Young Patient Journal - Titan Classic with Dr. Clavell
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2025 4:09 pm
Hi guys,
I'm 27 and I have been dealing with ED for 11 years. I'm currently single, primarily due do this issue. This past Tuesday, after having tried every conceivable treatment under the sun, conventional and alternative, I received a Titan Classic (21 CM, no RTEs) penile implant by Dr. Clavell in Houston. I ended up choosing this implant model and doctor after a number of months spent analyzing my options. Special thanks to FT member sambalamba here, as my discussions with him were crucial to making a choice.
Other than Clavell, I had appointments with Dr. Eid and Dr. Hakky. They are both excellent doctors, and extremely personable. What turned me off from Hakky is that when he does penoscrotal incisions (which is the modality I wanted) he does them as horizontal incisions instead of vertical ones along the natural midline of the scrotum. This scar would obviously be more noticeable, and I don't want a noticeable scar on my scrotum when that can easily be avoided. Dr. Eid was my first choice since I formally got diagnosed by him in 2020, but I was unconvinced about the benefits of spinal anesthesia vs general, apprehensive about the trauma of a catheter, and very skeptical of the safety of getting into a tub of water on only the third day after surgery. He is also getting up there in age, and it would be nice to have a doctor I can go back to when I need a revision. For these and a few other reasons, I chose Clavell.
There's a lot of debate here around the pros and cons of choosing an implant model, so on that topic, I'll just say I went in with an open mind between the AMS CX and Titan Classic/OTR, learned everything I could about them, and decided that the Titan Classic was the best option.
Journal:
Day 0
Woke up from surgery with 5/10 pain. Had morphine and oxycontin administered and it came down to 2/10. I was rolled to recovery where I was encouraged to stand up and pee. Definitely get help to sit up. You don't want to strain your abdomen because you could migrate/herniate the reservoir. Have someone push on your back from behind. I stood up, dizzily walked around and thankfully managed to pee into a receptacle. That meant I would not need to get catheterized and I could go home.
Clavell's post-op instructions say he wants you moving around as much as possible. Got home and alternated between walking around a little bit and lying down. I had some pain in my abdomen and noticed a bump there, where the reservoir would be. I sent Clavell some pictures, worried that it might have herniated or migrated, and he was able to confirm that it hadn't and looked normal. That set my mind at ease, although along with the risk of infection, it has been a constant concern of mine for the past few days.
Note: the reservoir can be placed in the Retzius space (sort of behind your pelvic bone), or ectopically under your abdomen muscles. There are pros and cons to each which you can read about, but one of the cons of ectopic placement is that the reservoir is more palpable to touch. Dr. Clavell does ectopic placement and I can definitely feel mine by pressing my stomach. I'm not sure how much of an issue this will be in terms of keeping the whole thing concealed through hook ups and so on, but I'm not worrying about it too much right now. Just something to consider. Dr. Hakky, on the other hand, does placement in the Retzius space, but then again he'll leave you with a sideways scar on your scrotum. I'm not sure what Dr. Eid does. I'm not sure if any of them are flexible in doing alternate placements - you'd have to ask them.
Day 1
Didn't get much sleep. Taking antibiotics like clockwork and pain meds (tylenol and ketorolac) as needed. Rolling out of bed is the hardest thing for me right now. Using my abdomen hurts, and I try to avoid it as much as possible. I felt frustrated because I needed to have a bowel movement but couldn't strain. I took some stool softeners. Was finally able to go. I recommend taking them starting on the night of day 0, or on day 1. Dr. Clavell said it was ok to take them.
Throughout the day, I'm icing the area. It's not really feasible to ice the scrotum and penis because of the bandages, so I'm mostly icing the lower abdomen which has a lot of swelling due to the reservoir placement.
Note: having one of those receptacles to pee in is key in the early days.
Day 2
Pain comes and goes, nothing over a 5/10 before I take pain meds though. Overall the recovery isn't too bad. Finally I'm able to take a shower. I take the bandages off and my dick looks like it stepped on a landmine. Penis has edema, is curved downward, snake eyes on the head, also bruised along the shaft. The hunchback of notre dick. My balls are very swollen, sporting a gnarly sunken incision down the middle of it. Incision looks clean though.
In the shower, I rinse the incision area and gently move my soap-lathered fingers over the incision, then rinse again. In retrospect, don't directly wet the area, but rather let water trickle over it indirectly instead. The incision is spotting blood a little bit. I let Dr. Clavell know and he says this is normal.
Day 3
Uneventful. Another shower (incision is still spotting blood on the towel). More pain management, icing, etc. It's getting easier/hurts less in the abdomen to get out of bed.
Day 4
The day I'm writing this. Today, for the first time, I haven't felt like I need to take pills to manage the pain. Discomfort in abdomen from getting out of bed is down. For the past few days, I have been walking with the swinging gait of an orangutan to avoid squishing my balls between my legs. As the pain subsides, I'm slowly evolving back into homo sapiens.
Mentally, this has been easier to deal with so far than I expected. I haven't had any of the "what have I done" thoughts that you sometimes read about on FT, and I'm trying to understand all the pains and bumps as temporary parts of the healing process. I am inflated to 60% and I can visually tell I have lost some size, but I trust I can get all or most of it back in time.
