My Surgery Journal And Impressions

[pockie]

I had surgery a few days ago, and I want to document and share my experiences with everybody here.

A little background on me - I'm 29 years old and have been struggling with ED for the past 7 years. I'm suffering from some kind of a venous leak, and already had one surgery on the penis - called a "vein stripping" surgery, where they basically strip the veins from the penis in order to eliminate the leakage. Unfortunately, this didn't work so it seemed as if an implant was a viable option

This was not an easy decision for me, as I was semi functional. Without pills best I could do is a get a strong erection lasting only a few seconds. Pills did work sometimes, but even when they did I wasn't 100% functional. So for example If I switched position such as laying on my back, the erection would go down. More often than not, I would get a consistent 70% erection with pills, which was good enough for receiving oral, but not good enough to penetrate.

So I could still get some pleasure with the way it was, but it just wasn't good enough. I wanted to be able to go whenever I wanted, and without it going down during sex.

Due to the possible complications of injections, such as forming a scar tissue, I decided not to go this route at all.

A lesser known urologist suggested that I go for a one-piece malleable implant. I'm glad I found this forum and did extensive research, because a 1 piece implant would've been a terrible decision.

After extensive research I decided to go with Dr. Francois Eid to do my surgery. He is based in NYC and is considered one of the top penile implant surgeons in the world.
I've heard a lot of horror stories about things going wrong with lesser known surgeons, such as guys losing half their size, implants not working properly and other serious complications.

Loss of size was a major issue for me. Depending on the erection I'm getting, I'm able to measure anywhere from 6.75 up until 7.25 in length. Girth-wise I also have some decent size. My penis is anywhere from 6 to 7 inches thick depending on which part you measure it.

After reading way too many horror stories, my main concern was waking up with a 4 inch dick. I'd be okay if I lost a bit and still remained within a reasonable size such as a 6" penis, but was concerned about being too small, which would lead to an additional insecurity for me.

I read a lot of Dr. Eid's paper, and he's been known to size pretty aggressively. Generally, his patients have minimal size loss from the studies that I've read. Hence, he seemed like the ideal choice for my situation

Here's how things went:

June 22nd - Arrival-

Arrived in NYC from Europe. Checked in at the hotel, then spent the day going to CVS and Walgreens to get the necessary medications needed for pre and post surgery care. I had trouble finding hibiclens, an anti-bacterial soap but after going to several CVS locations I managed to find it in one. The rest of the stuff I bought was colace and milk of magnesia which are used as a laxative since you're extremely constipated post-surgery. The rest of the medications required a prescription which was given to me the next day.

June 23rd - Pre Surgery Checkup

Had a pre-surgery appointment with Dr. Eid. His office is located in a nice spot on the Upper East Side of NYC. His staff was extremely nice, Dr. Eid was also very nice and soft-spoken. You'd expect a world-famous surgeon to be arrogant and brash, but that wasn't the case with Dr. Eid, he seemed like a genuinely good guy. He told me a bit more about the procedure, answered all the questions I have. He did an exam on me as well as took measurements. He did a stretch test which came out at around 17 cm I think, which is around 6.9 inches if my math is correct. Then he injected my penis with what I think was prostaglandin - so that he could induce an erection, and measure my erect penis. My penis was more or less the same as the stretched length, maybe 0.25 bigger.

My penis had a pronounced upward bend. He said that this might cause an issue, since for the implant to work optimally the penis needs to be straight. There are numerous ways to fix it. He considered doing two surgeries at once - one to fix the bend and another one to do the implant. Then he said that this might be fixed if he undersizes me by about 1 cm. The penis would be a bit shorter but it would be perfectly straight. I actually like my upward bend, and wanted to retain as much size as possible so I declined the option of losing size. The other option was to use different sized implants in order to compensate for the bend. For example use 24cm for one side, 23 cm for the other one.

I stated that penis size is extremely important, and Dr. Eid promised that he would do whatever it takes to size me as aggressively as possible i.e choose the biggest possible implant for my size.

