It's all over . . .but. . .

[rglassva]

Well. . . what's done is done - even if not if what I expected.. . . Dr. Kramer came in before surgery and said he'd been thinking about my case and knew how much I wanted the LGX. . . wanted me to know he would do his best but might have to go with the CX which has more slender cylinders. . . he looked at my anatomy again and afterwards said about 50/50 chance of getting the LGX in. . . either way I knew he'd do his best and I'd be fine with whatever he needed to do . . . into surgery I went. . .wake up and Dr. K is there with bad news. . . wasn't able to get ANY implant in - apparently my anatomy would not cooperate. . basically the chambers where the cylinders would have gone were just not there despite his best efforts to dilate them or do whatever else he could to get into them. As he put it, the tissue was just not developed - likely due to the radiation I received to that area back in the mid-70's - right before I was going through puberty. Sooooo, I ended up with a catheter in that I will take out on Sunday and he did a bit of ventral phalloplasty (got rid of some turkey neck under the shaft/above the scrotum) and I'm back to status quo as far as the e.d. goes. Dr. K. said about the only option he could think of at this point would be some reconstructive surgery - no thanks. Now to find out how much the bill is going to be and move on. . . If anyone could've helped me I know Dr. K was the one so at this point I guess I'm done.
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers and encouragement, suggestions, and recommendations over these past few years . . .I'll do my best to stay in touch and see how things are going for the rest of you. Of course if anyone has been through something similar and has any miracles cures, please pass them along. Best to all of you in your own journeys. Rick

[jn1421]

Rick,
I'm speechless. I want to say or do something encouraging but I'm without anything to offer except my friendship and honest concern. Please know that I'm praying for you. Keep us posted with your recovery and presence in chat.

[dg_moore]

I'm really sorry to hear this, Rick. It sounds like a very unusual case, and of course Dr. Kramer did his best, which is the best you could ask for. I understand your reluctance to go with reconstruction, but maybe down the road you'll want to explore that possibility. And even though Dr Kramer is tops, maybe a second opinion from somebody like Eid or Milam or Garber would be worth exploring. In any case, this is not good news - I wish you the best.

Dave

[RelievedofED1]

As everyone has said this is very sad news for you and we are all sorry to hear you had to go through that and not get implant. Once you have a chance to recharge a bit it might be worth asking Dr Kramer who he would recommend for a second opinion or for that matter who does this kind of reconstructive surgery that he would trust to say no chance or we can help honestly. Transgender female to male phalloplasty is done more often now which involves implants and penis creation and I wonder if one of those specialists might find your situation easier than that starting from scratch bearing in mind the scarring you might have. I would trust Dr Kramer to give you some good names if you ever decide you want to go that route. Again so sorry to hear and hope you will let us know how you are doing as you move forward!

[rglassva]

Recovery update - scrotum a bit swollen and tender - glans bruised and the "donut" behind it is still quite swollen.
I'll take the catheter out tomorrow morning - you'll probably hear me when I do!
Dr. Kramer says he's with me til the end of this journey so we'll see what tricks he has up his sleeve.
Will keep everyone updated.
Rick

[pockie]

Sorry to hear that, can't imagine how much it sucked waking up after surgery and hearing the bad news.

[LGX_Man]

Stay positive Ricky! If Dr. K says he'll stay with you til the end, then he's obviously got a plan!

[LMCatman]

That sucks! Maybe a further surgery will help you. Good luck!

Among the mistakes my first implant surgeon made was "crossing" the "balloons" about an inch out from the base. I thus had two "balloons" in one chamber and none in the other chamber, resulting in a near 90 degree turn to the left. In the intervening year the unused chamber had closed up (or healed shut???). Dr Perito was able to open or reopen the second chamber (the term he used was 'create a new channel') and, 16 months later my dick is still straight and all works well.

While I thought I was "totally fucked", it all ended up OK. I hope the near future brings you a solution to your situation. Again.... Good Luck!!!!

[rglassva]

Update - I was able to remove the catheter yesterday without a whimper or a hitch. . . . still swollen and tender and a bit of renewed hope after reading LMCatman's response . . . since I'm not interested in having a new penis made out of some other part of my body . . . maybe Dr. Kramer can have a chat with Dr. Perito? . . . .Called doc's office today to see if they had any idea how much the charges would be affected by the fact that they had to "abort the mission" - his nurse didn't but is gonna check into it for me. Sure hope it's not the full $20K although they did just about everything they would have done if they had installed the implant. We shall see - journey continues.
Rick

[dg_moore]

Update - I was able to remove the catheter yesterday without a whimper or a hitch. . . . still swollen and tender and a bit of renewed hope after reading LMCatman's response . . . since I'm not interested in having a new penis made out of some other part of my body . . . maybe Dr. Kramer can have a chat with Dr. Perito? . . . .Called doc's office today to see if they had any idea how much the charges would be affected by the fact that they had to "abort the mission" - his nurse didn't but is gonna check into it for me. Sure hope it's not the full $20K although they did just about everything they would have done if they had installed the implant. We shall see - journey continues.
Rick

As I recall, the device itself is pretty pricey - I believe the charge on my bill in 2008 for Titan was something like $7500 or maybe more.