vacuum pump question

Do you have to order from a specific company?

My wife's co worker, her husband, owns a medical supply company and he sells pumps. That's where I'll be going to get mine.
He told me all I needed was a docs px.

It took me dozens of phone calls with the manufacturer (my Rx was for a specific model), and several letters with the insurance company, which did not want to pay as "in-network", but finally did.

It was not in a "negative" tone with the manufacturer, but they were constrained by the fact that if they were not going to be paid, my "business" was worthless, so there is a valid reason for both sides to be frustrated with the process. But they did help a lot, and it finally went through after a couple of denials. It took a couple of months.

Everyone made a good point that I could buy something that would work for the same $100 that my deductible cost me, but there were issues of the $100.

- if I paid the $100 to a non-insurance provider, it didn't count against my ultra-high deductible

- at that point I had a lot of time and no discretionary money, so every dollar had to count.

- if I got the Rx version, it has a long-term replacement warranty. The internet version is a toss-when-broken item.

- once the Rx has been filled, a precendent is established, the insurance company considers it durable medical equipment, and I can get a new one as needed without as many paraperwork hassles every couple of years.

So a couple of comments:

- you are early in the process, so there is time to get the pump sorted out.

-did it work? I lost both nerve bundles, so there is no expectation of "success" as we all hope to see, but I did keep Willie from falling off until I got settled in to Trimix. For me it is a rehab tool only. I've never taken the rings out of the package. The same story for Cialis.

- if you are frustrated by this, you are in for quite a ride sorting out medical bills and tests, so calm a few minutes, and use this as a training exercise in dealing with the system. This too shall pass.

 

I had a fairly good experience with the customer service for the company that sold me my pump. I filled out their online form to order the prescription version and provided my insurance information. They called me back and told me that the pump was covered by my insurance but would be "out of network" so a different deductible would apply. (My insurance company has separate deductibles for in- and out-of-network services.) As it happened the cost of the Rx pump and my out-of-network deductible were both 500 dollars. My insurance company would have "covered" the pump but not paid for it. That would have met the out-of-network deductible for that year but since I didn't think I would have any more out-of-network expenses I couldn't expect to get the $500 back. (And indeed I wouldn't have).

Their customer service guy could have told me the $500 was "covered" and left me to figure out the in-network/out-of-network thing when the insurance didn't pay. But, instead, he helped me order the non-prescription version ($195) and keep the other $300. Apparently Bonro Medical Systems values customer word-of-mouth publicity and would rather get $200 from a happy customer than $500 from a hacked-off customer who felt cheated.

As for the pump -- a Vacurect -- it is OK... It works but the Trimix works better. And, despite having to stick needles into Mr. Unreliable the Trimix is also slightly more comfortable. I have to have a tug-of-war with the pump to keep my scrotum out of the tube. But I can make it work and I do both of them for rehab purposes. I will be on hormone therapy for another year and a half (plus another six months for it to wear off) and sex is not much in the picture until, hopefully, sometime in the spring of 2015. In the meanwhile it's the needle three times a week and the pump four times a week, and all of it to keep Mr. Unreliable from shriveling since I hope to have a use for him later.

Find out what number the fax was sent to, and call company #2 to have them check that machine. My company has dozens, if not hundreds, of fax machines. You could send me a fax to me at all the wrong places -

tdnjam, my vacuum pump is the only way my wife and I are able to have sex. It certainly is not the same as before the surgery but we've rather have that than to have no sex at all. I took Levitra but it never gave me an erection. I'm also injecting trimix but it, at any dosage, it has never been able to give an erection firm enough for penetration. I still use the trimix for rehab purposes but it hasn't yet replaced the pump (I'm always hopeful).

I'm sorry you had a difficult time getting a pump. The urology department at my HMO arranged for me to meet with a company rep at the hospital to explain the pump's function. I ordered the pump during that meeting and my HMO covered the cost of getting it.

Although I inject trimix twice a week, I use the pump almost every day. And it gives me an erection just as firm I had before my surgery. But the limitations: 1) if the constrictor band is used to maintain the erection, one is limited to 30 minutes with the band on; 2) the erect penis is discolored, cold and may bend to one side or the other. Still, it's better than no erection at all.

Amazon or Ebay works and the price is reasonable. Don't give up.

Tell them (nicely ) that they are just like their product--THEY SUCK!!