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Posted 3/27/2011 5:23 PM (GMT 0)
Today marks a milestone for me and I couldn't help but share.  For the first time since my surgery I obtained a natural and full blown erection without using an injection!  I'm thrilled to death!

Dealing with impotency has been quite an ordeal for me.  Although I'm not counting on this happening regularly at this point, I am so very happy that some of my manhood has returned. 

It has been a litttle over seven months since my surgery.  My doctor told me it would take a minimum of six months and as much as two years.  I feel very lucky and fortunate today.  Truly, I had given up with the pump and the Cialis and had been using the injections with limited success.  In that regard, I have made one observation that for some my be very important in the "performance" area whether with or without aids.  Alcohol consumption definitely affects negatively any drugs (whether oral, inserted or injected) that may be used to obtain and sustain an erection.  I wasn't sure of the relationship and could never figure out why one time the injections would work but other times it wouldn't.  I am certain it was the ETOH.

Now, if I can get some more zeros under my belt and avoid SRT, that will be even better.  Next PSA is next week.  Keeping my fingers crossed for more good luck.

 

Posted 3/27/2011 5:41 PM (GMT 0)
Congratulations, AJ!  My surgery was 10 days after yours, and Junior is still AWOL around here.  He's sadly missed and we're hoping he'll return.  Maybe he's out looking for that nerve bundle that went away.

I can understand why you're so thrilled, and let's hope this becomes a regular thing for you.  Good luck, too, with next week's PSA.

Bill

 

Post Edited (clocknut) : 3/27/2011 11:55:27 AM (GMT-6)

Posted 3/27/2011 5:44 PM (GMT 0)
Congrats on that natural wood, that should convince you that it still can work on its own. Also, good luck on your upcoming PSA test.

David
Posted 3/27/2011 7:47 PM (GMT 0)
AJ - congrats on the natural wood ( or would that be green wood - with no additives?)

It is my understanding from some of the research I have done on Trimix - that it can jumpstart some of the natural reaction that the pills can't - a lot of it is how bad the nerve bundles have been damaged ( and what is left) and how it communicates with "mr. happy".

Wishing you all the best in your next PSA results.

hugs,
BRONSON
Posted 3/27/2011 9:34 PM (GMT 0)
 

Its a real thrill isn't it...I still remember my first feeble swelling and how excited I was that I wasn't dead down there.

Posted 3/28/2011 12:20 AM (GMT 0)
congrats on that, heck in a year or less you will be right back to where u were, or better. I do the canadian cialis 20mg 48hr interval, Stays plump quite a lot, and can get one that gets airborne off the deck with visual and Jeddi mind work. With spousal manipulation very close to home. Pump is like old time, when in in the pump. goes done vacuum release. 17 mos post op, 1 nerve bundle only. Expecting and believing pre/op within 1 year. I concur on the booze news. Good luck to you both.
Posted 3/28/2011 12:22 AM (GMT 0)
Sincere congrats with a tinge of green (and that's not the ecological kind):-)Enjoy the rebirth, and hope to report the same in the future...
Posted 3/28/2011 11:20 AM (GMT 0)
Awesome, 3 months yesterday for me. Oral meds ineffective but working on the right injectable formula right now.
Posted 3/28/2011 11:20 AM (GMT 0)
Awesome, 3 months yesterday for me. Oral meds ineffective but working on the right injectable formula right now.
Posted 3/28/2011 1:38 PM (GMT 0)
You are very fortunate. Count your blessings because this is probably a sign of more healing to come. Congratulations!
Posted 4/15/2011 12:32 AM (GMT 0)
OMG....I have to stop reading this stuff Im getting more and more depressed. Im not ready to say good bye to woody for any length of time. Congrats on the OP though. Many more successful woodys to come!
Posted 4/15/2011 12:43 AM (GMT 0)
you don't have to. AJ 47 got a natural erection 6 months after surgery. Like he said, it can take up to 2 years. Some get them back right away. If you're young and sexually healthy heading into surgery, and if you have a good surgeon, chances are you'll also be fine. You can talk about it with your urologist and any sexual therapist he may consult with.
Posted 4/15/2011 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
yeah, I know but even 6 months can be a very long time. Especially at my age as I am still fairly young and would like to stay sexually active. My wife is only 43 so shes in her sexual prime....just sayin.
Posted 4/15/2011 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
Well, some good news for some and not so good news for others including me.  My announcement seems a little premature.   Junior is having good days and not so good ones.  So, the saga continues.  I'm encouraged but not over the hump.  So, for those with "envy syndrome," don't worry, I'm not as good as I looked on paper or in real life.  confused
Posted 4/15/2011 1:36 AM (GMT 0)
you don't want to do anything for at least 45 days after surgery. Your urethra needs to heal. You'll feel it pulling and stretching and if you do get erection like I did you'd worry because of the pulling sensation. Then after 45 days you start to fool around and can have all sorts of fun and before you know it you'll get an erection and gently test it out. Just wait till you experience the dry orgasms. For me ( and many others ) they're far more intense.

