AussieRjay's implant journey

[AussieRjay]

Hi guys

This will be a fairly long post - I tend to prolixity I'm afraid.

I joined the site late last year, having not long found it and at the point where I knew I had to do something about this. My self esteem was really in the pits.

I posted in the intro forum at that time, so anyone interested in my history will find it there. In short, I'm currently single, 43 (well, for a few more days!) and have had venous leak, slowly but progressively worsening, for 25 years. PDE5s worked to some extent for most of that time (and still do - to an extent) but whilst they were reasonably reliable early on, they became less and less so. I have bad weeks, OK weeks and once or twice a year "miracle weeks". Those last ones stopped me taking this step for a long time - they gave me false hope once or twice a year. Torture.

I more or less gave up on a sex life long ago out of shame. Injections caused too much internal pain and weren't spectacularly reliable. Pumps not for me. So I stayed home and developed an impressive porn collection. Overall this course of events pretty much ruined what ought to have been the prime years of my sex life, and I want to salvage those that remain.

I have decided to get the implant. It will be my 44th birthday present to myself. I hope I unwrap it and find it is something that I like!!

I will be implanted by Mr Chris Love (some surgeons drop the Dr and use Mr - this was news to me) in Melbourne next Tuesday 9 May 2017. It will be a Titan. My GP recommended it some time ago when I was once again bellyaching about my situation and getting scripts for meds. When I asked him to refer me he nearly fell out of his chair, saying he had been recommending the procedure for many years and I was the first patient to go ahead and do it.

Unlike you lucky American guys, there is stuff-all feedback about Aussie surgeons to be found on the web. I have noticed a couple of Aussies here lately though, which is great. Drs Love and Katz seem to be the best known (or at least, most successfully promoted?) here in Australia. Love appears to be our highest volume implanter both per annum and in toto.

I live a fair way from Melbourne, up in the far NW of New South Wales, on the edge of the outback. So I will be traveling, and staying nearby the hospital at a serviced apartment for a few days before heading home. My mum, God love her, will be coming down to babysit, keep me fed and swap bags of frozen peas in and out of the fridge. Once home, a mate will do grocery runs for me if I am in too much pain to do it myself. I have three weeks' leave from work, starting Monday. Unfortunately it is a bad time, with some really stressy crap going on there. Nearly cancelled to get on top of it, then decided F that, this is my time and that is it. They will have to manage. If I can get back full or part time after a fortnight, that will be a bonus.

I go into hospital on Monday night, IV abx, surgery the next day and overnight in hospital on Tuesday, then discharged Weds.

I went down and met Mr Love a couple of months ago. He appears to have a great deal of experience, and the meeting gave me confidence but I still have some anxiety about not being able to find more than one or two testimonials. Aussie men by and large just don't talk about this stuff, and its a small market here. He certainly has a decent manner about him.

The other option was to spend a near six-figure sum to go and have this done by Dr Eid or Dr Kramer. I could do so, but it would set me back pretty badly financially. I have decided to put myself into Mr Love's hands and just trust the man to do a great job. This will put me out of pocket, after insurance, somewhere around AUD$10,000 including travel costs. I figure that if it all goes horribly wrong, then I will mortgage the house and go to the States for salvage. Fervently hope that's a needless concern.

He's written scripts for some pretty serious pain relief - 2 weeks of Targin (slow release oxycodone), along with Endone (fast release oxycodone) and Tramadol for the third week. Not a good sign! I loathe pain and my tolerance is not high. I'm a wuss, and I admit it. Hopefully I'll be one of the lucky quick-healing types.

I have a followup with him on the Friday, three days after surgery, and plan to then fly up to Sydney that evening, stay at an airport hotel overnight and take the next morning's flight home to the town in which I live. I hope that won't be too soon for travel - but I really want to convalesce in my own home. I will eat my painkillers and just do it if I can. It seems many guys are OK to travel by that time. I hope the airline staff don't think I'm a dope head or something!

Mr Love is a Perito fan, bigtime. Trained with him and thinks the sun shines out of his cowboy boots. I don't have an opinion either way on Perito - there are a lot of happy Perito patients. I couldn't give a pinch of the proverbial about his colourful history / lifestyle, only whether his procedure produces good results and will do likewise in Mr Love's hands.

