, I thought it is time:In general after 3.5 months:
- Level of satisfaction: very satisfied.
- Sex life after implant: awesome. I'll be happy to answer any specifics about sex through PMs.
- Ease of inflation: manageable and getting better by the day. The pump is still stiff, but much better than at activation time.
- Length/girth: regained all lost length and girth with aggressive daily cycling. It went from 4.75" post activation at 3 weeks to 6.25" at 3.5 months post-op.
- Pain/discomfort: some discomfort at full inflation but it is getting better by the day. No pain.
- Sensation: getting better by the day. May be 80% close to when I was before ED became really bad.
- Pointing angle: with daily cycling and taping my penis upward, I went from 4-4:30 to 3-3:30 and getting better.
Journey with ED: my cause of ED is quite different than the majority of the people here. I suffered from ED for the most of my adult life. Most of the doctors initially dismissed it as "psychological and all in head". Not until one of doctors dug deeper and I was diagnosed with secondary hypogonadism which meant that the pituitary gland in the brain has a benign tumor and it does not send enough signal to the testes to make enough Testosterone. Also, that increased another hormone called "Prolactin". With increased Prolactin and decreased Testosterone then you've a disaster in the form of ED and low libido. Long story short, I'm in long term medication to keep prolactin down and on Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT). My ED is still there as with TRT, you get fluctuations of Estrogen which messes up the whole hormonal balance. Anyway, I tried all ED medications, injections which worked for a while then stopped. Tried herbs, acupuncture, waster of money. So it was time to take a decisive decision.
Choosing the doctor: I searched around and found that Dr. Rapoport in Vancouver does quite a bit of implant volume both as private practice as well as part of the public health care system in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Also he has a specialization in "reconstructive surgery" for the urinary system and he seemed to be the one who fixes what other Urologists poached in Western Canada. I contacted his office and they asked for a referral from my family doctor. Once they got the referral, I can't remember exactly but it was like 2 months to see him. I flew to Vancouver and saw him. Dr. Rapoport is super nice and personable. He performed thorough examination and after looking at my medical records, he decided that I'm a candidate for the implant. His office processed the paperwork to get it approved by the public health system and a surgery was scheduled like 8 months later.
Surgery Day: my surgery was at the Richmond Hospital south of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I had to fly in the day before to have the pre-op at the hospital. The following day, my surgery was scheduled for 7:30 am, so I had to be at the hospital like 5:30 am. Prior to the surgery, Dr. Rapoport came to me with his senior Urology resident Dr.Locke and talked to me. I was pretty nervous, but he was comforting. My understanding is that the surgery took just over an hour so it was a quick one. I woke up in the recovery room. To my surprise, I had no catheter or drainage tube. Dr. Rapoport stopped by and he told me that the surgery went very well and that "I'll be very happy". I asked him about the catheter and drainage tube, he said that he always prefer not to use them to minimize infection entry points. I stayed at the hospital over night and released the following day.
Healing: following the surgery, like many people experienced, my scortum was in the size of a grape fruit. Also, the swelling/bruising was extending to the penis shaft and the pubic area. Stayed at a nearby hotel for 2 nights, then flew back home. The trip home was horrific due to the long walking in the airport. When we arrived, I had to ask for a wheel chair to take me out. For the first week at home, I slept in a lazy-boy, used lots of ice, Tylenol, anti-inflammatory. Improvement in swelling and bruising started to show after day 10 post-op. I tried to self-activate starting at day 15 post-op and could not due to the
Activation and beyond: at the 3 week mark, I flew and saw Dr. Rapoport for activation. He deflated the device which was left at like 15% then inflated it. I was not happy with the size at the time, but the Dr. was focusing on the "teaching" and assure me that with proper cycling/pumping "things can only get better from here".
Cycling: I'm religiously on a twice a day inflation/cycling. I use some of the stretching techniques that Donnie has detailed in his posts (Thank you Donnie, you're my hero). This routine took me from 4.75" penis length at activation to 6.25" now (3.5 months later).
Challenges along the way: a couple of things:
- I guess I tried to have sex earlier against my doctor's advice before my incision was completely healed and ended up with staph infection. I was lucky that it was caught early while it was in the skin and was treated with strong antibiotics. My advice, never try to have sex and exercise extreme hygiene measures up until 8 weeks regardless of how great you feel.
- I was frustrated and depressed post-activation for the size and the difficulty in inflation. With daily cycling and the support of the great people on this forum, it got better by the day and life is great now
.At the end of the day, having an implant is a journey that you need to work hard at it. It is not an on/off switch. Below is the finished product at 3.5 months post-op
- Capture1.JPG (40.43 KiB) Viewed 2286 times
Thank you for everyone's support here. I would not have made it through without you. God bless you all.
Matt