As far as the upward bend situation is concerned, he said the final decision will be made in the operating room, since he will be able to gauge the situation much better there. Going into surgery I was not sure the exact size of implant that dr. Eid was going to put. He said he is considering either a 22cm or a 24cm titan. I was really hoping he would opt for the 24cm option, but the final decision is to be made in the operating room.

June 24th - Surgery Day

Was very nervous. Arrived at 6.45 AM at a nice private clinic on the Upper East Side. The nurses here were extremely nice, as well as the rest of the staff. Had to file a shitload of paperwork which was a bit annoying. The anesthesiologist opted for a spinal anesthesia and a sedative. The spinal by itself doesn't knock you out, you're still conscious unlike the general anesthesia. I was given a sedative so that I sleep throughout the procedure. I could've stayed conscious if I wanted, but I didn't. I just wanted to wake up with an implant rather than suffer through the surgery.

I don't even remember going to the OR, the medications must've knocked me out. Next thing I remember i waking up and feeling nauseous. I remember Dr. Eid being there and talking to him, but I don't remember anything he said and whether the surgery was successful since I was semi-conscious from the medications. I was feeling pretty bad the first couple of hours post-surgery.

I asked the nurses how the surgery went and they stated that it was a very successful. However they didn't have any details as to what and how everything was done, and the size of implants used.

They gave me a bunch of extra stuff to help with the pain and nausea I had. They gave me Oxycontin as well as some other stuff. After laying there for few hours I was ready to get sent home. When I tried to get up I couldn't, I would get dizzy and nauseous. The nurses were very attentive, gave me oxygen to help me with this, hooked me up to an IV. After about an hour I attempted again to get up so that I can leave, but I couldn't. I would get crazy dizzy as soon as I got up.

The anesthesiologist assertively stepped up to the plate. She gave me a dose or ephedrine, which seemed to do the trick. This livened me up, I started to feel much more energetic, got up with no problem and said to the nurses that I could run if I wanted.

I was ready to leave, but before that the nurses gave me instructions on the post-op care. I was hooked up to a catheter, which sucked. I hated that thing. They gave me instructions on when and how to remove it.

Since I was here alone without a companion, I had a chaperon hired to take me from the hospital to the hotel. You are legally obligated to do this after surgery with anesthesia, you cannot leave alone - someone must escort you and in my case it was a chaperon since I was alone. Since my hotel was close to the surgery center, we hailed a cab and it was a short ride, less than 10 blocks. However, due to the insane NYC traffic, it took maybe about 20 minutes in the cab to get to the hotel.

There wasn't too much pain immediately after the operation. I expected it to be much worse to be completely honest. I was taking some pain medications such as tylenol 3 (tylenol + codeine) and percocet (oxycontin + something else), which I'm sure helped a lot with the pain. The catheter made things uncomfortable. I was generally feeling good, and feeling as if this was the right decision. I was feeling relieved. The penis was bandaged all over the place so I couldn't really see it, I could only see a part of it and it was badly bruised and swollen.

I still wasn't sure how the surgery was done, what kind of implant was used, and whether Dr. Eid considers is successful. So I called his office, talked to his assistants then talked to Dr. Eid.
Dr. Eid said he feels the surgery went great. He put extra effort into properly sizing me since that was my biggest concerned. He said he started by looking at a 22cm implant, then considered a 22cm + 1cm RTE, and afterwards a 24 cm implant. He said he went with the 24 cm implant on both sides, which made me very happy. I knew that 24cm is aggresive sizing for my penis size, and I'm glad he went the extra mile to try out different lengths and choose the absolute biggest one for my penis size.
I was feeling really good after these news. He also provided some info and instructions on post-op care. As far as the bend is concerned he is hoping that the implant will overpower the bend and straighten out the penis. I'm okay even if the bend stays since it doesn't bother me.

I will be making another post in a few hours documenting the next few days after surgery

[joeb66]

Great article - looking forward to seeing your next post.
Joe

[pockie]

Thank you Joe, glad you like it. Here's the next chapter:

June 25th - First Day After Surgery

I was on both percocet(oxy) and tylenol 3 (tylenol + codeine) to prevent pain. I wasn't in major pain but I took them anyway.
I had close to zero pain where the surgery was made, so this wasn't an issue at all.