I will continue to provide updates as time goes on.
I'm 27 and I have been dealing with ED for 11 years. I'm currently single, primarily due do this issue. This past Tuesday, after having tried every conceivable treatment under the sun, conventional and alternative, I received a Titan Classic (21 CM, no RTEs) penile implant by Dr. Clavell in Houston. I ended up choosing this implant model and doctor after a number of months spent analyzing my options. Special thanks to FT member sambalamba here, as my discussions with him were crucial to making a choice.
Other than Clavell, I had appointments with Dr. Eid and Dr. Hakky. They are both excellent doctors, and extremely personable. What turned me off from Hakky is that when he does penoscrotal incisions (which is the modality I wanted) he does them as horizontal incisions instead of vertical ones along the natural midline of the scrotum. This scar would obviously be more noticeable, and I don't want a noticeable scar on my scrotum when that can easily be avoided. Dr. Eid was my first choice since I formally got diagnosed by him in 2020, but I was unconvinced about the benefits of spinal anesthesia vs general, apprehensive about the trauma of a catheter, and very skeptical of the safety of getting into a tub of water on only the third day after surgery. He is also getting up there in age, and it would be nice to have a doctor I can go back to when I need a revision. For these and a few other reasons, I chose Clavell.
There's a lot of debate here around the pros and cons of choosing an implant model, so on that topic, I'll just say I went in with an open mind between the AMS CX and Titan Classic/OTR, learned everything I could about them, and decided that the Titan Classic was the best option.
Journal:
Day 0
Woke up from surgery with 5/10 pain. Had morphine and oxycontin administered and it came down to 2/10. I was rolled to recovery where I was encouraged to stand up and pee. Definitely get help to sit up. You don't want to strain your abdomen because you could migrate/herniate the reservoir. Have someone push on your back from behind. I stood up, dizzily walked around and thankfully managed to pee into a receptacle. That meant I would not need to get catheterized and I could go home.
Clavell's post-op instructions say he wants you moving around as much as possible. Got home and alternated between walking around a little bit and lying down. I had some pain in my abdomen and noticed a bump there, where the reservoir would be. I sent Clavell some pictures, worried that it might have herniated or migrated, and he was able to confirm that it hadn't and looked normal. That set my mind at ease, although along with the risk of infection, it has been a constant concern of mine for the past few days.
Note: the reservoir can be placed in the Retzius space (sort of behind your pelvic bone), or ectopically under your abdomen muscles. There are pros and cons to each which you can read about, but one of the cons of ectopic placement is that the reservoir is more palpable to touch. Dr. Clavell does ectopic placement and I can definitely feel mine by pressing my stomach. I'm not sure how much of an issue this will be in terms of keeping the whole thing concealed through hook ups and so on, but I'm not worrying about it too much right now. Just something to consider. Dr. Hakky, on the other hand, does placement in the Retzius space, but then again he'll leave you with a sideways scar on your scrotum. I'm not sure what Dr. Eid does. I'm not sure if any of them are flexible in doing alternate placements - you'd have to ask them.
Day 1
Didn't get much sleep. Taking antibiotics like clockwork and pain meds (tylenol and ketorolac) as needed. Rolling out of bed is the hardest thing for me right now. Using my abdomen hurts, and I try to avoid it as much as possible. I felt frustrated because I needed to have a bowel movement but couldn't strain. I took some stool softeners. Was finally able to go. I recommend taking them starting on the night of day 0, or on day 1. Dr. Clavell said it was ok to take them.
Throughout the day, I'm icing the area. It's not really feasible to ice the scrotum and penis because of the bandages, so I'm mostly icing the lower abdomen which has a lot of swelling due to the reservoir placement.
Note: having one of those receptacles to pee in is key in the early days.
Day 2
Pain comes and goes, nothing over a 5/10 before I take pain meds though. Overall the recovery isn't too bad. Finally I'm able to take a shower. I take the bandages off and my dick looks like it stepped on a landmine. Penis has edema, is curved downward, snake eyes on the head, also bruised along the shaft. The hunchback of notre dick. My balls are very swollen, sporting a gnarly sunken incision down the middle of it. Incision looks clean though.
In the shower, I rinse the incision area and gently move my soap-lathered fingers over the incision, then rinse again. In retrospect, don't directly wet the area, but rather let water trickle over it indirectly instead. The incision is spotting blood a little bit. I let Dr. Clavell know and he says this is normal.
Day 3
Uneventful. Another shower (incision is still spotting blood on the towel). More pain management, icing, etc. It's getting easier/hurts less in the abdomen to get out of bed.
Day 4
The day I'm writing this. Today, for the first time, I haven't felt like I need to take pills to manage the pain. Discomfort in abdomen from getting out of bed is down. For the past few days, I have been walking with the swinging gait of an orangutan to avoid squishing my balls between my legs. As the pain subsides, I'm slowly evolving back into homo sapiens.
Mentally, this has been easier to deal with so far than I expected. I haven't had any of the "what have I done" thoughts that you sometimes read about on FT, and I'm trying to understand all the pains and bumps as temporary parts of the healing process. I am inflated to 60% and I can visually tell I have lost some size, but I trust I can get all or most of it back in time.
I will continue to provide updates as time goes on.