There is all kinds of stuff you and your wife can do. You can keep her happy even while healing and you will heal if you choose to have surgery and select a top notch surgeon.
Posted 4/15/2011 1:39 AM (GMT 0)
Well thats a bummer...but at least you know its not dead and theres always a chance to get better. Makes me wish I got something simple like brain cancer.
Posted 4/15/2011 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
You'll be fine. If you end up choosing surgery, find a top notch surgeon and ask him straight up about quality of life issues. I think you'll be surprised by how good the outcome can be. If you're young, sexually healthy prior to surgery, if nerves can be spared, and if your surgeon is really skilled you will probably be fine, I and many others were.
Posted 4/15/2011 1:55 PM (GMT 0)
" If you're young, sexually healthy prior to surgery, if nerves can be spared, and if your surgeon is really skilled you will probably be fine, I and many others were."

davidg, your words above, obviously, don't want to misquote you. You still fail to understand, that despite your amazingly great results, that its not  typical. We have too many men here at HW alone, that qualified to have good results by your standards, and it just didn't work that way.

We have plenty of men with nerve sparing surgeries, still having major ED issues 2 or more years after their surgery. Cancer treatments and their side effects, regardless of prior health, prior sex life, wonderful surgeon or not, is just too indivicual on a patient to patient basis. There is no consistency, and if you keep telling men, especially those new to PC that all they to have to do is be young, healthy and have a good sex life prior to treatment, that everything will be ok. Your intention may be good, but the misinformation you are sending them is just not accurate. What worked for you, may very well not be the case for the next guy.

You never answered my question to you on another of your posts, you said you did not have ED (like me), but then you talk about taking ED drugs. Why would you need them, if, by your own words, you didn't have any sex issues prior to treatment, or after treatment? If you did have some minor ED issues, no problem there, would have been expected, or is this another attempt to make it look like your favored surgeon is perfect and above approach? Just trying to get to the bottom of this issue. My inquiry is only based on what you have posted and given out as advice.

david in sc
Posted 4/15/2011 5:58 PM (GMT 0)
Goto youtube and watch Rodney Carrington's live performance of 'Show them to Me'
one of the quotes from the song: 'It'll do you good...it will give me wood...and we'll make history....show them to me. Power of positive thinking...a couple of the gals in the audience decided to participate and made the song even better ('you'll look a whole lot better, without that sweater, baby I think you'll agree...show them to me'). Rodney...looked out into the crowd and got an eye full and you will too...and said....'God Bless you woman'. (non-denominational LOL) Country music at its finest. I now added that song to gig list...I couldn't resist it.
Posted 4/15/2011 6:21 PM (GMT 0)

I just watched again Dr. Mulhall's video on YouTube about penile rehabilitation as it's practiced at Memorial Sloan-Kettering.  He isn't too far into the presentation when he discusses what can happen at about the 3 or 4-month point post surgery.  Some of the guys who have been having erections as soon as the catheter is removed (or even before) suddenly find that the erections stop.  The nerves "go to sleep" and they suddenly find themselves struggling with ED. 

Recovering sexual function seems to have a high degree of unpredictability.  To say, "you'll be fine," no matter how well intentioned, can be very misleading.  It seems to me that with PCa, nothing can be taken for granted.

Approaching the 8-month mark, I'm not seeing anything happening, though having lost one nerve bundle, I guess that's not surprising.

Posted 4/15/2011 6:33 PM (GMT 0)
Recovering sexual function seems to have a high degree of unpredictability. To say, "you'll be fine," no matter how well intentioned, can be very misleading. It seems to me that with PCa, nothing can be taken for granted.

