6 week Report

I reached week 6 and have started cycling my pump several times a day. My doctor wants me to inflate the pump several times a day to stretch the tissues. I inflate the implant and leave it inflated for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. My length is 5 and 1/8 inches now. I had 5 and a 1/2 inches from bi-mix post-op and I believe that when I can start really pumping it up and stretching it out that I will have my old length back soon. I checked the girth and received a pleasant finding. My post-op girth used to be 5 and a 1/2 inches and now easily pumps up to 5 and 3/4 inches, so I've gained a quarter inch and maybe later may gain a little more. I had the AMS 700 Ultrex implant surgically implanted. The Ultrex model of implant increases girth and can also increase length by up to 18% in some men. I've heard and been told that it may take up to 6 months for everything to stretch out to the fullest. A small number of men have reported small increases in length and many men report a thicker girth with penile implants. But I need to caution everyone reading this. The majority of men experience some lose with the implant. In my many conversations with other implantees, a lose of 1/2 to one inch is very common. For men who have had a prostatectomy, the lose of length can be severe. One to as many as three inches depending on your pre-implant length. The doctors may tell you that it will all be there what you had before the implant. Most men suffer some loss.Some of the length loss will be restored later on as the implant settles in and you cycle erections. The head of the penis is slightly sensitive at 5 and 6 weeks post-op. How long it takes me until I'm fully healed? I don't have that information yet. One other thing. After the implant, the glans penis, the head of the penis does not become engorged with blood. It stays soft. I've heard from one reader that the lose of that engorgement truely effected the wife's experience during love making. The hardness of the glans is what rubs the womens g spot causing for many women a much more intense orgasm than a clitoral orgasm. This can be fixed with a little inventiveness, but can still be a concern for some couples. One thing I've heard is doctors tend to be over positive of the outcome. At this point, all of my swelling nad bruising is definetly gone and I feel just fine.
My flacid penis stays at around 4 inches in length all of the time now. The skin on my scrotum shortly after post-op felt thickened and stiff on the implant side of my scrotum. Other men that I've spoken to privately also report that they have this same issue with their scrotal skin, but theirs and my scrotal skin is starting to thin out and feel mostly soft and normal over time. Pumping up the Ultrex started out stiff in the pump bulb, but is gets noticeably softer and easier to pump the more it is used. The relese valve is easy to depress and by squeezing my penis, deflating the penis is quite easy. All in all, I'm very satisfied with my surgical outcome. Now that I'm almost to the point of using the implant, I have to wonder why I waited this long. The erections are firm and natural loking and feel just like I had taken a shot of bimix. My wife has checked out my erection and is excited about giving me a workout next week. I now have the ability to have a rock hard erection at any time and any place I desire. I have no worries about loosing my erection or going soft in the middle of something. I'll try and post pictures next week when I get my doctors ok to pump it up good and hard. I would also encourage anyone who would like to post their pictures to my blog anonymously for all the guys out there lurking, but really need to find out about this procedure, Please send them to me along with your story of living with ED. You would be helping a lot of men by answering the questions honestly about your experiences. I've received anonymous emails from over a dozen guys thanking me for starting this blog and the information on it. But every person has a little different experience. With all the studies out there, their is an awful lot of studies showing over 90% satisfaction rate with penile implants. I've got to believe that some of the guys who are having a bad experience in the beginning of their implant experience will experience changes for the good down the road. Problem is, most of these guys leave who've had positive experiences, and start going about living their lives. They are forgetting the guys who are looking into this method of therapy and desperately need to hear positive messages as well as the negatives outcomes. They really want to hear from you guys. Please send your stories as well as pictures if you have them and are comfortable sharing them and send them to me at bbacon15@mchsi.com . I promise to keep your identity confidential and private. I don't need to know your identity unless you want me to. But I will follow your wishes. I'm not some pervert on the web. I'm just a guy willing to help others out with factual information. Anything posting on my blog site is copyrited under the laws of the United States. Nobody has my permission to repost any and all parts of this blogsite. And that means copying any and all pictures and postings for your own private use., period. This blogsite is printed for information purposes for men and their partners, where the man has long standing Erectal Dysfuntion and is considering a penile prosthesis surgery.
Regards, Bob

