make an appointment to see them and see if you have rapport with them.

If they say they don’t do implants there (or you can’t get an answer) call the AMS and Coloplast reps for your region. Ask them if they ever are involved with implants at a VA Hospital near you. Ask them who the surgeon is.


And third I would call the urology departments of teaching institutions that are near that VA hospital. Ask them if they have hospital privileges at the VA. It’s not uncommon for medical staff at teaching hospitals to have affiliations with the nearby VA hospitals.

[Lost Sheep]

I got my implant at the hospital on the local military base. I forget the term they use, but VA Clinics/Hospitals often share resources with military facilities.

But more importantly (as I see it), here is a short summary of my route to implant. I am 40% service-connected disabled and diabetic.

Decades of unrecognized E.D. finally forced me (embarrassment hindered me previously until I became desperate) to admit to my primary care physician at the VA that I had erectile difficulties. He prescribed Viagra. That worked for a years, then lost effectiveness. While progressing through the other oral medications, I began researching other treatments. Suppositories, injections, vacuum erection devices (VED) and implants. I discussed with my VA Doctor and impressed him with my knowledge. I don't know who brought up the option of implant first, but I was surprised the VA would authorize one. Since the VA did not do implants, I got an authorization for a local surgeon to evaluate me. He suggested I was a good candidate for an implant.

I spent 14 months making sure I had the right surgeon. Contacted Dr Kramer and Dr Eid (Dr Kramer did do surgeries at the Maryland VA Hospital and Dr Eid was authorized for out-of-system treatment, as was my local surgeon. I enrolled in the Maryland VA and began preparations for travel there. Some complications with authorizations came up (they wanted me to travel to Maryland once for evaluation and then again for the surgery, a problem, since I live in Alaska and the VA here would not cover travel costs). My Alaska VA did send me to Seattle for evaluation by the Washington VA. I didn't like the surgical procedures they did there as default (complete removal of all the cavernosum tissue by default-as told to my by a resident, who would not be the one performing the surgery - the surgeon who would do it was on leave when I went there).

As luck would have it, a kindly nurse working in the travel desk who knew of my plans (I shared with EVERYONE I talked with what my situation was) called me up (she did not have to, but was caring and conscientious enough to take the time) and said there was a surgeon recently assigned to the military base hospital who was expert in the procedure. "Would you be willing to consider surgery there?" YES!!!! I interviewed Dr. Shaw and scheduled surgery.

Lessons:

Take names with everyone you talk to and remember them by name when you talk to them again. People love to be remembered and appreciated and will remember you, in turn.

Say "Thank you" to everyone. Even if they were no help, they gave you their time. (The travel nurse was 100% unhelpful at first, saying the VA would not countenance the travel and predicting that the Maryland VA would turn me down. The part about travel cost was right, the part about Maryland was wrong. But I thanked her every time I talked to her.) Eventually, she called me with the good news.

Write down every contact you make and what promises were made in either direction.

Thank the supervisors of the supervisors of everyone who helped.

I thanked the Commander of my Alaska VA in person.

#1 Get your primary care physician on board. I impressed mine to the point that he told me that I knew more about E.D. and treatments than he did. If you get yourself recognized as an integral part of your medical care team, I predict your experience will have a happy outcome. Be realistic in your expectations but firm and clear about your needs and desires.

[notaes]

Robert66

I have Medicare. They do not require Pre cert on implant surgery. My urologist schedule everything. My bill was $70,000. They paid all except $1400. My secondary insurance picked up that cost. I did no5 have to pay a cent our pocket. No Pre cert it was a piece of cake. If you have Medicare that is route I w outdoor take. It’s fast easy and no headaches. Best of luck to you! If questions feel free to contact me.