Hopeful Implant Journal

[hopeful_future]

Some simply pee in the shower.

I made sure I had two jock straps so I could alternate between wearing one and washing/drying the other.

Walking around the house with an erection was not an issue for me. I stayed horizontal 99.5% of the first week.

That's one way of doing it, haha!

One thing that makes me pretty sure my recovery is going well is that I feel pretty confident moving around right now. Just this morning, I went to pick something up off the floor and my body said "Don't do that" so I stopped. This afternoon, the same motion was perfectly fine.

Main thing that causes me pain right now is if I stand in one place for a bit, my left nut (the one the pump sits close to) starts to ache. I have a standing desk for my computer, so I've been taking short stands here to type things up, then walking around or reclining in the living room.

[Waynetho]

Main thing that causes me pain right now is if I stand in one place for a bit, my left nut (the one the pump sits close to) starts to ache. I have a standing desk for my computer, so I've been taking short stands here to type things up, then walking around or reclining in the living room.

What is it about right-handed doctors insisting on putting the pump in the left side of the scrotum, just because it's convenient to THEM? I bet you also have an abnormally sized left nut too. My left one is three times the size of my right one and it has to have a permanent roommate in that side of the scrotum. Usually it sits up above and behind the pump.

I would have imagined the doctor would take a logical approach by seeing that one side was fuller than the other and accommodating that size irregularity. Nope, right handed, place it in the right side (LEFT for patient). Sheesh!

[hopeful_future]

What is it about right-handed doctors insisting on putting the pump in the left side of the scrotum, just because it's convenient to THEM? I bet you also have an abnormally sized left nut too. My left one is three times the size of my right one and it has to have a permanent roommate in that side of the scrotum. Usually it sits up above and behind the pump.

I would have imagined the doctor would take a logical approach by seeing that one side was fuller than the other and accommodating that size irregularity. Nope, right handed, place it in the right side (LEFT for patient). Sheesh!

Funny you should mention that! My left nut rides a little higher than my right, though it used to hang lower due to a varicocele I got repaired a long while back (tangentally related to my attempts to fix my ED). But either way, it's sitting right up there like you say, though mine is above and in front of the pump. Bit uncomfy for now!

[Gt1956]

Mental note to self. Be sure to talk to surgeon about pump placement.

[hopeful_future]

Alright, update for today, 3 days post-surgery.

The doc mentioned that the last of the local anesthesia would be wearing off yesterday and today and to expect the most pain over these days. Honestly, it hasn't emerged. The most penile pain I had was within the first 24 hours, so not sure if I just metabolized the anesthesia quickly, or if I'm healing really well or what. Maybe come tomorrow, I'll have a different feeling about it, but so far, during the day I've been taking 400mg Ibuprofen, 500mg Acetaminophen every 6 hours, and one 325mg acetaminophen, 10mg hydrocodone at night to help me sleep. Pain is VERY manageable. Most discomfort is still in the scrotum and testes.

Speaking of those, I have a good bit of fluid starting to build up in there, along with some bruising starting to show. It's nothing severe, I'm not too worried about it...But keeping an eye on it. Only bleeding I've had is a little bit of oozing from the spots on the glans used for pulling the implant tips into position. They seem to stop bleeding pretty quickly after they start, and only start after a shower or bath. Been putting neosporin on the shaving injury I had...Someone really took a lawnmower to one side of my shave job, and that hurts more than the incision site!

Overall, I'm moving around better today (was able to bend over and pick things up without much pain or hesitation), but I've been taking it extra easy, and icing. I am following instructions to take 2 30 minute hot baths daily, and let me tell you, that is heavenly. Everything sort of loosens up and it feels wonderful.

Not much else to report. I'll throw a couple of pictures to show the swelling and bruising underneath, along with the incision site and glans holes on top. Take care, everyone!

IMG_2750.jpeg (194.58 KiB) Viewed 1336 times

IMG_2748.jpeg (272 KiB) Viewed 1336 times

[OregonStrong]

Your outcome looks great. I am assuming they left you fully inflated like that after surgery? I wasn't given real clearcut instructions and was left partially inflated, which I deflated at day 2. When I asked my doc about activating pump he didn't want me to do it for a few weeks. Seems every surgeon is all over the place with those recommendations, so hard to say who to listen to. I was swollen, beat up and battered looking for a good 2 weeks from a penoscrotal incision.

