TOPIC: 17 years post-op

Okay, thanks. I stopped the Percocet 3 days ago, but resumed today. I was hoping to be off it because I\'m looped when I\'m on it, and driving is a bit scary. I had to pop those pikas today. Thanks for your answers. Fuck, sound like I have 4 more days of nocturnal hell. Doc has my next appointment on november 2nd. I just thought of this...do I have to wait til then to have stitches removed? Or maybe these are the dissolvable stitches. I don\'t even know

They will be dissolvable, but I hate having them in, so I either get someone to remove them or do it myself.

November the 2nd is a long way off. You should definitely contact Dr S if you are concerned about infection. It doesn\'t sound like you have one, but it\'s always best to check with the Dr just in case. Don\'t worry about bombarding him, as all guys are the same and we easily get into a panic over our penis\'s, so he\'ll be used to getting lots of questions from worried guys during the healing process.

I don\'t think it\'s an infection, as I don\'t have any of the classic symptoms. It\'s just this damn pain making me crazy. I\'m a bit of hypochondriac. In the last 6 days, I\'ve thought I\'ve had Necrosis, infection, keloid scar, skin separation, wound separation and frostbite (from icing). I drove Solomon nuts in 2009 when I told him that me and the \"guys on the Internet\" were diagnosing me with my conditions. We\'ll see how tomorrow goes.

braveheart wrote: I don\'t think it\'s an infection, as I don\'t have any of the classic symptoms. It\'s just this damn pain making me crazy. I\'m a bit of hypochondriac. In the last 6 days, I\'ve thought I\'ve had Necrosis, infection, keloid scar, skin separation, wound separation and frostbite (from icing). I drove Solomon nuts in 2009 when I told him that me and the \"guys on the Internet\" were diagnosing me with my conditions. We\'ll see how tomorrow goes.

Trust me, what you are experiencing and how you are reacting are totally normal. In my experience most guys totally freak out during the recovery period and much more so when it\'s reconstructive surgery, as things tend to look much worse. Removing fat is is far different to removing a implant as the surgeon literally cuts the fat out from the fascia. It\'s looks awful post op, as if it\'s about to drop off.

One problem often to leads to another as you\'ve described. It\'s so common for guys to skip from thinking they have an infection to Necrosis, to ED and so on. A lot of the pain you\'ll be feeling will be psychosomatic. Once we anticipate pain we mentally prepare for it and thus it comes.

Btw way it would be good for some of the PMMA guys to read what Braveheart is going through and how his mind jumps from thinking he has one problem to the next. At some point we are going to have discuss the possibility of psychosomatic problems with PMMA patients.

Some Of the skin on my shaft is hard and very leathery. Is this normal?

braveheart wrote: Some Of the skin on my shaft is hard and very leathery. Is this normal?

Tough to say without feeling it. Contact the Dr, as hard could be a worry. Does it feel brittle?

No I wouldn\'t say brittle, just tough and leathery still coupled with the extreme swelling

Ice seems to be softening it a bit. I\'ve left message for Dr. I know he will tell me to stop worrying

braveheart wrote: No I wouldn\'t say brittle, just tough and leathery still coupled with the extreme swelling

Tough doesn\'t sound worrying. If it\'s very hard, to the point it feels brittle, then I\'d be concerned. But even so, I think you should check with Dr S.

Recovery from these things is awful and I really feel for you. The mental trauma is the worst in my opinion. You are probably in a state of constant anxiety as your penis looks so beaten up and without experience it\'s very difficult to tell if things are healing as they should or are on the verge of disaster. I remember being constantly stressed after a few of my surgeries.

As I said before don\'t worry about constantly asking Dr S questions. Don\'t worry about pissing him off. You\'ve paid him a lot of money and have every right to ask as many questions are you want in order to help with your recovery. I\'m not saying he is pissed off or hasn\'t been helpful, but just saying if he is, then so what.

Posted my last reply at the same time as yours. Glad you\'ve contacted the Dr. Better to be safe than sorry.

Don\'t let the ice near your incisions. You want to keep water out. Make sure any ice is wrapped.

Thanks, probably overdid it a bit. I was on feet for 4 hours

Spoke to Dr. His fail-safe sign is fever, so he said if you don\'t have a fever, you\'re fine. He said swelling will last 90 days. I told him that the increase in hardness with the pain and swelling had me thinking there was a problem. He said I probably over exerted myself, which is true. I\'m in hell right now

I made the mistake a couple days ago of using a piece of ice directly on my skin for a couple minutes. That is why I convinced myself that I had frostbite also causing the skin toughness. I still worry about that possibility. Re water, showering is recommended, so is there another reason you say to avoid water on the incision, or are you just referring to risk of infection?

Infection is my concern, seeing as you have a belloderm graft.