The handful of posters here attacking infrapubic installation are probably my major cause of anxiety and second thoughts at present. Some have indeed had dreadful results (as, of course, have some penoscrotal patients). Right now I am telling myself these guys were unlucky and had bad surgeons; I can't quite let go of concerns though that they are right, and that the method is inherently flawed. Love says he has used both methods across many cases, but was adamant that IP was the way to go particularly in terms of infection control. He is a no-touch advocate with a very low infection rate, on par with the best US surgeons. That's very important to me.

I told him I was most concerned about the tube routing with an infrapubic, that I wanted NO palpable tubing at the top and sides of my dick (I don't have too much fat down there (185cm / 6'1", 70kg / 154lb - BMI 21)); he was adamant that his concealment technique would produce none.

We discussed sizing, and he stated that he "always oversizes a bit" and not to be concerned. We didn't discuss girth, but I should have raised it. I haven't called and bothered him about it because the device is what it is and from what I can tell of others' experience, unlike length the preservation of girth appears not to have much (or anything) to do with surgical skill. I see some fairly happy girthy guys with Titans so this, too, is something I will just have to place faith in.

He did not "stretch test" or measure me at the consult. He said he will do a saline infusion during surgery - if the venous leak will contain it sufficiently to produce an erection.

He indicated that the pump will be low in the scrotum and in front of the testicles. I would have thought behind the testicles would be more aesthetically satisfactory (especially for a single man - I envy you guys with lovely supportive spouses) and said so - he seemed more concerned with ease of access, but says if I am dissatisfied with pump placement he can revise this later on. Plan to ask him to attempt to put it behind the balls in the first place.

The irrevocable nature of the decision is of course the secondmost cause for concern, but not perhaps for simple fear of no going back, but more because of my age. I'm not young anymore, but with a bit of luck I've got a few decades and more than one revision ahead of me. What worries me here is the rapid increase in antibiotic resistance and the likelihood that that situation is going to get much worse before (indeed, if) it gets better. If the implant lasts 10 years, I may be needing a replacement right at the time when it has become unsafe to do one. I am just going to hope for the best. It is either that, or accept a poor (or no) sex life instead.

I am confident Mr Love will do his best to maintain length, and having had no prostate surgery nor, from what I can tell, any significant disuse atrophy I am quietly optimistic there. I have a girth I am happy with and would be pretty downcast if I lose much of that. Would rather lose a small amount of length to be honest.

Right now, my length measurements are: flaccid 11cm / 4.3", stretched flaccid 17.5cm / 6.9" (ruler from public bone to meatus with a very firm tug!), erect 17-18cm /6.7-7.1" (depending on response to cialis and glans fullness - often not great, even when the cavernosa are), 19cm / 7.5" fully pumped in a vacuum device (which I have been using for 10 mins a day for the last 2 weeks, with a day off here and there when I had gone a bit overboard the night before - will continue this until Saturday night).

Erect girth with PDE5 is 15cm (6"), same as I always was, VED girth unknown (it fills the chamber wall to wall in a way no natural erection ever could, so I pay no attention to that. I don't pay much to VED length either, for the same reason).

I will be very, very happy if I come out with 6.5" x 6" after 6 months recovery. I will be "OK" with 6 x 5.5. A result under 6" length will see me on a plane to the States unless a very good explanation exists. It is not so much that I "need" to be a specific size out of vanity, more that I have spent 43 years with this dick (uncooperative as it may be) and I really hope the thing looks much as it always did when erect. I have slight upward curve toward the end, which was rather useful, I understand that will likely be straightened. I can live with that.

Questions for the veterans:

1. In good hands, are my size expectations realistic? I was more than impressed with Merrix' Titan outcome. His dimensions are not too dissimilar and his causation also much the same. If I come out anything like he did, I'll be beaming from ear to ear. He seems to be an outlier success story though it must be said the majority of posters here suffer from a different cause / pathology, and are much older often with longstanding atrophic changes. I am going to use Merrix as my yardstick for "best possible" results.

2. Is traveling by air 3 days after surgery too ambitious? It's booked, so the question is a bit academic, I guess. It will be 1.5 hrs Melbourne to Sydney, then another 1.5 hours Sydney to home the next day. I booked business for the Mel-Syd leg, so I can find a comfy chair in the lounge to wait in, and recline a bit on the short flight. The onward flight is a Dash-8 turboprop so I will have to make do as best I can. They're a reasonably comfortable plane.

