How did you get your pump to move so you can reach?

[marlow13]

I’m about 4 1/2 weeks post op and been cycling since I was activated 26 days post op by Surgeon. My MS pump sits behind my testicles and the only way I’ve been able to get a good grip on it is after I soak in the tub for about 10 minutes. I’ve tried to pump without the bath but it feels like it’s sitting behind a thick band of skin and afraid I’ll mess it up if I try to pull down on it to hard or attempt to reposition in my sac and I don’t have a big sac when it’s cold. Anyone have any advise?

[Bailey]

I also have a small sac, & have encountered the same issues as you in inflation. I’ve found that pulling down on the pump isn’t a problem nor does it affect the pump. Each time I urinate I pull down on the pump so it doesn’t heal high in my sac.I use the left hand to hold the tubes to the pump to keep it my pump from moving. I then use my right thumb & fore finger to squeeze the pump. I was given this method by a guy that the AMS liaison Jamie told me to contact. It works well for me as I’ve tried every way possible. On the deflate I have to squeeze the deflate button pretty high in my sac. The sac is smaller and the skin thicker in the morning or when cold, but have still been able to do both. In the evening the sac seems more pliable and a lot easier to do. It takes practice & I was told to activate pump twice a day for 6 months leaving it inflated for at least 30 minutes at a time. Hope this information helps you. Implant done on 6/18/19 Good luck, Bailey

[merrix]

I seriously doubt we can influence pump position. Best way is to pick a doc skilled to put the pump perfectly from the beginning. That’s what I did. Mine was totally inaccessible early on, but later ended up perfectly positioned.
I think that people who think they improve the pump placement by pulling it actually don’t do shit themselves. It’s just the healing process progressing and when swelling disappears and all heals, pump moves down and becomes easier to access. It takes longer time to reach finished product than most think.

[Smetro]

I agree.......I reckon I was still a ‘work in progress’ at 18 months post op.
Patience is the key for the recently implanted.

[Snoozdoc]

Interesting topic and vital to us new guys.

From the moment I woke up, everyone kept saying “keep pulling that pump down”. “Umm, okay.”

Well, the first week I wasn’t pulling on nothing except tylenol bottle caps.

POD #7 I visited my local urologist who was taking over my follow-up and explained that the pump was horribly positioned in my perineal space and i could barely sit down. He tried to pull it down in his office, but, uh, NOOOOO!!! So I convinced him to have anesthesia administer a short acting anesthetic and he could be more aggressive. And that did indeed improve things.

Following that, I continued to tug on that POS block-n-tackle despite feeling like I was tugging on a ball and chain that had no more chain to give. However, I felt like it was important to ensure that pump didnt become adhered to inner surface of scrotum, which can happen quite quickly. So I was always sort of peeling it away from adhesions, despite that it still wouldn’t drop a bit more. So the block was kinda “stuck” slightly high and surrounded by rather unfriendly permanent residents. And I just dont think tubing is long enough to allow pump to descend. And “frankly”, Im tired of tugging on that bastard.

But my question is this:

Should I just let the pump get adhered and encapsulated at this point (1 month post-op) and let things be what they are, or do i keep that pump fairly mobile. When its mobile its easy to get to, but when I lie flat on my back it slips posteriorly back into a bit of the perineum which can be uncomfortable, at best.

Im just wondering how other peoples pumps ended up. Very mobile and all over the place, or adhered and encapsulated and not mobile.

Unlike a lot of folks, I havent had too many pain free days. Hurts to fully pump, points at me and laughs to say “im hard as a rock but dont u dare even think to bend me south or I will make u regret the day u had me installed”. Then after deflating, sore for next 12 hours. Just remember, it’s very hard for the newer guys to even slightly imagine that it isnt going to be annoying forever.

Thanks for all the great advice.

[Greg1956]

You said you don’t have a big sac. The tighter your sac is the less room there is for a pump to fit in with your balls. For guys with low hangers the surgeon has more flexibility. I can speak from personal experience in this topic. When I had my implant surgery my sac was average so my balls hung down a bit and there was plenty of excess space to conceal the pump.

Last year I had a reoccurrence of Prostate Cancer and as part of my treatment I was given Lupron injections to greatly reduce testosterone. One side effect was my testicles shrank down to almost nothing and my sac got very tight. During that time there was no way to move the pump at all and I was fully healed from implant surgery so there was no reason other than my tight sac for that to be the case.

Fortunately, my testicles have gotten somewhat larger and my sac is looser so now I can pull on the pump again. I just wanted to share my story because I am sure some guys can’t pull down on their pumps the way other guys can. There may be cases where the surgeon placed the pump in a less than ideal place but it may also be a man’s own anatomy that doesn’t offer space to place the pump farther from the balks and with enough tubing to be able to move it around.