Day 4, Post Op Implant surgery

Dear Readers:
I'm copying from a post to me on Yahoo Penile Implant Support website from a man who needs and sincerely wants to have implant surgery. But as you can see and read, he is getting the Royal Runaround from his doctor who happens to be a Urologist. This is awful, but realistically, doctors are gunshy because of law suits. Lawyers are in fierce competition for cases which is income for them. They are doing their jobs. We don't need to change the lawyers, just the criteria for what constitutes a valid suit. Second point is insurance will pay for an implant of anyone who has demonstrated organic impotense. There is no requirement that you have to try everything else first and have it fail before paying for the implant. 3rd point is insurance will pay if you need reimplantation surgery. The facts are penile implant surgery isn't for everybody just as viagra, cialis, caverject, trimix, VED is the perfect answer for every man's impotence. You especially, but also include your partner in on this decision, have to have the last say on what is right for you and for improving and enhancing your sexual experiences. Always get a second opinion if you are unhappy with the first answer you receive from your doctor. And get your second opinion from a doctor that belongs to a different medical group. Don't get stuck with a group opinion. So here below is the post I received.

--- In Impotence_Support@yahoogroups.com, "busyman66204"
wrote:
>
> Hello Bob
>
> Congratulations on the implant, especially the new model.
>
> I saw a Dr. on Tuesday, he is a Urologist, and does these
type
> operations.
> First he told me insurance would not pay for any of this.
> I told him this is not for Sex, or Reproduction, is for impotence,
> and the fact that I can not get an erection is enough.
> He told me this would not satisfy the insurance company.
> I informed him I belong to the "Impotence Support Network"
> and this is what is needed!
>
> He told me every bad thing that can and will happen with the
> operation. All the swelling, PAIN, Time off work. Possibility of
> infection.
> I told him I wanted to go through with the operation.
> He then told me I was right, for "Organic Impotence" insurance
will
> pay.
> But because I am only 43 years old, he had a bad feeling
about
> a future lawsuit and refuses to operate on me.
> He said we live in a "sue happy" Society, and he was not
going
> to take a chance. Also I am to "Young for this operation.
> He refered me to a friend of his, and on the 14th I will see
if
> his friend will help me.
>
> Are you happy with your Dr???
> Do you think he takes Blue Cross/Blue Sheild???
> Was the pain really unbearable???
> As the life of this mechanism is only 12-16 years, does the
> idea of going through this again to replace it, make you shudder?
>
> Thank you for sharing this information!
>
> Sincerely, Busyman

My reply to Busyman

Busyman:

I thought I’d drop you a personal email. I’m going to make a guess that 66204 is your zip code and you live in Overland Park. My doctor’s name is Dr Stephen Weinstein and he is a University of Missouri, Hospitals & Clinics affiliated Urologist and Surgeon here in Columbia, Mo. Dr Weinstein is about 60 years old and I know a lot about his reputation as a surgeon and he is as good as it gets. So if you want to see a Urologist who will do your surgery, I will recommend Dr Weinstein. You are only a 2 hour drive from Columbia. To call for an appointment, you call the Urologic Surgery Clinic at University Hospital at 573-882-1151. From the time I made my first appointment to day of surgery was just 3 weeks. They will schedule you for about a half day to run blood tests, EKG, and an appointment with Dr Weinstein personally and to talk to anesthesiology. He will show you several different implants that are from AMS. He will tell you that they don’t implant Mentor implants. I will tell you that he likes the AMS Ambicor two piece implant. A recent article in the Journal of Urology does show some pretty good numbers for safety and reliability of the Ambicor implant. I chose the AMS 700 Ultrex because it’s numbers are also pretty good as well. The Ultrex expands in girth and in length and takes advantage of expanding your penis to whatever the maximum girth and length your penis can be. Dr Weinstein will leave the decision up to you on which implant you want. The Ultrex that I received, as you know, has a smaller, and more reliable pump revision which has an easier pump mechanism. It’s also has an easier deflation button and is very similar to the pump on the Ambicor. On your day of surgery, you will be prepped, have your surgery, and remain in the hospital overnight,aAnd be discharged the afternoon of the next day. They accept Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurance at University Hospital. This I know from personal experience. The University Hospital is a teaching hospital so Dr Weinstein will do your surgery but will be assisted by one or two of his resident surgeons. I met two, one a woman and one a man who were part of my surgery team. Because AMS sent the wrong implant as AMS overnights them, my surgery was postponed to later that day and the AMS Office in St Louis was called and a surgical rep brought it to Columbia and stayed for and advised Dr Weinstein during my surgery. Dr Weinstein had already done one surgery before I was scheduled for surgery, he then did an infected nephrectomy (kidney removal) that developed complications, and then did my surgery at 7:00 pm and had another surgery scheduled after my surgery which he did. I was amazed when I found this out, but one of the anesthesiologist that I know personally, told me that this isn’t unusual for Dr Weinstein. That he is an amazing surgeon. He did my vasectomy 20 years ago this August, and I mentioned that to him. I asked him how long he planned on doing w2hat he was doing and he told me that he hoped for a good long time. “I love what I’m doing and as long as I’m having fun and feel as good as I am, why retire and go home and rust. This keeps me young”.
Busyman:
Check out my blog. The pictures of my genitals looks awful, but I’m not in pain. Urination is not uncomfortable. As far as anybody at work knows, I’ve had hernia surgery. Having hernia surgery involves the same area of the body. Recovery is the same for both. And there is no embarrassment with hernia surgery. Nobody needs to know your business. I’m taking a chance of everyone finding out about my surgery from my blog online. If they find out, then so what. If Viagra, levitra, cialis and shots aren’t working, then it is time for an implant. If I have to go under the knife to replace my implant, then that’s what I’ll do. Swelling, bruising, oh my. I’ve had more pain with a broken arm. Infection, my implant is coated with antibiotic to reduce the threat of infection. Let’s see a lifetime of no sex or being reimplanted because of infection. I’d like to hear a doctor use the infection argument on me. I’m not afraid to speak my mind to a doctor. I’d walk out and let your insurance company know how dissatisfied you are with this doctor.
Keep in touch with me and let me know how you come out.

