Implant Day +1

[Newwoody]

While my wife is out running some big city errands, I am holed up in a hotel room in Northwest Houston recuperating from yesterday’s implantation of an IPP and a male mini-sling, both addressing side effects of my radical prostatectomy a little over two years ago. I am uncomfortable, but not in great pain. One FT poster described his pain as like being stung by 10 wasps, but mine is more like only three or four wasps. I took one pain pill at bedtime last night, but the pain spiked this morning, so I took a second and have managed to keep the pain to a persistent but not debilitating achiness. I understand I am probably in for worse in the coming days and weeks, but at least will be back home for it with my wife doting on me. I am looking forward to getting this bandage contraption off my little friend tomorrow morning.

When we made the decision to have the RP, I understood the potential side effects. I told myself I was more concerned about incontinence than ED, and felt reconciled to little or no sex after a robust sex life with my with wife of 53 years. We started out with sildenaful and a VED, with limited success, in the process of which my wife made it clear she had more ambitious expectations for our intimate life. So we advanced to trimix injections, but never achieved a usable erection in over two months of diligent efforts with ever larger volumes and stronger formulations. I’m not sure whether that was more frustrating for me or for her.

I had my RP at MD Anderson in Houston under the care of Dr. Curtis Pettway, who by all appearances did a great job for me. I was declared a cancer survivor at my two year check-up, but it is time for another PSA test. “Not detectable” has become one of my favorite phrases. So when it was time to investigate IPP, we were happy to start with MDA’s recommendation of Dr. Pettaway‘s colleague at MDA, Dr. Run Wang. Dr. Wang does not get as many mentions on FT as some other high profile, high volume IPP surgeons (some of which trained under him)(several mentions remarked on his name’s penile double entendre, but my nickname carries the same same sort of double meaning, so the teasing matters not to me, as it should not). The information I could find about Dr. Wang indicated that he has a stellar reputation with his colleagues, being a “go to” referral among them for tough IPP and revision cases, and plus being a human dynamo. Add MDA’s general reputation and my previous experience there, and we decided to go with him.

So we showed up at MDA’s Northwest Houston clinic at 10 AM yesterday and were greeted by a highly efficient staff exuding friendly competence and organization. We have been committed to the procedure for sometime now and never had any real second thoughts, and the way we were treated gave us great confidence about what was about to happen.

And I must acknowledge that the months I have lurked in the background at FT have given me indispensable information, comfort, and courage. Though I know there will be some tough times in the coming weeks, I hope I can report back that the result for me is as good as it has been for so many other FrankTalkers. Thank you all.

[wilsonmill]

What did u get

[Newwoody]

20 cm coloplast titan.

[LetoMan]

Welcome to the brotherhood, Woody! I’m only four weeks in and just had my first wank. There are good times ahead for you, brother, but for now just take it easy. If you get swollen and bruised in the next few days, don’t sweat it, it will be better in a week or two.

Leto

[Rider1400]

I got a 20cm plus 1cm RTE a little over 2 years ago! It’s been some of the best years since implant! 10 years pills 16 months of failing injections. Implant is AMAZING!!!
Sounds like you’re in the perfect mind set to get an IPP! I’ve always said at least 1/2 of getting thru the surgery and recovery is in your mind! Hopefully you’ll have an easy recovery and little swelling. Did you have scrotal or infrapubic install? Did you get classic pump or one touch? Fill out a signature now that you’ve done the deed so we can know more what you’ve got. Ice ice ice ! Ice will be your friend the first 4-6 days. Keep the swelling down! There will still be doubts and fears as you progress thru the next few months but always remember, time will heal most any issue you have. Don’t worry about all the negative stuff you’ve read about problems… most will work out in time. Your attitude about getting thru this will make a big difference in your recovery. Please PM me if there’s anything you need to talk about or just post and you’ll get all the answers! Hope all goes well!

[Old Guy]

Welcome to the bionic side Woody. Yea, you may have a few uncomfortable days ahead but I hope you don't. In a few weeks you should be one happy man able to be intimate with your wife again.

[Newwoody]

Implant Day +2: Thanks for the encouraging comments.

