Implant Surgery 10:30 am March 27th. Journal to follow

[Ranman]

Monday March 27th, 10:30 am is I-day (Implant Day)

I plan to share as much as I can on this journey with the hope that someone else will benefit from my experiences. I know I have lost length and girth in the past 12 months and will share as much in measurements and data as I can. I live in Southern California and selected a surgeon based on my lengthy research and personal comfort level (not Kramer or anyone else already mentioned here). I am a stage III cancer survivor (20 years) with lots of experience dealing with doctors, surgeons and the health care industry and know what I need to be comfortable with a surgeon, hopefully afterwards I'll have another good surgeon name to share with those on the West Coast. Thanks to all who have already shared their story as this website has been a tremendous help for me so far.

More info to follow after I get home from surgery on Monday afternoon.

[shooter1000]

Welcome to the club Wishing you the best on your bionic journey. I assume you have chosen an experienced surgeon. It will be interesting to hear about an experience other than the three musketeers (Eid,Kramer and Perito)lol. Surely there are competent implant surgeons in your area, and I certainly understand your wanting to get it done closer to home.

Keep us posted

[alibaba]

Good luck in the morning. There are some respected surgeons on the west coast. Cheers.

[AVL_UK]

Good luck!

[joe456]

Good Lucky The best of the world to you

[Ranman]

Not quite 24 hours out of surgery and wanted to post my first update.

From pre-op prep to recovery room was about 90 minutes. I received an LGX implant with a scrotal incision. I spent 2 hours in recovery before being released and they were quite frankly very very difficult physically. I have a high pain tolerance but my limits were tested even with the pain medication they gave me. The worst pain was from the location of the reservoir on my lower right abdomen. I have a lot of scar tissue from previous surgeries in my lower abdomen and I am considered as having a lean build so the pain may be related to those factors as I don't have much extra space in that location. I can see and feel the reservoir and there is a slight bump in that area which is a tip off something is there.

The first 2 hours post surgery I would rate a 9 on the pain scale, after 2 hours I leveled off to 7-8 for the next 6 hours. After a total of 8 hours my pain once again ratcheted down and leveled off at about 5. I urinated in recovery fairly easily, but once home I had a more difficult time. Peeing after being catherized is always painful so my issues there were simply me flinching from the burning and stopping my stream. The burn is waning and likewise my peeing is improving although I am seeing some blood in my urine. I am eating drinking and walking around slowly and have even climbed the stairs in my house a few times. My groin is packed with gauze and I am starting to feel the incision pain more but nothing too bad.

Spending my day in my recliner with my feet up and the TV remote in hand. My surgeon was great in that he took extra time to walk me through my meds and time table. Answered every question my wife had as well, plus he called her last night to check on me and gave us his cell phone if we had any problems. I am very please so far.

If anyone has questions please ask, I'll update again when I have more news.

[shooter1000]

Welcome to the club Ranman,

I am 6 days ahead of you, so you can follow my progress and compare. We both have AMS 700 LGX, and it sounds like our bodies are similar. I am lean like you. I have also had a lot of abdominal surgery, and I can fell the reservoir when I sneeze lol.

You had a lot more pain than I did post op. I have never taken more than Tylenol. Be prepared for your pain and swelling to get worse before it gets better. I had my worse pain this morning when I got up to pee. My scrotum is none too happy with the new kid in the bag

[jonbaldbg]

Best wishes with your recovery. It seems we are all different. My worst part was the overnight catheter, but I'm glad they did it that way, because at my revision they removed the catheter and when I couldn't pee, then they put it back in with me conscious. That hurt.

My pain was never terrible, but I did take pain pills some those first days. They took the edge off and made me sleepy so I was able to lie around quite well.

I also think many of Dr. Kramer's patients experience less swelling and pain than some surgeons. He has a great technique and I had almost no scrotal swelling. It was amazing.

Hang in there. Keep us posted. Long journals are fine.

[Ranman]

Sneezing is a big ouchy for me too but to be expected. I am swollen more than expected but we'll see what it looks like on Wednesday after my first follow up.

I am hoping to go to my office late this week as I have a big project due to be completed. At 6 days were you feeling normal enough resume your daily routine?

[jonbaldbg]

I took it really easy even though I didn't experience the swelling that many have had. I wore athletic pants because they are loose fitting for a month, but I could get away with that because I'm semi-retired.

I think you are the best indicator of how hard to push it. You should not overexert and push too hard. Most major surgeries where they cut on you require 6-8 recovery time, but not all. So it's really your call how hard to push it (pun intended).