My New Normal

[broman36]

Hello all. I'm 37 years old. I was diagnosed with prostate cancer on my birthday in 2012. Had a non nerve sparing prostatectomy last summer. Since then I've had severe ED. I have the pump but have only used it for therapy. I have tried the injections a few times with varied success. I'm seriously thinking about having the implant. But it scares the hell out of me. There's no one I have to talk to and bounce questions off of. What are some questions I should ask my doctor? What's the typical recovery time on the surgery? How long before you can give a test run? Do any of y'all know anything about the doctors at MD Anderson in Houston?

[ED2013]

I would get implanted ASAP . Go with a top surgeon

[broman36]

Do you have one? If so which model? How long was your recovery time?

[ED2013]

Yes ams 700lgx done infrapubicly. I was pumping after 1 week and cleared for intercourse after three.

[rlm1818]

A few guys who have posted here on FT had surgery in Houston. If you search for "houston" using the search function you will find which surgeons they used and a little about their experiences. You will get some extraneous results too, but its not hard to bypass those.

As for your other questions, they have been asked and answered countless times. Browsing the implant forum, and judicious use of the search functions will help you a lot. There is no single universal answer, though, to your questions.

[broman36]

Thanks guys for ur help.

[yankfan042249]

You have everything to gain and nothing to lose by getting the implant. I was implanted April 3, 2014 and am delighted with results. My only regret is debating it with myself for 3-4 years before making decision.

Walt

[wolfpacker]

Hi bro man, one of the questions I would ask your uro/surgeon is if he is confident that the implant will be successful for the rest of your life, of course with periodic replacement surgeries. My fear is that with younger patients like you, the implant may do what doctors call "erosion" and eventually wear through the head of your penis, essentially destroying your penis. It is probably not a worry for 99% of the patients who are old and probably have only 15-20 years of life left (no offense guys) but for a man who might expect 40 to 45 years of the implant, I could see it being an issue.

[avlis26]

I never heard of this "erosion" of the penis over the years, though I know that the estimated life of the device is about 15 years.
Has anyone else heard of this?
I'm also a young guy, 30, suffering with ED for years and plan to do the implant by the end of 2014.

[vanats]

Erosion of penis? oops, i was seriously considering an implant. i am 47 and i had my non nerve sparing prostactomy 2 years ago. Caverject is working but not everytime. when it works i feel great but when not it is a very frustrating situation with my wife. ED has caused me a lot of problems with my wife, i am very depressed and thinking that the only solution is to have an implant. When i hear about implants problems i get confused. Regarding about doctors, i would go to New Orleans as i had my prostactomy at tulane hospital and they know about my case, i am not american, i live in central america so my contacts are only at tulane hospital. The surgeon for implants is dr. Wayne Hellstrom, it would be helpful to me if somebody has references of him, positive or negative.
One more thing, after prostactomy i have lost almost 2 inches, i used to be around 6.5 inches and now i am only 4.5, this also bothers me a lot. Will the implant make me lose more lenght? if that is the case, i would reconsider it.
So, do you guys think if it's better to me to go for the implant? your advices will be very helpful, thank you in advance.