Week 4 and I Still can’t find the deflate button!!!!!!!

Second visit to the nurse in London and I still cannot find that deflate button, at least not on my own.  It feels like it is enclosed in a lot of mush as does the whole pump mechanism and although I think I can occasionally find it, I cannot activate it at all.  The inflate is a bit easier, it’s much bigger obviously and although a slippery little thing I can with a bit of effort sort of inflate it some and I am sure that will become easier.  I think at the moment I spend so much time trying to find it that I make matters worse by causing a bit of swelling etc.

The nurse inflated and deflated without any problem and it was defiantly less painful than two weeks ago.  She has said not to worry, that I am still healing and although I cannot see it there is still some internal swelling.  As you can tell I am a somewhat impatient person.  Back to see her in 2 weeks.

On a positive note the pain and discomfort does seem to be going.  The wound is healed and the stitches have almost gone, maybe one/two left.  The wound is still tender and a bit sore and it does feel bulky however sitting is not problem at all now, driving is fine and I am back to walking 2/3 miles a day.  Yesterday I went into work and all was fine, dinner out on the way home and no problems. 

All in all I am getting there.  Once again it is time!!!

Cheers for now.

Dave

Day 24

I’ve included a couple of pictures today so that you can see how it’s going so far.

 

Not looking too bad now - brusing all gone

Hair growing back slowly
Still a slight bend but that should go over time

Stitches still not gone yet - grrr!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Inflate progress is slow, although the inflate button is obvious now (especially when I am in the bath) I have still not managed to find that deflate button.  I was not given anything, key-ring or otherwise to give me any clues where it was either when I left hospital so I am trying to find it from looking at pictures.  I could be wrong but I have an idea that it may be behind the incision and as you know that is still to painful to touch.  Perhaps when I see the urology nurse in London on Wednesday she can shed some light on it, after all both the surgeon and the nurse have found it and used it in the past so it has to be there somewhere!!!

I am still experiencing some pain – more soreness than pain.  It’s similar to the feeling that I had when it was first cycled.  My penis is also occasionally numb, sometimes cold and is always very firm to touch.  From reading the experiences of others on Frank Talk it would seem that everyone recovers at a different rate and that hopefully all of this should change with time.  I do however have one particular spot that is really uncomfortable and it seems to be coming from the skin over one of the corners of the deflate block, right hand side to be precise.

 

The really sore bit is right under the fold

Still as they say “no pain, no gain!!!!!

Urology London Nurse - Wed 21 Aug

Meeting Contact from Blog - Sat 24 Aug

All the best

Dave

Week 3 - Day 22

Good news from the nurse - seems like the wound has dried up now and is healing.  Bad news – iodine burns!!! Or at least that’s what it looks like to me. I now have one red raw and very sore scrotum.

I am bathing now, whereas before I was just showering.  Bit of a soak later and I will feel much better.

In no particular order - things that have kept me going:-

Warm Baths

Painkillers

The odd beer or two

Sitting with my feet up

Being waited on

I’ll add to the list as appropriate <grin>

A bit more good news - from this blog I have had someone contact me who is also from the UK.  He has also had an implant and we are going to try and arrange a pint or two.  It will be so good to have someone else to chat to who has been through a similar experience.

Cheers for now

Dave

Day 21

Well the plan to be more comfortable during the night never really worked.  I tried everything I could think of (including a sock over it).  The sock admittedly did work the best of all and did stop the pain of rubbing but because the implant still has a tendency to inflate slightly from time to time there is still a bit of discomfort.  Now however the hair is growing back and it seems to have mostly got past the stubble phase so with a couple of ibuprofen it’s back to a happy nights sleep.

I think I said earlier that the wound was not healing as quickly as I expected and to quote my local nurse “it was a bit moist”.  Her solution to dry the wound, an iodine soaked pad held in place with a wound dressing.  “Might sting a bit” she said.  Sting wasn’t the word for it, it was agony!!!!  I lasted two day and could not stand it anymore.  But to give her her due it does seems to have worked and although sore as far as I can tell does not seem to be “moist”.  I am back to see her later today. Let’s see what she says.

It would be good to get the wound sorted and for the stitches to dissolve – yes they are still there, but hopefully not for too much longer.  I am still a bit too wary to search for the deflate button, the inflate I can find and feel without any problem at all the deflate is a different matter.  The whole pump seems to be back quite a long way and quite deep so I’m still going to leave it alone. Don’t want to inflate and not be able to get it down again.

