New Penile Implant

This past Thursday I had an AMS 700 LGX penile implant installed.  The surgery was done by Dr. Doug Milam at Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville.  The surgery took a little over two hours.  As expected I have a lot of swelling and have been on pain pills since the surgery.  I have to admit this surgery is worse pain and recovery wise then the Da Vinci I had three years ago.  Dr. Milam does two or three of these implants a week.  I spent one night in the hospital.  Actually, they kept me in a surgical holding room that night because I was released very early the next morning.  I was instructed to stay on my back with my feet above my heart as much as possible for five days and to wear an athletic supporter for the five days.  As you can imagine the penis goes through a lot of trauma in this surgery and healing takes a while.  I have an appointment on the 30th.  I have been instructed to pull down on the pump that is in the scrotum.  My first impression is the pump is bigger then I thought it would be.  Since I am right handed it is located on the right side of my scrotum.  The other surprise was the difficulty in urinating.  Because of the swelling the uretha is compressed and this makes for a small stream and I have irritation from the catheter that I had overnight after the surgery.  All in all I am pleased with my decision and will be glad to answer any questions.

Merry Christmas

Tamu

Tamu, sounds a bit rough there, but hopefully, when the pain and swelling is gone, and its activated, it will be worth it all to you.\ Good luck.

David in SC

Best of luck with the healing. What a nice Christams present after 3 years. Keep us posted some of us may be going the same direction.

Jeff T

Thor,

You should be okay on the ride home as long as you stop a couple of times to go to the bathroom.  They took my catheter out about 5:30 AM the next morning and I was told to push the liquids.  They will not release you until you have urinated a certain amount.  You need to continue to push the liquids.  Hopefully you will not end up with the cartheter irritation I have had which is a lot worse then when I had the catheter in for 13 days after my PCa surgery.  Make sure you take a pain pill just before leaving and perhaps another along the way.  It also helps if you can lean back.  The passenger seat in our car would lean back almost all the way and this helped.  If you wait another day the travel will just be worse on you as the swelling kicks in in the first 24 to 36 hours.  Also, when they tell you to stay off of your feet for five days as much as possible do it.  I had little pain laying down but sitting or standing was a challenge for the first three to four days.  Today I can walk around okay and the swelling is way down and I have only taken a half a pain pill today so it gets better in a hurry.  You will probably be kept in a surgical holding room the night of the surgery.  You should ask for a regular hospital bed as they had me on a gurney until about 9:00 PM which I just could not get comfortable on.  You may have a night nurse named Rosalie.  She is great and trys to help as much as possible.  The only thing I am a little disappointted about is I never saw or spoke to Dr. Milam.  He did talk to my wife and they told me in the surgery room he was coming in to talk to me but the next thing I know I am waking up in recovery.

Good Luck!

Tamu

Congratulations. A friend of mine had an implant, and said the pain was so great he wouldn't have done the procedure had he known that in advance. Another complication was that it failed - and his erection failed to deflate - and his MD office was closed for several days. Every time I hear those funny Cialis commercials about "call your doctor if your erection lasts more than . . . " I think about the now deceased friend and his pump malfunction. Not having an erection for years bothered him to the point he had the surgery, and after the malfunction he had it removed. Be careful what you wish for!

Any particular reason that you had the model installed that you did? I know that AMX has one for patients with Peyronies Disease.

Tamu

Actually it is the one for patients with Peyronies. One of the guys on the PD Forum site was able to regain an inch of length that he had lost due to PD. He was also highly satisfied with Dr Milam.

I suspect that within a year, you will feel that this is the best decision that you ever made. The only negative issue that I have read about with the AMX brand of implants, is that after about 7 or 8 years, you can have tissue growth around the implant tubes. This growth will reduce the effectiveness. But it doesn't happen to every guy.

Good luck

Yes, sorry I meant AMS. Even though I don't have an implant, I belong to the Implant Group on Yahoo besides the Peyronies Disease Forum. I'm strongly considering one after my 12 months of PD has elapsed in June, 2010.

On one of those sites, the advantages/disadvantages of both the AMS and Colorplast implants were discussed. Some medical researcher did a follow-up study of patients to find out how long each one lasted before it had to be replaced. The study reported that a useful life of 8 to 12 years was the norm. That time range was pretty much confirmed by the implant patients on the yahoo group. One guy has had six implants, both brands and issues with both the surgery and equipment.

Anyone interested in an implant should join the yahoo.group. Btw, it has alot of pretty graphic pictures and videos

I looked for the specific Yahoo group, but could not find it. What's the exact name?

The yahoo group is penileimplant@yahoogroups.com.

Update: My penile implant was activated yesterday. The PA deflated what I had from the surgery and then pumped it up. Penile tenderness was minimal but scrotum tenderness was touchy when he did it. He had me do it three times and it was not as bad as when he did it. The pump is actually more difficult to work then I thought but it is getting easier each time I pump it. I was told to pump it up and deflate it two to three times a day and leave it pumped up about two minutes each time. I have pumped it up about four times since leaving the clinic. I am able to pump a little more before the tenderness gets a little touchy. The only place I feel tender is right at the head of my penis. The PA measured my length and it was right at 5 inches. He said I was a little longer then most of the men with penile implants at this stage but he said I was left pumped up more after surgery then normal. He tolds me over the next 6 months I will gain length and girth and how much depends upon how many times I pump it up. When pumped up I am definitely more firmer then I ever was with injections. Also, I have more girth now then I ever had with injections. So, I am happy with the results and look forward to enjoying sex again.

Tamu

Gene214,

He pressed to the pubic bone just like you described.

Tamu

Has anyone had experience with the malleable (bendable) implant? my husband is getting that procedure done this week -- any info would help. also -- i am having trouble finding the yahoo group -- any advice how to join that?