However, I had very low appetite. I would force myself to eat a bagel just to have something in my stomach. The food went down extremely hard, and it felt as if it was going to come back up. I felt sick in my stomach. One of the primary reasons for this was the fact I'm still constipated. There was no stool movement since the surgery, which I was told is completely normal.

I was one the phone with Dr. Eid's assistants a few times per day. They were very attentive and courteous, they would even call me in my hotel room to check up on me.

I told them about the sickness I'm feeling, and they talked to Dr. Eid about it. It was determined that it was partially my fault. I was taking percocet and tylenol 3 together every 4 hours. I'm supposed to only take one of the two. They told me to just stick to tylenol and ditch the percocet.

I was also taking Colace and milk of magnesia, both of which are laxatives.

Removing percocet improved my situation, but I was still feeling sick in the stomach. I threw up a couple of times, which actually made me feel better. All that food has nowhere to go.

I was told to drink large quantities of liquids, as a result I'd find myself emptying the cathether baggie frequently.
I was bed-ridden due to the cathether which was uncomfortable to walk with. I was still feeling sick in my stomach by the end of the day, but it was better than before.
I'd describe this feeling of sickness like the morning after when you wake up hungover and have zero appetite, and your stomach is aching.

June 26th - Second Day After Surgery

I was dealing with the same issues as the previous day, I was feeling sick in the morning. The great thing that happened this day is that I finally had a bowel movement, it was extremely liquid. In the following hours I had more bowel movements.

The reason why this is great is that it almost completely alleviated by stomach aches. All that stuff had nowhere to go, now it's going out of my body. The appetite also increased. I treated myself with some nice sushi, which was delivered to my hotel from a nearby restaurant - since I'm unable to leave the room due to the catheter.

Another notable moment for this day was the fact that I was given the green light to remove the bandages around the penis. My penis was bandaged up and I couldn't really see it due to the bandages. This was a bittersweet moment for me, since I wanted to remove the bandages, but at the same time was not too happy about seeing my penis in such a bruised up shape. I thought removing the bandages would hurt, but it didn't hurt at all. Removed them with minimal pain, and saw the penis. It looked extremely bruised and swollen. Instead of getting upset due to this, I decided to be reasonable and give it some time to heal before deciding whether I like the decision I made.

I wanted this day to end up as soon as possible. Why, you ask? Because on the 27th, I would finally remove that pesky catheter, and feel free again.

I was on the phone multiple times throughout the day with the nurses from Dr. Eid's office, who were extremely nice and helpful.

Will be following up regarding June 27th tomorrow, since this day is still in progress at the time I'm writing this.

[chiali09]

This is good stuff pockie. Wow! We were 7 days apart but your experience seems a lot different. Hang in there. Long time for that catheter. God bless you, I couldn't have done it.

And don't second guess yourself. You did the right thing. But we both know from reading here it takes a long time after to get finally see the payoff. I still can only sleep comfortably on my back (which I hate doing). But my spirits are up.

You will be stressed out about size though until u start cycling. I'm telling u now, block it out. Just wait. I had to get talked off the ledge too. We want too much too fast. Patience. I'm right here with u.

[chiali09]

And get ready. That itching is gonna kick in any minute for u. It is horrible and lasts a few days. Take Benadryls.

[pockie]

chiali09, thanks for the advice and positive vibes. I will be addressing the size issues that you mentioned in this post

Here's how yesterday went

June 27th - 3rd day post-op. Catheter out and post surgery measurements

This was a big day for me that I was waiting for to come, since this is the day I'm removing the catheter.
Removing it wasn't as painful as I thought it would be. I followed the instructions given by the doctor, you basically put a syringe
on the small deflation hose near your penis, and pull the syringe so that you can pump the air out. This deflates the small balloon in the penis
which holds the catheter hose in place. Once I did this I was able to pull out the catheter tubing with no problem from within my penis glans.
It didn't hurt.

The bowel movement was much better this day, and I was feeling way better. Had close to zero discomfort. Tummy ache was gone, I had almost no pain the area that was operated on. I decided to finally get out of the hotel room after 3 days of just sitting there. I went to Herald Square in midtown NYC to do some shopping. I bought some tight boxers and a jock-strap. I did this because I need to have my penis in the upward position at all time - pointing towards the belly button, and I only brought loose boxers with me.

