Joining the club

[ab_nitro]

Hi everyone,

I wish I've registered on this forum sooner. I've read posts from here before, but missed several crucial details and hope right now it's not too late to fix them. I would highly appreciate any feedback from the fellow implantees!

To start from the beginning: my name is Anton, just turned 31, married, I've suffered from ED for pretty much all my life, it's been better sometimes, worse other times, but never been 100%.
I've been really putting off the implant procedure till very recently, Tadalafil in combination with some herbal blends seemed to get me though for some time as I tried a ton of alternatives ranging from pumps to ultrasound treatments only approved for public use in Europe and Canada (attanded a treatment course in Toronto last Spring - in my case with little to no effect, were there any benefits - they were quite short term).

So I've done my homework, read all I could find about the implants, compared AMS and Titan, which is better in each case, compared multiple surgeons and chose Dr. Niall Heney in Mass General Hospital - for his experience and a pleasant attitude.

I had my surgery done on the early morning of Friday, Oct 10th. Was implanted infrapubically with AMS 700 (I believe either CX or LGX) and now going through the 11th day of recovery working from home.

I gotta say if I don't take into account the sleepless, painful first night in the hospital I am happy with how everything looked and felt after the surgery. I've had very little bruising, and some swelling that looked like my implant was partialy inflated, when in fact Dr. Heney leaves it fully deflated till 2 months post-op. The first night in the hospital, however, really sucked. During the day I felt very little pain and discomfort I guess due to IV anesthesia. My wife stayed with me at the hospital, we chatted and joked and I was in very good spirits. Then she went home since the hospital can't accomodate overnight visitors. As the night started the IV anesthesia probably wore off and the pain increased to about 5-7 out of 10. I wasn't prescribed any sleep aids (surprisingly, I read in plenty of patient testimonies that they were given sleep meds by default to rest the first night). Oxycodone pills that I took by mouth only seemed to work for about 2 hours and then wore off. I was only allowed to take them every 4 hours. So they had to start giving me Tylenol every 6 hours in addition to that. I had to wait, watch the clock and try to think positively while the nurse paged the doctor and got me some Melatonin. That took till about 2 or 3 am, not sure. Melatoning made me relaxed however, but I barely slept and patiently awaited the morning. The thing that probably bothered me the most was the catheter. Even though I'm thankful I didn't have to get up for the first 24 hours to take a leak, that thing made me uncomfortable enough to count minutes till the morning when doctors would visit and remove it. And when the morning finally arrived and nurse and docs removed the catheter and the blood pouch both went out with plenty of burning / discomfort. But boy was I glad that cath was finally gone! I had a bit of a swelling of the tip of the glans where the cath went in, but retracting the foreskin helped me fight that.

I am not sure how much pain and discomfort the midline scrotal incision causes, but I gotta say, at least in my case muscles that infrapubic approach had to go through hurt quite a bit. So it wasn't any minor discomfort in my scrotum / shaft that bothered me. It was hurting muscles in pretty much my entire lower abdomen. So this wasn't much fun, laying down and relaxing for several days helped a ton. Right now the incision is slowly starting to disappear and I feel almost no pulling / discomfort there even when I walk.

What worries me now and what I didn't quite do, or let's even say wasn't told to do (and therefore I thought it wasn't necessary) was to pull down on my pump for the first several days after the surgery. I tried a couple of days ago, but wasn't successful with it. My doc even told me that I can try it but might not be successful. Scrotum itself however contracts and expands. When mine is contracted towards the bottom of my penis my pump is leveled with my testicle (I only have one post-birth). When the scrotum is relaxed and the testicle is just hanging the pump stays quite high up, pronounced through the scrotum skin and doesn't descend with the testicle - is it supposed to?

One other thing I paid attention to just this morning is the fact that skin around the pump is quite tough and I can't pull it away from the pump. I only today stumbled upon a post in this forum that pump may in fact attach itself to the scrotum skin when it's healing. I'm afraid that's what happened to me. I still cannot sit on any surface that pushes back on my pump. I only can sit on a chair if I put the pillows on left and right so my scrotum sort of "hangs" in the middle. So I took a warm shower and I think I pulled the skin away from the pump in some places, but still can't get it everywhere, it's quite unpleasant to do, so I decided to take a breather for now. My doc didn't mention this to me either. He doesn't schedule check-up appointments 1 or 2 weeks into recovery. If I didn't schedule one myself for next Thursday the doc would only see me in 2 months at the beginning of December to show me how to work the pump... I want to see him sooner and ask about the pump being high up / skin sticking.

One other thing that I have but that doesn't bother me is the "bent straw" feeling at both sides of the penis, about where the implants comes out of the body, but slightly asymmetrical. It doesn't hurt when I touch it or push on it, but it doesn't go away even when I pull the penis upwards into the position which it would take when pumped up. I assume that the "bent straw" would go away when I in fact start pumping up in December.

I'm hoping nothing from what I mentioned above is serious and would eventually go away with time... I would certainly hope none of that would require my doc's intervening. But the fact that he hasn't mentioned any of that to me for post-recovery and would only expect to see me in 2 months leads me to believe that everything I experienced is normal and will get better.

