Thinking Out Loud

[ED2013]

I'd go with a top surgeon. If you get botched, you'll have to see one anyway. Think of the extra time and effort to see a top surgeon. It's well worth it to keep every inch god gave you.

[Tybeeman]

I'd go with a top surgeon. If you get botched, you'll have to see one anyway. Think of the extra time and effort to see a top surgeon. It's well worth it to keep every inch god gave you.

That gets back to my big question. What would you do if you had a brain tumor?

[alibaba]

I'd go with a top surgeon. If you get botched, you'll have to see one anyway. Think of the extra time and effort to see a top surgeon. It's well worth it to keep every inch god gave you.

That gets back to my big question. What would you do if you had a brain tumor?

Go to a urologist and get a dick implant?

[TANGERINE]

The analogy to brain tumor surgery is interesting. For me, I would probably not travel to a Brain Surgery center like Duke, or Hopkins or Mass General because it would mean that my family support would need to move there for several months since recovery from brain surgery is a several month ordeal, and will require many doctors, including your primary care doctors and several specialists.

In the case of the brain tumor, you feel devastated and are fighting for your life and you run to your local doctors to literally carry you through a trying ordeal; they will refer you to local or regional specialists, and you and your family will be in too much shock to do any different. You will be a passenger on a bus driven by others. For me, Brain surgery and Cancer surgery are different since I will not be in the mindset of being a picky, choosy, demanding consumer patient; the emotions of fighting for my life will be all consuming.

Penile implant is "elective surgery" similar to getting a face lift or a breast implant. Elective surgery is something you decide to do on your own timetable and at a whim to "performance enhance" your own sex life. Just like boob implants and face lifts, you can leave town for a week, and come back in decent shape with a low likelihood of needing lots of postoperative rehab. Therefore, since your family is not "uprooted and inconvenienced", it is OK to travel to the best if you can afford it.

Also, curiously, I think that surgery on my dick is more critical to succeed than surgery on my hip or knees; I realize how odd that sounds, but next to my brain, my penis is my most important organ. Moreover, penile implant surgery is not trivial, it really is a bionic implant, so getting all the parts loaded in "just right" can be really tricky.

The downside of traveling to a superstar implant surgeon is not only the added expense, but also the issue of "how will complications be handled ?" Your local urologists will NOT take care of any problems with your implant, so you need to realize that repeat trip might be needed to the distant surgeon if there are problems.

[Donnie1954]

Guys,
It's was so important that I had peace concerning my surgery. This helped me.
1) Know your GOAL -
If I was ever going to function sexually again. this surgery had to be done. I had run out of options.
2) Trust your GUT -
If there's a 'check' or something doesn't feel right, it usually isn't. I trusted my local Urologist completely. He had done 1,000 of implants. He assured me that I wouldn't lose length. (And I haven't). He also said I would be pleased (and I am. And I love it). He only did about 2 a week which let me know he wasn't and wouldn't be rushed.
3) Trust your GOD -
I asked my heavenly Father to, 'guide the hands of the surgeon' and He did. I asked him for His peace concerning this life changing surgery.

This worked for me.
Thinking Out Loud.
Reverend Donnie Bryan

[Tybeeman]

Guy,
It's was so important that I had peace concerning my surgery. This helped me.
1) Know your GOAL -
If I was ever going to function sexually again. this surgery had to be done. I had run out of options.
2) Trust your GUT -
If there's a 'check' or something doesn't feel right, it usually isn't. I trusted my local Urologist completely. He had done 1,000 of implants. He assured me that I wouldn't lose length. (And I haven't). He also said I would be pleased (and I am. And I love it). He only did about 2 a week which let me know he wasn't and wouldn't be rushed.
3) Trust your GOD -
I asked my heavenly Father to, 'guide the hands of the surgeon' and He did. I asked him for His peace concerning this life changing surgery.

This worked for me.
Thinking Out Loud.
Reverend Donnie Bryan

Amen

[sliphill]

Thinking aloud about where to have my penile implant (obviously, in my penis)

Local surgeon or highly experienced surgeon)

While I still have misgivings about proceeding with my local urologist (who has relatively limited implant surgery experience-20 in the past 12 months), the roadblocks to having the surgery with Dr. Kramer are substantial.

I live in Alaska and have medical care provided by the Veteran's Administration. Alaska VA is cooperative, but Maryland VA's bureaucracy is difficult to navigate. Bypassing Maryland VA to go directly to Dr. Kramer by Alaska VA authorization is possible, so I have a choice between my local urologist or Dr. Kramer (or even Dr. Eid, though all the groundwork has been laid for going to the Maryland VA Hospital or University of Maryland Hospital).

The arguments for having the operation in Maryland are

ability to choose the appropriate implant manufacturer and model AFTER the operation has begun (not available in Alaska)
surgical team well-practised and surgical suite optimally set up for implant surgery (at U of M, not so much at Maryland VA)
low infection rate
Dr. Kramer's reputation and expertise in placement of peripheral components, pump, reservoir, etc
Dr. Kramer's reputation for optimal sizing of the implant, distal tip placement, crus placement and using as few rear tip extenders as possible
Dr. Kramer's reputation for minimal bleeding, swelling, post-op pain and swift recovery

the arguments for having the operation in Alaska are

Fewer bureacratic surprizes/roadblocks likely
Recovery at home without waiting in a hotel a few days for swelling to subside before flying 13 hours
Recovery at home with a friend to help
Followup doctor will be the one who actually did the surgery
Local surgeon leaves inflation at a very high level, suggesting an easier activiation regimen
$1500 to $2000 cheaper out-of-pocket (at my income level, this is substantial)
Likely to be completed before July. Maryland may take a month or two longer, with additional risk of bureaucratic roadblocks

Any thoughts before I make the decision final?

I decided to go with my local guy too. Although he only does 2 a month, he's been doing them for 30 years. I figure that is some good experience. Charlotte NC has top notch doctors. My wife has really good intuition, and she felt good about this doctor. But all that aside, I'm still nervous. Tomorrow's BD-Day! Bionic Dick-Day.

[Donnie1954]

Keep us posted brother. We are praying for a successful surgery.
Donnie

[Tybeeman]

Ed you are going to be fine. Good luck tomorrow. Waiting on updates

[sliphill]

Ed you are going to be fine. Good luck tomorrow. Waiting on updates

Thanks Tybeeman, sure glad I have support from my brothers.