Interviews with three docs coming up - Questions

[alibaba]

All the surgeries I have had except one involved travel. Take the hospital urinal as dgmoore suggests. I also take the mattress protector pad to protect the seat. accidents happen. Fantastic you have it scheduled. Still waiting on a call to see if mine can be scheduled this year.

[kidder]

I know there is some anxiety, but some of your concerns are really nothing to speak of. The catheter? Minor inconvenience. Most guys go 5-6 wks before using the implant. . I jumped in at 4 wks, but, truthfully, it was tender and I was nervous, so it wasn't very good, from my half anyway. Things got good at 6 wks. Now, at 10 wks, things are almost back to normal. You mentioned size. You need to disregard comments (on that subject) from contributors on this site, and take with a grain of salt what the drs predict. There are some lucky guys on here who lost no size, and there are more who did lose size. And a smaller % who lost just too much. I consider it a horror story when I hear someone was 7" pre, and 41/2" post. It's usually not that much, but it's not a minor consideration. I lost about 11/4", and it certainly did a # on me. I've heard some on this site say that even the Titan will continue to grow. Well, I wish it would hurry up. Ha. My point is, look over ALL the comments on this site (and other sources), and try to find an objective assessment, and how much of a loss you could deal with. I guess if I had it to do over again, I'd try to find a doc who has no reviews, complaints about size. Because of my experience, and even tho he's highly respected, I couldn't recommend mine. But there are others who seem to have done consistently well. Good luck.

[KMeister]

Don't worry about the catheter. Odds are you'll barely notice it's there, and removal will be quick and easy. Take the hospital urinal home with you - you'll find it very handy for the first couple of days. Use plenty of ice packs along with Tylenol or your prescribed pain meds (you may not even need the latter - many, including me, have not). Good luck!

My experience was exactly the opposite. Having that catheter in me for 24 hours was the worst part...very painful. When the nurse removed that thing I insisted my wife hold my hand and read the 23rd Psalm. No lie.

KMeister

[Anonymous 3]

Don't worry about the catheter. Odds are you'll barely notice it's there, and removal will be quick and easy. Take the hospital urinal home with you - you'll find it very handy for the first couple of days. Use plenty of ice packs along with Tylenol or your prescribed pain meds (you may not even need the latter - many, including me, have not). Good luck!

My experience was exactly the opposite. Having that catheter in me for 24 hours was the worst part...very painful. When the nurse removed that thing I insisted my wife hold my hand and read the 23rd Psalm. No lie.

KMeister

Ditto. The very worst part for me was the very painful urination after the catheter was removed. It lasted for a couple of weeks before slowly easing. It's all good now though.

[psyched123]

Kmeiseter and Watsup, do you think that more pain meds might have helped? Were those meds being held back somehow or were the nurses ready to give you more?

[Anonymous 3]

In my case I don't think more pain meds would have helped. It only hurt very badly while urinating and after 5 minutes or so the pain faded until the next time I had to pee. I sure didn't look forward to that!! I had very little in the way of real pain meds. I did take a few Tramadol but because of other meds I was taking it was a bit risky. Because of kidney problems I am not supposed to have any nsaids but I did cheat a bit and used a few Advil. They were quite effective for general surgical pain. I was never given any of the hard narcotics such as oxycontin or hydromorphone for home use although I did recieve hydromorphone via IV immediately after surgery.

[KMeister]

Kmeiseter and Watsup, do you think that more pain meds might have helped? Were those meds being held back somehow or were the nurses ready to give you more?

I don't know. I took the perscription meds I was given but I was still in a great deal of pain and discomfort until the catherer was removed the following day. I don't remember what the doc perscribed. Perhaps something stronger would have helped. Fortunately, on my next two implant surgeries, no catherer.

KMeister

[psyched123]

I am really surprised that they didn't give you some of the strong, effective stuff like oxy and hydro. I will definitely be talking to them about that before surgery. Not a real fan of pain. Were they resistant to the strong pain meds for some reason?

[billylee]

P,
So glad all is coming together for you. I think you are making very good choice. Sent you a couple of PMs.

I was sent home with Rx for hydrocodone/Apap but I believe Hydromorpone was in IV drip.

Good luck.
B

[psyched123]

Since I'm using the same doc as you, billylee, I'm really glad to hear that I'm going to be sent home with some strong meds. Of course, I hope not to really be needing them.