Once again I would love any responses / feedback. This forum has been quite an inspiration for me and made my implant commitment easier and now I'm ready to give any advice myself from my personal experience.

- Anton.

[zac white]

Hi Anton
Welcome to the October 2014 implant group, I think there are four of us on the site.
My surgery was on the 7th and today is two weeks post op. I am in Australia but the procedure and process is the same world wide, I had an AMS 700 LGX implanted.
To read your account to date brings back the various stages and feelings experienced but luckily not a reliving of the pain, sounds like all is going well and what you have experienced is the norm.
As for the position of the pump I was told by the Doctor at my 8 day scheduled visit to start pulling down on the pump to position it at the lower section of the scrotum, mine is sitting low already but they wanted me to get use to locating the area above the pump so that when I start pumping I have something to hold on to and that is also where the deflate button is. I have been doing as best I can but the pump is very slippery and it really hurts to full on it still, they did say if it hurts to take it easy that there is time for that to desensitize before we start to inflate and deflate, I return in a week to start the practice session and they expect that the Doc will activate for use about two weeks later. As for the pump attaching to the scrotum skin that was not mentioned nor am I aware of it happening, the pump moves quite freely in the sac. Also The only awareness I have of the cylinders is that I can feel the tips at the base of the head but no pain I have not experienced the bent straw effect, my penis is deflated but the cylinders have added to the girth giving the penis a very natural, healthy look. I also had the web skin removed from the underside of my cock to allow for better penetration and for a more free hang appearance when flaccid so I still have stiches down the underside as well as across the base of the penis so is taking a little longer to heal but getting there.
I am still taking things easy, like you I too have a very supportive wife and as we have come this far we are not going to screw it up now.
All the best Mate
Zac

[ab_nitro]

Hi everyone,

So I am now approaching on 1-month anniversary of the surgery.

In the good news I gotta say that I don't feel any pain or discomfort in the penis or the scrotum area if I don't touch them, then it gets slightly discomforting. I can push on my penis enough to feel the hard tips going against the inside of my glans and a bit further down the shaft. I also have what others call a "bent straw" feeling at the base of my penis, on both sides, one is more than other. So I saw the doc and he said that it's just an implant in deflated state being compressed by outer penile tissues.

In not so good news - I recently started being brave and trying to sleep on my side as opposed to my back. And starting yesterday I started feeling a bit of a discomfort at my abdomen muscles under which I know there is a tube going to the reservoir. When I move around sometimes the muscles get sensitive and touching them is a bit unpleasant. there is no bruising there or anything, but I can feel the tubing underneath the muscles if I start touching them with my fingers. I didn't have this (or didn't pay attention to this) till recently. Has anyone had anything similar? Will this pass?

Thanks,
Anton.

[ab_nitro]

Hi everyone again,

So I'm going to have my first inflation over at the doc's in about a week. Should I get ready for a lot of pain?
Or couple of Tylenols in advance would take care of the most of it? Is it worth applying penile disensitizer prior to the appointment? Any other advice you can give?

Appreciate any responses! Thank you!

[zac white]

Hi Ab
The process is just having your Doc take a hold of things and giving you a demonstration of squeezing and releasing it may cause a bit of a sting or burn because the area will still be a bit tender but it will only be for a matter of seconds and then it should settle down again. After that it will be up to you to play with your own toy, Up & Down, Up & Down " " " "and so on. It will possibly be tender for quite a time yet but it is achievable and you will have fun seeing just how powerful you can make him stand up at the touch of a pump, it's not easy at first as the bloody bulb likes to slip and slide and you may give yourself a really hard squeeze that brings tears to your eyes but it's all part of the process we just have to man up! Now Two months down the line and I still have moments of Oh Shit! That really hurt but the reason for going through all this is well worth what it has given us back, have a good attitude and enjoy the process and the occasional Oh Fuck that hurt
All the best
Zac

[ab_nitro]

Hi Zac,

Thank you! I cannot wait to start playing with it and enjoy the benefits. Haha, worthless to say my wife is waiting as well.

[zac white]

Hi Ab
Our woman have been exceptionally patient and supportive it's now our turn to show our appreciation with some real old fashion loving, go the whole hog and make an evening of it, because now you can !!!
Happy loving to you both
Zac

[ab_nitro]

Thank you, Zac for the inspiration! Can't wait.

[Purrboat]

Ab,
I have something also at the base on both sides. I assumed it was the connection points for the cylinders? I am on day 15 and have already pumped partially and deflated last night. My doctor sewed my pump to the scrotum. He said so I don't have to pull it down which I was great full for due to the pain. I had infra-scrotal approach. Pain just letting up but by no means gone. My stomach is sensitive but not painful any more. I don't feel any hoses there. My big issue now is the stubborn release valve. Thanks for sharing. I am curious who is the oldest living man on this forum and the world with a still working implant?

[dg_moore]

... I am curious who is the oldest living man on this forum and the world with a still working implant?

71 here. I'm sure I'm not the oldest.