[Happy Toy]

Looks perfect! What a beauty. Take good care of it and enjoy.

[hopeful_future]

Your outcome looks great. I am assuming they left you fully inflated like that after surgery? I wasn't given real clearcut instructions and was left partially inflated, which I deflated at day 2. When I asked my doc about activating pump he didn't want me to do it for a few weeks. Seems every surgeon is all over the place with those recommendations, so hard to say who to listen to. I was swollen, beat up and battered looking for a good 2 weeks from a penoscrotal incision.

Yeah, they left me fully inflated after surgery, and mummy wrapped...you can see in some of my earlier pics. When they unwrapped me, the nurse deflated me slightly (uncomfortable to have that button pressed, but nothing compared to the foley) and I was told to leave it like this until my follow-up visit, where we'll be deflating.

I tend to think that the field of penile implants is so small, with so few patients overall, that there just isn't a well-defined set of best practices. Each of the top surgeons has a somewhat unique approach, whether it's penoscrotal vs infrapubic, send home inflated or deflated, how they determine which model to implant, etc, etc...I don't really think there's an established "right" or "wrong" answer, so really it just comes down to how much you trust your surgeon to know what works with the procedures they follow.

So if it's a top surgeon doing my implant, I'd do what they say exactly, even if it's different from what other top surgeons say...Because they have done hundreds of these and know what works for their patients. If it's someone who is pretty low volume and is only following in the footsteps of the top docs, or just read a few papers on the right way to do things, a forum like this could actually have some useful advice.

The main thing I feel like I would love to impress on some folks in this forum is...Ask your doc and/or their assistants first, if there's something you're not clear about. Each of us on this forum have dealt with maybe 3 implant surgeries at most. Most of the docs have dealt with quite a few more. When it comes to individual anecdotes, experiences between people vary so widely, that it's hard to apply any learnings from person to person...Just have to zoom out and look for patterns.

[oldbeek]

My surgeon kept me 80-90 % inflated for 4 weeks. I handsome peyronies to straighten out. You are going to have a burning feeling on the skin of your penis. It will be extremely tender to touch. Some say get a baby sock to put over it. A way back, you said you liked being a grower. Forget that. You will probably will be 1/2 inch shorter than hard length when flaccid. I takes some getting used to. I used a hot tub after 7 days which helped a lot with the pain. Use Tylenol. Good luck healing and don't rush it. Patience. PS, what was your useable dimensions when done? length girth? Looks like mine.

[hopeful_future]

My surgeon kept me 80-90 % inflated for 4 weeks. I handsome peyronies to straighten out. You are going to have a burning feeling on the skin of your penis. It will be extremely tender to touch. Some say get a baby sock to put over it. A way back, you said you liked being a grower. Forget that. You will probably will be 1/2 inch shorter than hard length when flaccid. I takes some getting used to. I used a hot tub after 7 days which helped a lot with the pain. Use Tylenol. Good luck healing and don't rush it. Patience. PS, what was your useable dimensions when done? length girth? Looks like mine.

Yeah, the doc gave lots of instructions, which I'm happy for. I'm also prescribed 2 hot baths daily for at least the first week, and maybe more, starting yesterday (3 days after surgery). They are great for relaxing things...But I've had very little skin pain surprisingly. I think it's just pulling some of my scrotal skin up the shaft a bit, but I know some skin stretching techniques to slowly improve that.

As it is, I don't think I've lost much length if any, and girth is more even along my entire shaft now. I haven't gotten particularly aroused during this week, but I had noticed some enlargement of the head now and then, so I think blood flow there is fine...Here's a comparison. Note that I was VERY aroused in the before pic, and had taken an ungodly amount of cialis the night before. In the after pic, I am not aroused at all, so the head is small, and there's very little additional bloodflow. There's also a good amount of swelling around the base and the scrotum that puffs it out.

before.jpg (169.62 KiB) Viewed 1276 times

after.jpeg (321.27 KiB) Viewed 1276 times

Length before was about 6", girth 5". Girth is at least what it was before, length seems close enough to the same that I'm unconcerned. I just can't wait to actually use it.