As far a size goes I am pretty happy.  After the pc surgery I did lose quite a bit of both flaccid and pumped erect length.  Although I haven’t bothered to measure it since surgery there is a big improvement in both flaccid length and girth.  My penis now seems to fit my body again which is what I wanted.  Erect length and girth is less but as with everything time will tell – eventually when I manage to inflate and deflate my self I’ll post a few pictures.

Overall I’m still pleased with how it’s going, although patience is not one of my strong points.  I did think I would be pain free by now but I am afraid that is not the case but it has only been 3 short weeks.  I am not back at work full-time yet but I am defiantly not sitting around (can’t afford to I have already put on 7 pounds in weight).  In fact we even managed a 4 mile walk two days ago albeit with a couple of breaks.

 
The appointment in London with the hospital nurse is the 21 August.

Cheers for now
Dave

Day 17

Just a couple of pictures to show you my progress.

As you can see bruising is all but gone now as well as the external swelling (I think).  Now to find and get to grips with that pump…..

 

Pain during the day is more than bearable.  During the night it’s a different matter.  So we are off to the shops today to see if we can come up with some ingenious idea to make sleeping more comfortable.

Normally I sleep nude, always have.  Since surgery as suggested I have tried to support and keep everything in place which initially made it more comfortable.  However as the hair has started to grow back it is becoming increasingly painful to the point of keeping me awake most of the night.  Let me tell you stubble and on edge nerves do not mix!!! I know shaving might help but even though I like to keep everything trimmed I do not want the shaved look.

If we can formulate something that is comfortable I will take a couple of photos.  Watch this space!!!

Dave

Day 16

All seems to be calm and moving along nicely so not too much to write.  I do have a dressing on the wound site at the moment because there is one spot which does not seem to want to heal.  Perhaps it is where the texture of the skin is different and there is naturally more movement.  Besides, the stitches have still not dissolved and I am sure they are still there for a reason.

There is some pain but again today it is different to yesterday and the day before, in fact it changes daily. There seems to be some shifting about of the pain and it is definitely worse at night (I tend to sleep on my stomach) and the pain wakes me.  Sometimes I get twinges in the head, sometimes in the shaft but strangely not in my scrotum.  One other thing I have noticed is that both my penis and scrotum seem to react to differences in temperature more than before, perhaps it’s the nerves changing and repairing, again time will tell.  One good thing this morning, the numbness I had in the shaft and on my stomach is going.

The thing that has become my best friend by far is a soak in the bath.  Everything loosens, the pain goes and its bliss, however I am still to locate and have a play with the pump and deflate when it is loose.  The wound not healing is making me a bit wary just in case I make matters worse so I might leave that for a few more days until it has healed some.

I am planning on going back to work on Monday, a few hours a day to start and see how it goes.

Back to see the nurse of pain on the 21 August for me to attempt to inflate and deflate.

Anyway I will write more with a few pictures way before then.

Cheers for now.

Dave

Day 14 - "Cycling"

Apart from being one of the most uncomfortable, no painful experiences of this whole process the visit to the nurse yesterday was pretty uneventful!!!

I’m not to sure what I expected but I will try and explain.

First off she checked I was ok and whether I had had any problems.  She had a check of the wound and said it was healing nicely – phew!  I was a bit unsure.

Now to the “cycling”.  First off she located the pump. I had done as I was told and not gone anywhere near it. So I was surprised at how much higher it was, sort of between, behind and above the boys, if that makes sense.  Anyway she located the pump and a few squeezes and a feeling like someone was stabbing me with a needle in my scrotum (pretty sure I swore at some point), I was hard.  She checked all was ok and said that I should get additional natural engorgement of the shaft and head with time.  I knew that I would never be the size I was prior to my Prostate Surgery but I have to admit to being very pleased with the result, both flaccid and erect.

The AMS Implant - Pump and Release Mechanism at the bottom of the image

Now to deflate.  She pushed further back into my scrotum, located the button and with the same needle in the scrotum feeling and a squeeze of the shaft it deflated.

She said there was still some swelling around the pump but I could have a go.  I eventually located the pump but couldn’t get enough grip to do too much, although I did manage to inflate it a bit.  By now the pain was becoming a bit too much and no matter how much I rummaged about I could not find the deflate button.

 

Bruising almost gone



External swelling almost gone

 

The nurse having deflated it for me suggested coming back in two weeks time - after all she said, 10 days was not very long - when the swelling had gone down some more.  In the meantime she said, while I was in the bath to see if I could locate the parts of the pump.

 

I hope the stabbing feeling goes, which I am sure with time it will, eventuallly.  Next time I am taking some pain killers before I go in!!!!!