Afterwards I treated my self to some delicious NYC sushi - it was yummy!

When I got home a took a warm bath. I'm supposed to takes 3 warm baths per day, 20 minutes each. This was instructed to me by the doctor. Apparently this helps the recovery and the swelling to go down.

I had an urge to measure myself. I promised myself that I would not measure in the first 4 weeks so that I don't get disappointed while my penis is not healed yet.
I couldn't keep my promise. My penis looked fairly small, I was expecting it to be something like 5". I pressed the ruler firmly against the pubic bone, and measured at 6.5 inches. I was thrilled with that. My pre-surgery measurements were in the 6.75 to 7.25 range. I'm sure that with cycling I might even return to the exact same length. 6.5 right after surgery is very good for me.

It did look very small on the eye test, this is maybe because the fat fad and the scrotum are engulfing it to some extent since everything is swollen, and the other part is that I'm only 20-30% infalted. The penis is still swollen, and looking pretty beat up

I'm feeling really good about how everything went. My biggest fear was losing a lot of size and being insecure of the tiny dick, but it seems as Dr. Eid was very aggresive with the sizing and did it properly.

[eisenhower]

You're keeping a great journal and it will be of tremendous help to guys navigating this journey. As a 44-year old contemplating this surgery, I am always impressed when you young guys bight the bullet and go through with this - especially you, who are doing this "solo." You're an inspiration and your journal keeping does a tremendous good for the community here - thanks very much.

Eisenhower

[pockie]

You're keeping a great journal and it will be of tremendous help to guys navigating this journey. As a 44-year old contemplating this surgery, I am always impressed when you young guys bight the bullet and go through with this - especially you, who are doing this "solo." You're an inspiration and your journal keeping does a tremendous good for the community here - thanks very much.

Eisenhower

Thank you for the kind words. I was actually fed up dealing with ED. Didn't want to spend the rest of the best years I have struggling with this.
There were a lot of posts detailing the surgery and post-surgery of implantees, but most of them were fairly vague. I decided to go into detail so that anyone considering this can have an idea of what is going on and what to expect

So I kinda took immediate action. No more waiting was what I said to myself, time to be assertive. I booked a surgery with Dr. Eid, one of the top surgeons. I told his employees to book me as soon as possible - which was in 4 weeks from when I called. I immediately arranged my travel plan - booked a hotel and plane tickets. Didn't want to bother anyone with my issues, so I decided to just man up and do everything by myself. Take care of the problem head-on rather than ignoring it. I've been a pussy about this for so long, time to take action.

It's been a great and fun adventure - being implanted, as well as roaming the great city of NYC.

So far I feel great and feel as if I made the right decision. I'm feeling really good about this. The reason why I feel this way is because I'd be able to have sex at any time, without the worry or frustration of it going down, or worrying whether the pill will work this time or not.

There's a long journey ahead. The real fun will be when I'll be given the green light to start inflating.

I'm seeing Dr. Eid on Wednesday and I should have more info as to how my recovery is progressing, as well as the next steps.

My suggestion to you would be to go ahead with this. I don't know your exact situation but since you're considering this I'm assuming you have severe ED. Having a functional penis would probably be amazing, but what is even better is not having the frustration, depression, and anxiety that your penis would not perform. Not having that makes it worth it.

[chiali09]

My suggestion to you would be to go ahead with this. I don't know your exact situation but since you're considering this I'm assuming you have severe ED. Having a functional penis would probably be amazing, but what is even better is not having the frustration, depression, and anxiety that your penis would not perform. Not having that makes it worth it.

This!

[robnine]

Hey Pokie
Thanks for your detailed notes and all. We were both implanted on opposite sides of the world at nearly the same time though with the time difference I haven't worked it oout exactly.

My membership took a while to get OK'd here, or I would have posted earlier....

It's all good for me, and I'll post separately....

I'm hoping that your relative silence over the past day or so does not mean you have run into problems....

Look forward to hearing more from you....