Pump it up!

I’m halfway through week four since my surgery. The incision located at the top front of my scrotum is completely healed. It looks kinda gnarly and is proving to make shaving my balls extra challenging, but it’s healed nonetheless. Yeah, I shave my balls, primarily cause my wife first shaved them years ago and I’ve been doing it about every other day since. So I’m a little over the top. Then again, most of us who choose to have a prosthesis stuffed inside our dicks probably fall in that category, wouldn’t you say?

I still have a fair amount of discomfort, mainly when I put underwear and pants on. However, it’s subsiding. Either that or I’m getting accustomed to it. I suspect it’s probably a combination of the two. And oh, I almost forget: about pumping it up for the first time.

I waited nearly the full three weeks before taking matters into hand. Truth is, I was a little chicken that it wouldn’t work, or that I wouldn’t be able to get the blasted thing to deflate. I had nearly pumped it up the day after my two-week check up, but I couldn’t seem to get my fingers on the release valve, not to my satisfaction anyway. Go figure: I have balls enough to undergo a penile implant, but not enough to activate it without being reasonably certain I could undo it.

A few days past. I was alone in bed with plenty of private time to thoroughly feel around to check things out. It turns out the pump was not oriented quite the way the doc had indicated. The pump was not sitting upright in my scrotum so consequently the release valve was not located at the top of my scrotum where I had expected to find it. Rather, the pump was twisted a bit and tilted backward so that the release valve was located more toward the back of my scrotum. I figured this out simply by feeling around until I found the two flat surfaces of the valve.

The bulb of the pump was a cinch to find as it is up front and center just below the base of my penis. So I took hold of it and squeezed. I was surprised that it did not seem to compress much at all. But when I released it, I could feel/hear fluid rushing into it. I squeezed again, then again and sure enough, my penis began to stiffen. It would have been cool, really cool if it had begun to get longer and longer (every man’s dream), but I knew that would not be the case. It did get somewhat longer, but mostly it just became erect.

I pumped until I could no longer feel fluid refill the bulb when I released it. Suddenly there I was laying on my back with my penis standing straight up toward the ceiling. Ya gotta love hydraulics! I was happy, no, relieved is a better word. I was relieved that my penis, though not as long as it had once been, was standing at attention with a degree of rigidity I knew would be sufficient to have intercourse. Apart from that nagging size issue that we’ll address in more detail later, seeing the proof that I could achieve and maintain an erection with regularity gave me a feeling of satisfaction, and, if you will, male empowerment that I had not experienced in many years.

The instructions on the card attached to my sample pump suggest that one squeeze of the release valve, with thumb and forefinger positioned on either side, is enough to allow fluid to drain out of the penis and back into the reservoir located in my abdomen. I’m wondering if one needs to be in a reclining position for this to happen (if standing, the fluid would need to defy gravity and run uphill). We’ll test that out later.

The instructions also state that for faster deflation, one can gently squeeze the penis with the other hand to force the fluid back into the reservoir. That’s the route I took. I was surprised that there was very little give to the valve when I squeezed, but nevertheless it worked and my penis returned to its semi flaccid state. After that I pumped it up again and released it again. By then the little guy was aching pretty good, so I decided it was time to give him a rest. I remember thinking as I drifted off to sleep that had my wife and I attempted sex, the ache would have been enough to make it a less than pleasurable experience. Fortunately, I knew that would not always be the case.

To pump or not to pump

During my first two weeks after surgery I was careful not to play with “things” down there. Oh sure, I gingerly felt around in my scrotum now and then—sure enough, it felt as if I now had three testicles in there. That was kind of a weird feeling at first. Other than gently washing with soap and water in the shower beginning a few days after surgery, that was about it. I didn’t want to compromise my incision in any way, and I also had read a few accounts from men who had created problems by pumping themselves up too soon.

I expected that my 2-week post-op with my doctor would include a trial run to ensure the device was working properly. On one hand I was looking forward to it, and yet on the other hand I wasn’t. I had read that the first few times are painful. During my visit, Dr. Kramer put the gloves on, felt around and pushed and pulled here and there. But then he commented that he wasn’t going to pump me up because it would hurt and there was no point in that. He did give the pump one squeeze, enough to verify that it was working.

Afterward he gave me a model of the pump that he had implanted inside my scrotum. It is larger than I expected. I’ve posted a photo of the model alongside a tape measure to give you an idea of its size. The ring you see at the top is not part of the pump as implanted. It holds a laminated card on which are printed directions on how to use the pump. You firmly squeeze the bulb a number of times to inflate the penis. When you wish to deflate the penis, you squeeze together the two flat areas on the T that is located above the bulb. Some pumps I am told require you to continue to squeeze until the penis deflates. On mine, one squeeze is sufficient.

Obviously I’ll be able to post more about this process once I actually do the deed. The doc advised to give it another week before doing it, and another three weeks or so before attempting sexual activity. He said the average is about 5 weeks after surgery. Trying to have sex before that, he advised, often results in more discomfort than it’s worth. Well, I guess that’s a matter of opinion, huh. LOL.

2 weeks out

On Thursday I had a 2-week follow-up with Dr. Kramer. The good news is all seems to be mending well with my penile implant. One of the primary concerns with implanting a penile prosthesis is the onset of infection. Obviously precautions are taken to prevent this during surgery, and the device itself of course is kept sterile until the time of implant. Even so, infection still sets in about 3% of the time. It’s reportedly more likely to occur in diabetics, which happily, I am not. The fix for this unfortunately is complete removal of the device, because apparently a biofilm can form around it that can harbor and protect bacteria, making antibiotic treatments ineffective.

During my overnight stay in the hospital after having my penile prosthesis implanted, I received an antibiotic intravenously and then was prescribed a week’s worth of an antibiotic to be taken orally. This is pretty much standard preventative procedure. I was happy to hear that Dr. Kramer detected no signs of infection during his examination. He advised me that normally we would know by now if there was going to be a problem, so hopefully that’s the end of infection concerns.

My incision is pretty much healed, swelling has gone down considerably and bruising is now entirely gone. I do have a bit of a hematoma in the scrotum, but that will dissipate with time. That said however, I still experience a fair amount of discomfort. The thing is, even in the flaccid state, a penis with a prosthesis will feel stiffer than it did before the implant. The days of the little guy playing Mr. Turtle are definitely over. And there won't be much shrinkage in cold water. LOL.

At any rate, this results in feeling sorta like having a constant erection. As any guy knows, after a while, a penis that is erect for an extended period of time begins to ache. This is similar to what I feel. And because my penis is now stiffer than before, I need to wear underwear to keep the head of my penis from rubbing against the inside of my trousers, which is extremely irritating. Men who have not been circumcised probably would not encounter this situation. Yet when I wear jockey style underwear, it feels akin to rolling over on your stomach when you have an erection. Ouch.

My solution while around the house is to wear loose fitting lounging pants with no underwear. I’ve also been sleeping that way. It’s not horrible, but because there is no real relief from this discomfort, it does tend to wear on you after a while. From what I know based on experience from other men, this discomfort will be with me for a while but will gradually fade over the coming months. In fact, the University of Maryland Medical Center recently posted a testimonial video on their Urology page, in which a penile implant patient mentions a similar experience during recovery. Here's a link to that video:

Penile Implant Testimonial

The long and short of it is the discomfort doesn’t come as a total surprise. I figure I will deal with it and move on. I’m sure men who get a penile implant have somewhat varying experiences regarding recovery and in eventual use, but according to WebMD, upwards of 90% of them are glad they had it done. That makes me feel pretty good despite the discomfort.