I'm going to call this day zero, so each numbered day from here will be how long after surgery day.I'm 66. ED from diabetes and PCa radiation. Don't know if we need yet another journal, but I'll at least start this and see if there is interest. Many friends here want to know how I'm doing, so here it is.
My doctor is Edward Karpman in Silicon Valley. I like him a lot and chose him for his reputation and because he knows, talks, and does all the most important things to me. If you'd like to know more about him or my choosing him, send me a PM.
Pre-op was yesterday. I didn't know what was involved in a pre-op, so I'll describe mine in case others want to know. Short and easy. Met with doc to go over everything, including medical history, medications, expectations, schedule, etc. He stretched me out and showed me how big I'll be and how I can grow with strong effort on cycling. My guess is that I'll be about 5" after healing and close to 6" after a year of cycling. I was told not to eat or drink ANYTHING after midnight. It was a good time to ask any last questions.
Checked in today at 8. Filling forms, signatures, etc. Got into one of those great gowns that leave your butt exposed. They put in an IV with a strong antibiotic, and wheeled me up to get ready for surgery. It took about 2 hours to do all the preliminary stuff.
In pre-surgerIy, I talked briefly with doc, and then my wife was told to go to the waiting room. I was just laying there for a while wondering if I really was doing this. Not scared, but having one last bout of anxiety about what was about to happen to my dick.
The anesthesiologist gave me a "relaxer" drug through the IV, and I was out. He said he'd put an oxygen mask on me in the OR and I'd fall asleep there, but I didn't make it that far. I know nothing of what happened next. I'm sure they shaved me, but I missed it. I'm sure they tortured my dick, but I missed that, too, fortunately! Woke up in recovery and was done, From getting knocked out to waking up was about 2 hours. I was kind of loopy for a while, but that passed.
It took me a while to get used to the idea that I'd really done it. My old dick and natural erections are history. I'm a little apprehensive about that and about how my new dick will function, but it's too late to change now. Did I really do this??? Yep, I did.
After a little while they moved me to a private room and my wife rejoined me. Pain is manageable, mainly just achiness. They gave me a Vicodin while I was in post-op recovery. At that time, the pain was about a 4 on the 10 scale. Now it's a 2.
I'm wearing a jockstrap with a hole cut in the middle for my dick to point out. They said the jock supports the boys and the pump, while the hole lets the dick point straight out. Dick is heavily bandaged and wrapped with that stretchy Coban wrap.
I have a drain that they check and empty once in a while. A fair amount of blood/fluids comes out. There's a Foley catheter with a bag so I don't need to get up to pee. My blood pressure cuff pumps up for a check every 10 minutes or so. They said it will continue these frequent checks for 2 hours, which will be a half hour from now. I still have the IV and they continue to mainline antibiotics.
I've been told to breath as deep as possible about 5-6 times an hour to help prevent pneumonia. At first this was hard, as expected. They had a respirator tube down my throat during surgery.
The doc apparently talked with me after the surgery, but I don't remember. He also talked with my wife and I'd asked her to write down some specific things he said. My implant appears to be an AMS 700 LGX, with 18cm cylinders and 3cm of RTE. I'll know for sure tomorrow when I can ask him directly.
Everything seems to be going great. Nurses here are friendly and attentive. For those who want to know, my first nurse was a hot youngish blonde woman. After a recent shift change my new nurse is a young, good looking(?) male. So you could swing either way and be happy here. Good staff across the board. They fed me a very good vegetarian lasagna for lunch, and I've made my sections for dinner and tomorrow.
I'm just living the dream. We'll see how I feel once the meds wear off. My wife and I are already planning some romantic evenings, although we've decided to have some test runs and make sure everything is stable before getting deeply into creating special moments. Still, I think the first real sex in 2 decades will be special all by itself.
Again, thank you to all of you, bionic and not, who have been so great here. Knowledge, support, and friendship are unparalleled here.
I'm obviously feeling pretty good to write all this just 4 hours post surgery. I'll update again when appropriate if anyone is interested.
Best wishes to all of you.
Quincy.
