AMS pump is a pain

[Manonfire]

Hi Fellas, Just a quick shout-out and intro. I was newly implanted with an AMS LGX, March 26, 2019, after having had prostate cancer and non-nerve sparing surgery in Dec 2017. I'm doing well post-op with not as much pain as I thought I'd have. However, I do have issues with the design of the pump.

My doc said to pull down on the pump every day to keep it low. Evidently none of the engineers at AMS have one of these installed (they should try and imagine shoving a whole pineapple, or at least a pine-cone, into a small marble bag). The pump has the raised ridges and is made from a really,really stiff (no pun intended) material. My sack must be a tad extra soft as pulling on this pump and mashing on the bulb creates real pain and a few choice words for the engineers.

I'm sure it'll all toughen up in time and I understand the reasoning around the design (I'm an industrial engineer by education). But I do wish more thought went into it. Anyways, I'm glad to be here and I look forward to learning from you all.

[Lost Sheep]

Welcome to the forum, ManonFire. I look forward to reading the chronicle of your journey.

The moderator, Larry10625 will probably ask you to author a signature telling some details of your implant and a little of your history coming to an implant and finding Franktalk.

Your third paragraph has it right. No one ever relishes the imposition of something new. You just get used to it.

I predict that you will find other objections to the design of the pump, as well. I do. The operation of the valve is less than intuitive. To prevent self-inflation (autoinflation) it is necessary to squeeze the bulb to put the pump into inflate mode. How does that make sense?

I would like to see a way to use the bulb to deflate the implant (forcibly inflating the reservoir) as well as using the bulb to inflate the implant (deflating the reservoir).

But AMS (and Coloplast as well) have a vested interest in making their valving mechanism as reliable as possible in the smallest package as possible and simultaneously as easy to operate as possible. Not simple to operate, but easy to operate. No one wants to have to undergo a revision operation merely to replace the pump/valve if a simpler (albeit more complex to understand) device would have a longer service life.

We trade simplicity and convenience for reliability and longevity.

[calixtus]

You have been implanted three months now. Please update us on use and comfort of operation. It took me months to get the hang of inflation/deflation. At three years of use, it all seems smooth and normal to me.