Home From the Hospital-

[RickRed40]

I never expected to have so many problems at UCSF. For example when I got to my room they didn't give me a nurse call button. When I needed the nurse I ended up using my cell phone and calling Mt Zion hospital. I asked for the 4th floor nursing staff. Once I had them on the phone, I asked if they could send a nurse to my room. They did and I made sure a had a call button. I was very annoyed that is was my responsibility to keep track of time and ask for pain medication. I wanted the staff to come in every three hours without my having to set my iphone on a 3 hour timer all day and all night. One time I forgot and I ended up without a dose of pain meds and in a lot of pain.

Overall the medical care I received was good, but I didn't get an hours worth of sleep. My bladder began to spasm in reaction to the catheter which caused me excruciating pain. It took four hours to find the right cocktail of drugs to stop the painful spasms. The day I was supposed to go home we discovered the catheter bag was empty of urine. They pushed fluids and all that happened was my stomach became distended, I experienced pain, but didn't put out a drop of urine. It looked like I was going to be in the hospital another day. They checked for blockages in the tubing, but there wasn't one.
I was in urinary retention with a catheter in my bladder. I didn't think that was even possible. The amazing part was this, they decided to pull out the catheter. Once they did I was able to urinate.
They didn't find a blockage and they had no idea why the catheter stopped working. They kept me an additional few hours to make sure I wouldn't go into retention. I appreciated that since I live 85 miles away from where I received treatment.

All I can say is that it's great to be home. While I'm looking forward to trying my AMS 700 out, right now I just want the swelling to go down, and look somewhat normal again.

[upandhard]

First of all, welcome to the brotherhood man! Sorry for all the hospital drama but now that you are home just follow all post op instructions. Avoid infection at all costs! Keep us posted on your recovery.

[RickRed40]

Here's something I didn't understand about preventing infections. Because I was having severe bladder spasms, I was leaking urine the entire time I had a catheter in.
I was wearing a urine soaked jock strap until I changed to go home the next afternoon. At that time I discovered my jock strap was filled with urine saturated gauze. No one ever cleaned out the surgical site, changed the gauze or offered me a clean new jock strap that wasn't urine soaked. I believe my home wound care will be better than I received in the hospital and I want to tell my surgeon about my experience because I know he wanted to do everything he could to prevent an infection. I'm not so sure hospital staff had the same goal.

I'd like to know what if any surgical site care others received while they were in the hospital.
Rick

[stkman]

hello RickRed40,
looks like the post-op procedures were full of missteps. I would offer this advice: contact your Dr. Tell him/her what happened and voice your concerns. There may be some precautions you need to take to avoid infections. The welfare of your dick is in your hands (pardon). Get answers. Take Care and Welcome

[KMeister]

Here's something I didn't understand about preventing infections. Because I was having severe bladder spasms, I was leaking urine the entire time I had a catheter in.
I was wearing a urine soaked jock strap until I changed to go home the next afternoon. At that time I discovered my jock strap was filled with urine saturated gauze. No one ever cleaned out the surgical site, changed the gauze or offered me a clean new jock strap that wasn't urine soaked. I believe my home wound care will be better than I received in the hospital and I want to tell my surgeon about my experience because I know he wanted to do everything he could to prevent an infection. I'm not so sure hospital staff had the same goal.

I'd like to know what if any surgical site care others received while they were in the hospital.
Rick

Rick, from what you've reported the attention you received was poor even before you checked in there. I'm sorry your experience was so bad. I agree with our brother who suggested that you notify your urologist about the problems. Also, be sure to let whichever company manufactured your implant (AMS or Coloplast) about the problems. I'm sure they would be very interested (a written document can be very persuasive). Take good care of yourself and let us know how you are getting on.

KMeister

[RickRed40]

I'm not sure how or why a number of men reading my thread came to the conclusion I'm having trouble with the implant. That's not the case. I had a number of issues that came up in the hospital, but as far as I know, there is nothing wrong with the functioning of the implant. That said, it hasn't been tested yet. I'm assuming my Surgeon may check for that during my 2 week post op appointment. For now I have every reason to believe my AMS 700 will work just fine.

I'm surprised the biggest problem is the positioning of my penis. It wants to be straight out. When that happens the jock strap pushes it inward and it causes a very uncomfortable sensation as well as pain. I've got to figure out a way to keep my penis pointing upward. Today I'm going to use tape and gauze to see if I can figure this out.

If anyone has other suggestions I'd sure like to hear them. One I picked up from another thread is that some men wear the jock strap outside of compression underwear. I'm going to try that out today. For me there isn't a lot of post surgical pain, but there is a lot of discomfort.

[PCHelp76180]

I'm not sure how or why a number of men reading my thread came to the conclusion I'm having trouble with the implant. That's not the case. I had a number of issues that came up in the hospital, but as far as I know, there is nothing wrong with the functioning of the implant. That said, it hasn't been tested yet. I'm assuming my Surgeon may check for that during my 2 week post op appointment. For now I have every reason to believe my AMS 700 will work just fine.

I'm surprised the biggest problem is the positioning of my penis. It wants to be straight out. When that happens the jock strap pushes it inward and it causes a very uncomfortable sensation as well as pain. I've got to figure out a way to keep my penis pointing upward. Today I'm going to use tape and gauze to see if I can figure this out.

If anyone has other suggestions I'd sure like to hear them. One I picked up from another thread is that some men wear the jock strap outside of compression underwear. I'm going to try that out today. For me there isn't a lot of post surgical pain, but there is a lot of discomfort.

Hey RickRed40 I have read this on FT earlier : "cut a whole in the jock to allow the penis some room"