3. Is Mr Love's assertion that the tubing can be wholly concealed (other than in the scrotum, of course) an accurate one? This is an important question, and I would really like to hear from other IP guys rather than speculation from PS guys on that point. If the answer is no, this surgery may be off. I mean that. I have no intention of explaining random tubing bulges in odd places (other than my scrotum) to a new partner when I finally start dating again.

4. Activation is about three and a half weeks post. I've read the journal articles suggesting earlier activation and aggressive early cycling pay dividends, but noted that most are too limited by pain to manage that. Should I be seeking an earlier appointment with him, or have a go at deflation / inflation myself (assuming I am confident about the pump) if the pain level seems manageable? I guess that too will be down to how I am progressing at the time.

5. Thoughts on pump placement? Should I just trust his judgment, or try to dictate that outcome?

I plan to take some "before" photos tomorrow night with the best viagra erection I can muster. For a few minutes at least, til it starts to deflate, this is still as good as the erections I had in my 20s and the same dimensions. I will take some "afters" down the road a bit, once everything has settled down. If I feel OK about it, I may post those in the members section.

I'm sure more questions will come up. I'm a confused bundle of great excitement and abject terror at present. I've thought daily about postponing or backing out, but that will fix nothing and I have had enough. I want this cured.

Such heartfelt thanks for this community and the confidence it has given me to take this step. Here's hoping I am one of the guys who posts in a few months saying "I should've done this a decade ago".

I will try to post useful detail mainly for the benefit of the Aussies who might be reading. If any have questions I can answer, I will try.

[mrp2007]

Well done for a fellow aussie sharing. I think I remember you.
Love and Katz (I had them both) will do a great job, but dont be disappointed it its only 80%. You will judge that a very usable result and the pain of an op will discourage you from a revision. I could be a bit more in the glans but it works so well and my glans still swells a lot. Only about 1/3 into the glans. Not perfect but very happy with the sex usability and sensations.

I will be 6 months on the 11th.
The outcome is great.
I can feel a loop of tubing at the base on the left side if I press hard (like you do with a ruler) and near the incision. It is very unopbtrusive so dont worry about that.
You will be very sore and uncomfortable driving back to your hotel from the hospital. Lucky I only had a 20 min drive to home.
Very courageous for a flight at day 3.
I stopped endone the day after discharge and then stuck to combined paracetamol and ibuprofin + lots of ice. Ice was better than drugs for me. I didnt get the other stuff.
Take ice packs on the flight (I used a few small esky brick wrapped in a tea towel) and freeze them at the syd hotel. If you have an insulated bag to keep them frozen would be good for the journey.
Stick them down loose tracky dacks and rearrange frequently.
Length is about the same as before but mine go a long way down too. About 13cm pumped up from a 20cm+1cm RTE which is about like before. 11cm deflated. Pumped up hard (as I can currently manage anyway) is harder than my wife likes as it doesnt flex as nicely when she is on top.
My pump placement is perfect slightly lower than the twins and behind them. IP allows better placement and mine is perfect AFAICT.
You will find some of the pain is from the pump against one of the testicles. Icing the pump works.

You will be tempted to feel around. Locate the dip and the button. If you are tempted to try, deflate first and then pump back up to what you were. Do not pump first. Deflating will be more painful than pumping at any time. Pressing lightly will still deflate but it will go slower. Pressing really hard will latch the valve for auto deflate but that will hurt too much until about week 6-8 for me. Cant remember but I know its in my journal. If you are game you can try this tentatively before "training". Activation is a misnomer. They just want to make sure you can deflate yourself.
My costs after insurance were just over $5k but I didnt have airfares or hotels to pay for.

PM me for phone number if you want to chat.
You will love the result after years of bugger all.

Thanks for sharing for those to come here. (pun incidental)
HTH and cheers
Mark

[AussieRjay]

Hi Mark, thanks for the reply! Yes I recall your op late last year.

Love and Katz (I had them both) will do a great job, but dont be disappointed it its only 80%. You will judge that a very usable result and the pain of an op will discourage you from a revision.

I didn't know whether to respond to that or not because, for me, I really would be disappointed in that outcome unless there was some structural reason for it such as prostatectomy which I have not had (likely to in future though, three uncles have had theirs out in the last couple of years). I've been very aware all these years of the use-or-lose nature of penises and I have made sure to obtain an erection most days and masturbate daily to "clear the pipes" for my prostate's sake. I took cialis daily for quite a while to maintain some overnight erections. I still get an PDE5i erection the same size and shape it always was - it just will not last long enough to do the job.