Clock, your words above, very true and in line of what I was saying to davidg. Generalities and assumptions rarely work in our PC worlds. Too many variables, too many exceptions.

David in SC
Posted 4/15/2011 7:13 PM (GMT 0)
AJ I find myself in the same situation as you. I am 6 months post op. I just started injections....

How long did u use injections before you got natural wood? and have you noticed that you respond better to the oral meds now also????

I am hopefull natural wood is in my near future! The injections are working but I am looking forward to when I will not need them! I have noticed that 100mg Viagra will cause about a 30-40% responce now that I have been using injections for a week or two...
Posted 4/15/2011 10:17 PM (GMT 0)

natural44 said...
AJ I find myself in the same situation as you. I am 6 months post op. I just started injections....

How long did u use injections before you got natural wood? and have you noticed that you respond better to the oral meds now also????

I am hopefull natural wood is in my near future! The injections are working but I am looking forward to when I will not need them! I have noticed that 100mg Viagra will cause about a 30-40% responce now that I have been using injections for a week or two...

You know, I don't mean to downplay the importance the of getting natural erections, and I do think that the headaches causes by cialis are a major pain in the ass, and that the cost can be an issue, but honestly I sometimes wonder if people who have gone through what we have make too much of the natural erections and/or make too much of it right away.

As stated previously, I'm somewhat "lucky" in that I can get natural erections and erections with cialis. The cialis ones are stronger but the natural ones catching up quickly. But frankly I don't care how I get them. Even if my natural ones were guaranteed all the time and always 100% I would still be on cialis because i've been told to take it for medical purposes, not for recreational purposes. Even when I go off the pills for a bunch of days to relieve the headaches and test the natural outcome for checking nerve healing progress I still know I have to go back to it as per advice from my nurse. Besides, they do pack a punch and can be fun recreationally.

So in my opinion, injections, that trimix stuff, pills, pumps, whatever. What matters is that when we found out we had cancer and chose our treatment we all accepted that we might have to say goodbye to urinary control and to having intimate relations with whomever we choose. So being able to have sex, however YOU define it, being able to be intimate with your partner(s), however YOU define it is all that matters in my opinion. Like everything else associated with this experience it's a process. It can take a week for some or years for others.

I just think some of you beat yourselves up too much and I know that obsessing about it doesn't help with results.
Posted 4/15/2011 10:26 PM (GMT 0)

clocknut said...
I just watched again Dr. Mulhall's video on YouTube about penile rehabilitation as it's practiced at Memorial Sloan-Kettering. He isn't too far into the presentation when he discusses what can happen at about the 3 or 4-month point post surgery. Some of the guys who have been having erections as soon as the catheter is removed (or even before) suddenly find that the erections stop. The nerves "go to sleep" and they suddenly find themselves struggling with ED.

Recovering sexual function seems to have a high degree of unpredictability. To say, "you'll be fine," no matter how well intentioned, can be very misleading. It seems to me that with PCa, nothing can be taken for granted.

Approaching the 8-month mark, I'm not seeing anything happening, though having lost one nerve bundle, I guess that's not surprising.

that would be a bummer, wouldn't it?

Every urologist and surgeon I spoke with told me that nowadays, in the hands of a highly skilled surgeon, if you're in good shape going in and young, and if nerve bundles can be saved, chances are you'll recover within a few years. How soon within those few years being unpredictable. Were they just BSing me to make me feel good? I don't know, but they were right in my case and in many others I know of first hand. Even many here and more on Yana report steady progress.

I know some who recover full sexual potency before recovering urinary control. One even told me how he puts a towel on the bed and urinates in/on his wife every time they have sex ( now there is a dedicated wife ).

The one thing my first urologist said that definitely isn't true is regarding quality of orgasms. I swear I was ready to deal with that and accepted it without too many complaints. But in my case ( and others here have advised on the same), orgasms are better. It's funny, when I would ask "so are they worse" before my surgery the standard answer was " don't look at it as better or worse, look at it as different" but I think they are better. So much longer and weird waves.

You're only 8 months out, you have a lot of time to heal still and first hand account of many many people demonstrate that there is a very good chance you will. I think our mental approach has a lot to do with the success possibilities so keep your hope and optimism alive.
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