I went through the same routine as most guys here, started with Viagra 20+ years ago. It worked well for a while until I used it 3 days in a row but caused an irritable stomach issue that I still have today. Went on to Cialis which was a little easier on the stomach but became less effective. So, 15 or so years ago, I moved on to Trimix and it worked very well. Usually erections lasted a good two hours. My dosage started at about 0.2 ml. As time went on the dosage increased but I found that I needed Cialis too. Maybe the day before to allow it to work its magic. But, I had to up the Trimix to Double strength and then finally Quad strength and the use 5 mg daily Cialis for 7 days. Talk about having to plan ahead. The big advantage of my ED history was that it made it very easy to decide on an implant. I was truly out of options.My doctor through all this time was Dr Gerald Brock in London, Ontario. I naturally expected him to do the surgery because of my long history with him. But, a couple of years back he left St. Joseph’s hospital and now works in his own clinic. I understand that he may be available to assist in more complicated cases. He was replaced at St. Joseph’s by Dr Jeffery Campbell. I got referred to him through Dr. Brock. With the Canadian health system, it does take a while to get an appointment but at least I was fully covered. In December, 2022, I had the doppler ultrasound test with Dr Brock to confirm that I had venous leakage. At the end of March, 2023, my wife and I had an appointment with Dr. Brock to discuss the implant. This is when I found out that he was semi-retired and he said that he would refer me to Dr Campbell. He did caution me though that because we were coming out of Covid, it could take 6 to 12 months. I got my appointment with Dr Campbell October 24, 2023 and made the plans to go ahead with the surgery. I got a call sooner than expected and turned down a surgery spot in late December because it would have disrupted my alpine ski season.
February 23, 2024 I got my surgery date in June at my request due to some other travel plans.Needless to say, I read for hours the different stories here on FT and they were a big help as the day approached. Thursday June 6th we were up at 4:00 AM to get ready for 6:00 AM arrival at St. Joseph’s hospital. Surgery was scheduled for 8:00 AM. I was expecting to see a more comprehensive protocol provide with dozens of dos and don’ts because I had a total knee replacement almost 2 years ago, and they provided a book to follow. I did arrive freshly showered (no explicit requirement for antibacterial soap) and got ready for the admission protocols. They did 2 separate bacteria tests, including MRSA, and started me on the antibiotic IV’s, two of them. One every 8 hours and the other every 12 hours. I noticed that the one antibiotic was vancomycin, one of the few that work against MRSA. They kept that regimen up for 24 hours when I was scheduled to be discharged.
Around 10:00 AM I woke up in recovery. I felt pretty good. They anesthesia was a general with no nerve block. I did have the nerve block with my knee surgery. I was catheterized during the surgery but it was gone when I awoke. My penis was partly inflated as well and it and the scrotum were all wrapped together in gauze. An hour or so later I was taken to my room. They have a great setup at St Joes. It used to be a full-service hospital, but the provincial government got involved 25 years ago and combined 4 hospitals into just 2 administrations. So, St Joes does not have a lot of In-patients as part of there service. Mostly out-patient services. So, the floor I was on was like being at a fancy resort. Less than half of the rooms were being used. They were mostly semi-private rooms that were configured with just one bed now. A private room with a private washroom was very nice to have. The meals were better than I expected too. The only pain med I got, or needed, was Tramacet, a mixture of Tramadol and Tylenol. The pain was tough during urination but most of the time I would rate it as a 3 or a 4. Unless I squeezed the penis, and then it was a 7 at least. The only comfortable way for me to pee was standing and using a plastic urinal. I am still doing that. That way I do not have to squeeze or aim.
My surgeon, a resident and a couple of nurses came by to check on me around supper time. Everything went well and I confirmed that I had an AMS 700 LGX installed, 21cm with 3 RTE’s. I went to sleep around 9:00 PM since I was up so early, but it was really hard to sleep for the first 3 hours. I got woken a up twice during the night by nurses and I took the opportunity to pee while I was awake.I woke up around 7:00 AM and felt pretty good. My surgeon came by to remove the bandages and deflate me. It all looked pretty good. A little swelling and bruising but not bad. The deflating was another story. The pain was 10++. After inspection, they put a small bandage over the stiches, the dissolvable type, to be removed in 2 days and then left dry. I got discharged around 11:00 AM after the last of my IV drips and the paper work for at home and follow up. I was sent home with 2 weeks of oral antibiotics and a few stronger pain meds, which I did not need. I have been taking just Tylenol by the clock since getting home. I did very little for the next 3 days except sit around on a towel and wear these fish net underwear that they gave me. I put a 4” gauze pad on the penis tip to stop the leakage drips. If you try gauze , make sure you get the unwoven style, It is nice and soft. For about a week it would leak after a pee and it was dark with a little blood mixed in. Once the dripping abated, I tried wearing some regular underwear. I bought some David Archy briefs and they are okay, nice and soft. But for now at least, I am preferring the Separatec dual pouch briefs. I put a gauze pad at the penis tip for drips and another gauze pad over the stiches on the scrotum. The stiches kept stabbing the scrotum and was very irritating. I got a phone call from my surgeon on day 7. I did not have much to report since things were going better than I had feared. Thirty + years ago I had a vasectomy and I was told that it would hurt for a few days. Well, it was excruciating for 6 weeks, and the pain was not gone for 6 months. My scrotum went into contraction and my testicles were constantly being squeezed.
I am still taking it a bit on the easy side. I hope these stiches fall out in the next couple of days,
I see Dr Campbell at about the 6-week mark where I will be instructed on inflating and deflating, and then I get to play again. I hope.Edit Note-Dr Campbell does penile implant surgery on Thursdays and does 3-5 on the day.