If I lost 20% length during surgery, when so many say stretched flaccid is the reasonable expectation, then I am afraid I truly will be disappointed. Whether I learn to live with it is another matter, and only time will tell. Hopefully it will not be an issue. I am glad you were able to accept the less than perfect placement in the glans without regret, but then you still get good glans engorgement so that is a major plus in terms of still getting a good functional result. I am not so confident that my glans will cooperate that way.

I can feel a loop of tubing at the base on the left side if I press hard (like you do with a ruler) and near the incision. It is very unopbtrusive so dont worry about that.

Really delighted to hear that! You've given me a great deal of relief from one of my major concerns.

Very courageous for a flight at day 3.

That's what Humphrey Appleby always said in Yes, Minister when he wanted to frighten the crap out of his boss and make him change course! It is a worry. I am just going to try to suck it up somehow. If things are really, really bad still on Friday afternoon, I will book back into a local hotel and call Qantas for an early morning Saturday flight instead.

I stopped endone the day after discharge and then stuck to combined paracetamol and ibuprofin + lots of ice. Ice was better than drugs for me. I didnt get the other stuff.

That's encouraging too! I've never taken a strong opiate before, only codeine.

Take ice packs on the flight (I used a few small esky brick wrapped in a tea towel) and freeze them at the syd hotel. If you have an insulated bag to keep them frozen would be good for the journey.
Stick them down loose tracky dacks and rearrange frequently.

Haha I will see what I can manage without scandalising the trolley dollies and my fellow pax. I wonder if the lounge will admit me in trackie dacks? We will soon see! I am not going to try to do it in jeans or slacks.

My pump placement is perfect slightly lower than the twins and behind them. IP allows better placement and mine is perfect AFAICT.

That is exactly what I would have considered perfect placement. I hope I get a few minutes with Dr Love beforehand to convey that wish to him.

deflate first and then pump back up to what you were. Do not pump first.

I had already worked out that this was the order in which to do things! A few guys here had some trouble deflating for the first time, and there isn't a uro within 3 hours' drive of me if I run into trouble. I won't bugger about with it unless I feel OK and Mr Love clears it first. No desire to undo his good work or bust any sutures.

You will love the result after years of bugger all.

Oh man, I hope so. This is what I keep telling myself, and what will get me onto the trolley instead of running for the hills.

Thanks for replying.

[AussieRjay]

Day 3

I am at the airport hotel in Sydney. Travel was rough at day 3 and if I had my time again I would have waited perhaps 2 more days.

Re-reading my initial post(s) I feel a bit silly. Mr Love was great; didn't talk to him much or for long, but he exudes an aura of competence. Not hubris, not overconfidence, just plain experienced competence. My attitude changed a great deal basically as soon as I came out of surgery - all the anxiety was largely gone, it was now a fait accompli.

I ended up not mentioning the pump placement, I decided to trust him to put it where it would be best. As it happens, I got a bit of a feel after surgery and before the swelling started, and he has got the pump low and dead centre in the scrotum, it feels like it may well be behind my balls. Very nice.

Mark, you'll perhaps be interested to hear that I too had a "glansplexy" done during surgery. I had asked him about this beforehand (one of my silly anxious questions), and he said it was rare but sometimes necessary.

In my case, the glans sits (or rather, sat) atop the shaft - it turned upward right at the end. So, I imagine, did my corpora. In order to fit the tips well into the glans without them diverting out to the sides, he put some stitches in either side of the shaft just below the glans, straightening things out. He explained this after surgery. It has apparently done the job, as the tips feel like they are well up into the glans. Happy there too.

He says he measured me at 22cm and installed 23cm. Did not ask him about tip extenders etc.

Swelling and bruising has been pretty ferocious but starting to subside.

I can feel a good deal of cylinder material bunched up at the base of the shaft. Haven't bothered measuring my current length as it is a bit irrelevant - won't know the final result for some time yet and the inbetween doesn't matter.

I won't write much further except to say that I think my fears were way overblown, I think I chose a fantastic surgeon and I am confident and excited about the next phase of my life starting after my recovery.

Nurses at Holmesglen Private Hospital were brilliant, especially the night nurses who couldn't do enough to help. Patient controlled pain relief which I used and used hard - basically zero discomfort whilst in hospital.

Will update as recovery progresses. Activation appointment is in a little under a month.

Looking forward to being home in my own bed tomorrow.

[David_R]

So glad to hear how well things went for you. Congrats!

