FrankTalk.org

First off, I have been a long time lurker on this board and let me say how informative and reassuring the dialogs have been. The site was key in my taking the plunge into the 'bionic brotherhood'.
First some background: I am 61 YO married for almost 40 years and was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 49. I don't remember the gleason scores or some of the other details but my urologist at the time put enough fear into us that I just wanted it gone so we opted for a RRP. They had just gotten a DaVinci robotic setup but we decided not to pioneer that surgery method. I had the surgery done in January 2004 which included removing some nearby lymph nodes and a nerve graft (surel nerve from my left foot). I was surprised when I came to and it was dark outside and I had gone under in the AM. As it turns out they had lost track of a sponge and it took an extra 1 1/2 hours to find it stuck under the surgery table. In the meantime I had been taken for x-rays and I have visions of them pawing around looking for the damn sponge and the surgeon removing my prostate with an ice cream scooper.
The outcome was good in that the cancer was gone but I had a bad case of ED as well as severe shrinkage. I was done with that Doctor when during a follow-up I mentioned the 'dead zone' and that when I went to grab it while urinating it was no longer where I expected it. He chuckled and made a comment about dead men don't get erections
At that point I was done with that Doctor and if he had warned me about shrinkage I would have gone another route. So IMO the nerve graft was a failure and if given another chance I would try a different treatment option. If it happened today I would probably opt for proton therapy.
Pills had absolutely no effect and I used injections for a time from about two to five years post-op with varying success. We decided that it just was not worth the hassle and pain and gave up our sexual relations at about 55 YO. I had heard about implants but it seemed like 'cheating' and un-natural and I was still holding out hope that the nerve(s) might reconnect and things would work some day.
Another 5 years gone by and came to the obvious conclusion it would never happen and got seriously thinking of an implant and discovered this site. I saw a urologist whom I got the name of from the AMS site in June 2015 and he averted the question when I asked him how many of these he did in a year. Not happy with a few other answers to my questions and not getting a good feeling so I canceled further appointments and continued searching. I was near making an appointment and cross country trip with Kramer when I found Dr. Walsh at the UW Men's Clinic. He is a definite high volume IPP surgeon and he made me very comfortable so it's on!
He suggested the VED protocol to undo the atrophy that has set in over the years. I have done that but maybe not as much as I should have. Went from 6 1/4 to almost 6 3/4 - So I am hoping for close to 6 1/2 when healed. I realize I will never have the 7 1/2" of my youth but my VED pumped girth is near the same (diameter of a toilet paper roll) and I hope I can retain that. I will post the results on this thread in the future.
I am hoping when the healing is complete I will be wondering why the hell did I wait so long.

All the best tomorrow. Keep in touch!

Just had my surgery 11/24 also. I'm home tonight not doing to bad except tip of my penis when urinating burns badly. How about you or any ideas?

When you say Dr Walsh at UW - is that University of Washington?

Epsilon wrote:Just had my surgery 11/24 also. I'm home tonight not doing to bad except tip of my penis when urinating burns badly. How about you or any ideas?

Try to get some rest. The first couple of days are a pain--literally, but it will get better. If you were given pain meds, take them. Hang in there and you will be hanging in there very soon.

And congratulations on joining the club. Wait until you see our secret handshake!

KMeister

Epsilon wrote:Just had my surgery 11/24 also. I'm home tonight not doing to bad except tip of my penis when urinating burns badly. How about you or any ideas?

Wow I am impressed you were posting the same day as your surgery. The only 'burning' I experienced was when I pulled the catheter out the next morning. Due to the trauma and the 3 o'clock position it was difficult to urinate standing or sitting. I used a hand held urinal for the first few days. Back to normal now and the 3 o'clock has relaxed to a more manageable and comfortable 4 to 5 o'clock position.

Freddyboy wrote:When you say Dr Walsh at UW - is that University of Washington?

Yes, specifically the UW Men's Clinic in Seattle. Very happy with them so far. I have my first post-op follow up in a few days and will post the findings but I expect everything is looking good. I should be down to almost no visible bruising by then and the pain is almost non-existent. I never had any scrotal pain at all. He ended up implanting the AMS-CX using 21CM x 13MM cylinders with 2 CM RTE's. Whole procedure was 8 hours from home and back with about 3 of that being commute time. Hurt like hell for the first few days but there is no getting around that.

You got the exact same measurements and pump that I got. Enjoy!

jonson wrote:

Freddyboy wrote:When you say Dr Walsh at UW - is that University of Washington?

Yes, specifically the UW Men's Clinic in Seattle. Very happy with them so far. I have my first post-op follow up in a few days and will post the findings but I expect everything is looking good. I should be down to almost no visible bruising by then and the pain is almost non-existent. I never had any scrotal pain at all. He ended up implanting the AMS-CX using 21x13 CM cylinders with 2 CM RTE's. Whole procedure was 8 hours from home and back with about 3 of that being commute time. Hurt like hell for the first few days but there is no getting around that.

Dr. Walsh is who I am seeing at the end of January which was the earliest they could get me in. Let us know how you are doing and I will be very curious how you view the UWMC and Dr. Walsh. I did not want to pick just any old urologist for something this important and I agree, I would travel across the country to get a good one. But if they are here in our own backyard, that makes it all the better too. Will be interested in how you're doing now.

larrys1 wrote:Dr. Walsh is who I am seeing at the end of January which was the earliest they could get me in. Let us know how you are doing and I will be very curious how you view the UWMC and Dr. Walsh. I did not want to pick just any old urologist for something this important and I agree, I would travel across the country to get a good one. But if they are here in our own backyard, that makes it all the better too. Will be interested in how you're doing now.

I am 3 weeks post-op and doing very good. Swelling, pain and bruising all but gone at this point. I had a follow up a few days back and they cycled the hardware and left me deflated which was a relief. They told me I could cycle myself whenever I felt comfortable which I have done but with limited success. Typical stiff pump mechanism and getting used to the inflate/deflate process so more of a user issue. Also typical size concerns, it appears I have lost close to 3/4" in length but girth is close to before so happy with that at this point given I am only 3 weeks out and I am not sure I have pumped up adequately. I can only get 3 or 4 pumps and I hit too much resistance (pump bulb is too hard to squeeze) but it is enough to give me a partial erection. Not sure what is going on there, any ideas?
I am very happy I found Dr. Walsh and the results so far are great. I can't imagine a 6+ hour flight across the country within days of the operation so I am glad I avoided that. He and his staff make themselves very available for questions and support. He does ~100 of these operations a year so probably about as high volume as you will get on the west coast.