4 Weeks out & going well!

[Bailey]

Had my surgeon show me how to inflate & deflate yesterday. Everything actually went better than I expected. Cylinders were a little sore the rest of the day, but a couple Tylenol helped with the discomfort. He told me to inflate & deflate twice a day, and keep inflated for 30 minutes. I was able to accomplish both by getting in the shower to soften everything up. Inflation isn’t too hard to do, but deflation is a lot more difficult. Hopefully the very hard pump gets softer in time, as right now it’s really hard to squeeze. Looking forward to trying out my Bionic tool soon. Wish I had gotten implanted years ago. Bailey

[Lost Sheep]

Had my surgeon show me how to inflate & deflate yesterday. Everything actually went better than I expected. Cylinders were a little sore the rest of the day, but a couple Tylenol helped with the discomfort. He told me to inflate & deflate twice a day, and keep inflated for 30 minutes. I was able to accomplish both by getting in the shower to soften everything up. Inflation isn’t too hard to do, but deflation is a lot more difficult. Hopefully the very hard pump gets softer in time, as right now it’s really hard to squeeze. Looking forward to trying out my Bionic tool soon. Wish I had gotten implanted years ago. Bailey

After over 18 months, my cylinders still get a little sore when inflated fully for an extended period of time. But inflated enough for sex there is no discomfort at all.

Pumping up does get easier. Partly because your tissues' swelling will be less after a few more weeks, partly because your tissues will toughen up and partly because your pumping technique will improve as you learn what hand/finger positions work best.

Deflation (for me) is very simple. I just find the deflate button and press until I feel a soft click of the valve flopping over to the deflate position. Partially depressing the deflate button allows letting a little of the fluid out of the implant, thus adjusting the rigidity down if desired. Contrary to what AMS says, the amount of time the button is depressed is not a factor. It is the depth of depressing the button that does the trick (between putting the valve in continuous deflate mode vs letting a little inflation out at a time). Why their instructions are completely wrong is a mystery to me. Perhaps their copy editors do not understand their design engineers or maybe even talk to them.

[Bailey]

Thanks Lost Sheep, Great information, & I appreciate you sharing your experience after 18 months. Bailey

[Evinrude]

Had my surgeon show me how to inflate & deflate yesterday. Everything actually went better than I expected. Cylinders were a little sore the rest of the day, but a couple Tylenol helped with the discomfort. He told me to inflate & deflate twice a day, and keep inflated for 30 minutes. I was able to accomplish both by getting in the shower to soften everything up. Inflation isn’t too hard to do, but deflation is a lot more difficult. Hopefully the very hard pump gets softer in time, as right now it’s really hard to squeeze. Looking forward to trying out my Bionic tool soon. Wish I had gotten implanted years ago.

Sounds good, thanks for update. I was implanted one day after you and doing well also but not so lucky as you on activation time frame.... middle of August for me ! Regardless I have figured it out on my own and had same experience as you with inflation bulb being surprisingly hard to squeeze. Same here on deflation....button hard to find and seems to requires a lot more force to push than I would have expected. Hope I never get arthritis in my fingers !

[Bailey]

Evinrude, Didn’t do well today on activation. I had to call Jamie the AMS representative to walk me through my pump not working properly. She is awesome with helping all us newly implanted guys. If you experience any issues she can & will walk you through it until the problem is resolved. Your so right on about trying to operate the pump if you have arthritis. Hope we never get that. lol Although I did just have carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand. Surgeon told me that wasn’t good timing on my part, but I wanted to get it over with so I could use my right hand on pump. Take care, Bailey

[Bailey]

Evinrude, Didn’t do well today on activation. I had to call Jamie the AMS representative to walk me through my pump not working properly. She is awesome with helping all us newly implanted guys. If you experience any issues she can & will walk you through it until the problem is resolved. Your so right on about trying to operate the pump if you have arthritis. Hope we never come get that. lol Although I did just have carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand. Surgeon told me that wasn’t good timing on my part, but I wanted to get it over with so I could use my right hand on pump. Take care, Bailey

[Evinrude]

Evinrude, Didn’t do well today on activation. I had to call Jamie the AMS representative to walk me through my pump not working properly. She is awesome with helping all us newly implanted guys.

Bailey, now you have me curious as to what exactly was your problem with the pump and what exactly was the cure ? I mean it seems like you squeeze the pump bulb a few times, dick inflates, press the relief valve button (on the block directly above the pump bulb) for 4+ seconds, dick deflates. Apparently it's not that simple all the time...tell me more

[Bailey]

Evinrude, What happened was, when deflating the lock out valve got stuck. Then when trying to inflate the next time the pump bulb is rock hard & won’t depress regardless how hard you squeeze. I called the AMS liaison Jamie who walked me through how to reset the valve. It’s also on a video that AMS provides online. Just google the AMS instructional video and it should pop up. It basically provided the same method to reset valve that Jamie had told me. I personally believe that when I was pushing the deflate button, that I was pushing too far in, & causing it to stay locked in. Hope this helps in explaining what happened to me on my 2nd time trying to activate my new Implant. Of course right away I started getting nervous that I did something to screw up my pump, & will have to have it replaced. Jamie assured me that this happens when your breaking in your new pump. Not sure I’ve given you a very good explanation, but hope I did. This morning I was able to inflate with no trouble other than the pump is really hard to push when inflating, but deflation button is a lot easier to push. Just sometimes hard for me to be sure I’m pushing the right place. lol They say the pump gets softer in time. Sure hope it doesn’t take too long though. Does anyone have an idea how long it takes to soften up? Take Care, Bailey

[Lester33]

Bailey,
Of course I have a Titan but my pump became easier to use fairly quick once starting to cycle also thinking that I probably got comfortable with using it and my sack wasn't as tender. My doctor had me to cycle during a hot shower at first which seemed to help things along. Now it's kind of second nature and seems natural to pump and release but do on occasion still slip and hit one of my balls, just part of it. Hope that helps answer your question.

[oldbeek]

In my early days the pump ball was hard. Think it softened up in about 3 months. I used a 106 degree hot tub to soften mine. That valve lock up happened maybe 4 times. I squeezed the valve block from both ends to release a lock up. Glad you are doing well.