Bob

Day of Implant, AMS700 Ultrex with new Pump

Dear Readers

It's Tuesday, May 29, 2007 on or about 9:00 am and I'm at University Hospital in Columbia, Mo and I'm checking into (DOSA) Day of Surgery Admit. I get the paperwork completed, get the wristband, and then am told to wait until about 10:00 am as surgery is running a little behind. At 10:00 am, I am taken in where I get changed into a gown and lines put in. Around 11:00, Dr Weinstein informs me that they had received the wrong implants from AMS on Friday. They had received an AMS Ambicor and a AMS 700 CS, but no AMS 700 Ultrex. I have a couple of choices. He can implant the Ambicor or I can wait and they will have the AMS rep bring one to Columbia from ST Louis, and I'll have my surgery later that afternoon. I decided to stay with my decision to go with the Ultrex implant even with this FU situation. My Dr had the rep called and he started surgery on another patient with an infected kidney removal. The decision is made to move me up to the 7th floor to wait, and wait and wait. Now I haven't had anything to eat since midnight and nothing to drink since 6:00 am. Around 6:30 pm, they finally bring me down for surgery and I wait while they clean up the OR from the last patient, the nephrectomy. I was wheeled in a little after 7:00 pm for surgery. I woke up around 11:00 pm with some pain, but my surgery is over. Most of the pain that I'm feeling is from the catheter. I was later told that for the surgery, they put in a larger catheter, but replace it later with a smaller catheter when the surgery is almost over. It does leave you sore though, and hurts like they're dragging razor blades out through my penis, they finally removed it and I started feeling much better with it out. My penis is really sore when I urinate, but otherwise, I only have a dull aching pain. I got discharged today with a script for percocet and a script for keflex. I didn't have a lot of swelling and black and blueness, but as the day goes by, I'm turning black and blue more and more on the base of my penis and growing into my scrotum. I did learn from my Doctor today that my implant has a new type of pump that Dr Weinstein didn't even know was available yet for the Ultrex. It's smaller by about a third than the old pump pump that was coming out just recently with the AMS 700 series. To deflate the pump, you press on the button for 4 seconds and then release and the implant deflates. It also features an easier pumping mechanism similar to the Albacor pump. He hadn't figured on it even being available for several months from now. The AMS Rep from St Louis brought it down and stayed for my surgery and advised him on this new implant. This morning, one of Dr Weinsteins residents, a women urologist came to my room to deflate my pump all of the way. God did that hurt. She tried to deflate my pump like the older pump as she wasn't familiar with the deflation mechansim. I did get instructions on this new pump with the paperwork I received, and Dr Weinstein deflated by implant all of the way. Now, I'm home sitting with my ice bag in my lap and not moving too fast. The restrictions I received are: no lifting over 20 lbs for two weeks; no driving while on the pain meds; antibiotics every 6 hours for two weeks (keflex); no sitting in a bath, showers with no direct stream of water onto my penis, wash with a mild soap on the incision and pat dry; the stitches are desolving ones; no sex or use of the implant for six weeks. And take off two weeks from work. Thats all for now. I ll add more later.