[sliphill]

Wow, it sounds like everything went well. So glad to hear this. Hopefully you heal up fast! I'm scheduled for one on 6/8, and I am a little nervous. I am seeing the doctor one more time before surgery on the 30th of this month, and will have a bunch of questions for him. But thanks for sharing, it was somewhat reassuring for me.

It's funny. 6-8 months ago when I was telling my uro that the injections were just not working as good as they used to, he then said to me, have you considered a implant, and I was like, oh hell no! Funny how the ED can change your mind.

[mrp2007]

Good to hear things are going well.
Im a bit surprised with the bruising. I didnt have any to speak of.
I think I may have also underestimated/underappreciated how far into the glans the tips go.
The tips when inflated are only 1cm from the tip of the penis.
Both of them really know what they are doing.
You will have a 22cm + 1cm RTE as titans only come in even numbered sizes.
I could also feel my pump pretty much straight away.
Put a pillow on your tummy for the sheets to allow for it to point straight up when sleeping or no covers.
Ice is your friend.
Im glad you are happy (but sore)
cheers
mark

[biggestdickest]

G'day from Brisbane, I am 25 days post implant now and recovering well, I have just started riding my bicycle again, with the nose down on the seat,. Id like to get back to swimming but i feel too embarrassed at the moment as my penis is 75 percent erect.
I had my implant done by Dr Malone of Brisbane urology, looks fantastic and is about 6 1/2 inches , so im guessing it will be a little over 7 when pumped up to full which is my normal size. I have been using a pump devise since robotic prostatectomy 3 years ago, about every week or sometimes twice a week to keep the blood flow going , trying to keep my penis healthy. I think this has helped.
The surgery went went well im told but i have ended up with the pump bulb stuck to the bottom of my scrotum which feels like its tearing skin sometimes when i move. I have been informed that this may take a few months to free up. I also have a scar on the underside of my penis about 2 inches long, looks like a burn, i cant figure out how i got this.
The hospital stay was traumatic, i was in Greenslopes Private hospital over night.
The catheter was pulled out the following morning with a sharp lump on the end, this damaged my urethra and made peeing severly painfull. The sister insisted i empty my bladder 3 times with an ultrasound in between before i could leave as this was procedure. This took me all day to achieve. You can imagine the pain.
She forgot the first ultrasound then during hand over she tried to cover up the catheter disaster when handing over shift, i put them straight of course, which resulted in all the nurses hurrying from my room. After the last ultrasound I finally managed to quickly escape but when looking at my discharge papers after i got home they were for someone else. So i guess im still there on paper at least. The first 24 hours where a nightmare, i had drunk so much water from trying to pee at the hospital and this was still in my system, so i was dripping every half hour in real pain.
i had asked for some pain meds for the first 24 hours at least to help me pee but my request was refused.
My recovery is going well now ,thanks to the franktalk guys for thier posts, the hot baths advice was a godsend .
My penis looks fantastic, i have managed to masterbate a few times carefully , it is so great to have an erect penis again. My blood flow to my glands and shaft has returned when turned on, i think the implant must have opened up the arteries.
So everything is going ok for me, my appointment to deflate etc is set for next week.
Im actually looking foreward to having a limp dick would you believe, i never thought i would say that, lol.
All the best to everyone here, please feel free to contact me if you would like to chat.
Cheers Ian.

[warrenw]

I have just started riding my bicycle again, with the nose down on the seat,

Hi Ian, good report, thanks!

Can you comment in more detail about the bicycle riding? Do you think there will be any problems with the bike seat after you are fully recovered?

I'm really concerned in my case that an implant could interfere with long bike rides that I like to do (6-8hr).

[biggestdickest]

Gday, i just ride the local bike paths for exercise and go exploring in and around brisbane every now and then with the occasional rail trail. I dont ride my road bike anymore but ride an ebike set up with panniers, as i use it for shopping sometimes. I sit in the upright position on this bike, its a pedego city commute if you want to google it. I found that by just sloping the nose down for now has enabled me to get back to riding but this has only been the last few days. You tend to slide foreward all the time so you have to slide yourself back up.
As for long rides, i would just listen to your body, if you are feeling sore or in any sort of pain, stop, there is always tomorrow. From what i have read im expecting the full recovery process to take about 3 months, so we just have to be patient im afraid and just do what our bodies will let us do. Im sure you will get back to long distance riding just the same as before, once everything has healed and bedded in so to speak.
Cheers Ian