Comic relief is good, right? Well, Dr. Wang contrived, out of a medium size (8 oz?) Styrofoam coffee cup, a codpiece for his IPP patients to be taped in place over the sore, abused penis for protection from inevitable bumps, scrapes, and tugs against clothing, furniture, and bedding. Works great!

And it helps in the urination process. Staff suggested that to urinate I face the toilet and lean forward with my hands against the wall to achieve a proper angle to get most of the urine into the toilet. That was messy but more or less worked the first day. On the second day, I thought to sit on the toilet the usual way, but scoot forward until the codpiece was clear of the front of the toilet. I held the small, oval bathroom wastebasket under the codpiece and fired away. It was a more natural position, so urine flow was better and all was captured by the wastebasket. I later tried a reusable 1 quart plastic Kroger chicken noodle soup container which worked just as well and reduced the possibility of a surprise for the housekeeping staff.

Today is starting out as a one wasp day. I am feeling swollen, but I think that might just be the tightness of the bandage, which is coming off in a couple of hours. We wanted to stay in Houston one more day, but the hotel did not have a room, though they did extend our checkout time to 1 PM. So it looks like we’ll be starting home about noon.

For the trip home, I used a pair of compression shorts to keep my little friend centered in an upright position, but I realized quickly that he did not want to be touched anywhere, anyway, by anything, so about halfway home, I removed the compression shorts and just wore the loose fitting beach shorts outer layer the rest of the way.

I am surprised that I have very little swelling and very little bruising at this point. I hope that continues.

Realizing that my penis did not want to be touched, and taking my cue from Dr. Wang’s styrofoam codpiece, by trial and error I came up with an alternative that looks like a winner. The first layer is a pair of tightly-whiteys with Mr. Johnson standing up through the vent in front. The second layer is a plastic drinking cup just a little bit longer than my semi-erect penis. The third layer is a pair of extra large Depends (leftover from my RP days) to hold the cup in place. Works like a charm!

Spent the night at home in my own bed, relatively comfortably.

[Old Guy]

Glad it's going well for you. Couldn't touch myself either for many days and having it rubbing in underwear was horrible. Swiped one of my grandsons' socks, cut off the elastic, and fit the toe end over my sore appendage. As soon as my catheter was removed I always sat on the toilet to pee, although I had to scoot back on the seat and lean forward to keep all the yellow liquid in the toilet. No #2 in that position or it would be a bigger mess! LOL
Dr. Wang's invention is a good idea. That should help some future implantee's.
On a funny side note about doctors' names, the urologist handling my bladder issue is Dr. Cox. He does implants although he didn't do mine.
Hope the pain remains low to zero for you.

[Newwoody]

Implant Day +3

The three times per day Tramadol pain pills start to lose their effectiveness about halfway through their eight hour shift. With Dr. Wang‘s approval, I take an Extra Strength Tylenol at that point, which does a fair job of getting me through to the next scheduled Tramadol.

Speaking of pain, I have settled into a persistent soreness in my scrotum, perineum, and adjacent crotch areas. It is hard to sit down and stand up, and I walk can only walk bow-legged, cowboy style. My scrotum is bruised and swollen about half again its usually size. The shaft of my penis is sensitive, but not particularly painful. My glans us unpleasantly sensitive to any touch. I also have intermittent stinging sensations on my scrotum and adjacent areas and the base of my shaft, similar to the wasp sting affect, though the frequency seems to be decreasing. My worst experience was removing the tape holding the surgical bandage on Implant Day +2. The glue on the tape is so strong I think it took off a good bit of the top layer of my skin, which may be contributing to the stinging effect.

Today I reversed the order of pain pills and am taking Extra Strength Tylenol as long as it seems to be working, holding the Tramadol in reserve for when EST is not sufficient. It just seems prudent to minimize the use of Tramadol since it is an opioid and is labeled for moderate to severe pain.

[Newwoody]

Date +8

My IPP procedure was eight days ago today. I don’t have much swelling left, and pain levels are going down, especially the last two days, though my scrotum and penis are sore, but not particularly sensitive to the touch. Bruising is mostly gone. In short, I think I have turned the corner.