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I recently got health insurance with BCBS through the contracting company I was working for. The urologist ran it through to have my implant replaced and hey got a verbal approval. But they will not give any authorization number. They said after the surgery they accept the claim and tell what they cover. I though that was strange cause I've never seen that but I was told that happens with some insurance companies. Now I'm waiting for the insurance dept at the urologist to call me and say if I need to pay anything out of pocket. I'm scheduled for March 10th for the surgery. And like my last one the health insurance requires it to be done at the hospital which is fine with me.

I'll keep you posted with updates.

That is the same load of crap United Healthcare told me for 5 years. Doctor said as long as they stated it was a covered code, go for it. d

I had to postpone mine for three weeks for exactly the same reason. They said that if I wanted to, I could go with it anyway, but if it is rejected (it seldom is), I would be responsible for the entire amount; which for me was $40,000.00. I decided to lean to the conservative and wait. It was aggravating, but I would still recommend that route.

When should someone stop pumping the bulb? Is there a maximum stiff pumps you can do? I have the coloplast touch!

I have a Coloplast. My bulb goes flat around 36 pumps so I cannot pump more if I wanted to (which I would). Pump to the hardness you need or till you cannot take any m0re pain. d

"My bulb goes flat around 36 pumps so I cannot pump more if I wanted to (which I would)".

The same thing happened to me after my second implant. It turned out the doctor had used a reservoir that was too small that didn't hold enough saline solution for complete inflation. That meant another surgery to install the correct one, but it was worth it. I suspect you have this problem. In short, your surgeon screwed up.

If I were you , I would get a second opinion about the fact that your implant has failed. What evidence did you doc use to determine that your implant had air in it? I have a complete AMS 700 sample that I have played with so that I can understand it. I am in the hydraulic repair business so I understand the principles of it's operation. What I have discovered is that when the shuttle valve sticks, a hard squeeze can force liquid around the valve and with the valve in that position, the bulb will stay flat (deflated). If you push the deflate button the flow will fill the bulb back up, which sounds like your description. If that is the case, the fix is to get the "POP". It is similar to a new implant that is hard to work as your lack of use likely caused the spool on the valve to stick. Try alternating between a hard push on the deflate button and a quick hard stab at the bulb. Do that back and forth until you get it to pop and it should work.

You should be able to prove whether or not there is air in the system by hitting the deflate button. If it fill s and is hard to squeeze as you push it flat then there is still saline in your system.

best of luck to you