Recovery: Day Fourteen

Not much change cosmetically. Didn't manage to get to the doctors, but it is still looking a bit bad on the head.

Massive breakthrough today, had a go at getting an erection without the dressing protecting the stitches and it was a success. It was uncomfortable, but not painful. Stitches are still there though, so I'll be wearing a dressing during the day, but not at night which I think will really help the healing.

Recovery: Day Ten

The wound itself is healing well. Some of the stitches are coming out slowly and there is no pain or bleeding. I'm not comfortable with no dressing during the day, but I'm not wearing tight clothing to hold it in place anymore.

The head, where there was bruising and peeling isn't healing as well as I would like though. I'll go to an NHS Walk-In Centre on day twelve because I'm worried it looks like a skin infection and I might need antibiotics.

I'm still dressing it tightly at night to stop erections putting pressure on the remaining stitches. They're not painful though. The only problem is that I'm incredibly horny. On the plus side, I am not as shallow or judgmental as I usually am, every woman looks amazing as far as I'm concerned.

Recovery: Day Seven

Days five and six were all fairly same-y. Not much change. 

Today I have seen an improvement in the appearance of the head. It's still awful, but has started to look like it's clearing up.

Some of the stitches have started to biodegrade beyond usefulness today. I'm not sure if they might be going too quickly, there's no bleeding, but the skin doesn't look strong enough.

Over the last two days I have been taking some extra supplements from the chemist and health shop, to help out with the healing and keep my immune system up to keep any kind of infection at bay...

Vitamin C Supplement ... Tons. To boost my immune system and speed wound healing.
Zinc Supplement ... To help my body absorb the vitamin C.
Pro-Biotic Supplement ... To boost my immune system.
Bromelain ... Made from pineapples, it is a natural anti-inflammatory.
Gotu Kola ... A herb that helps with a number of things, but in this case to help healing and building stronger skin cells more quickly.

Recovery: Day Four

Much better night. The erections weren't so painful and I got some reasonable sleep. I feel so much better for it.

I was introduced to the idea of a jock strap yesterday, and am able to try it today. It is brilliant, highly recommended. Secure, but not too warm, very comfortable. I'm still keeping it dressed during the day though, don't want it bouncing around at all.

The appearance of my penis hasn't changed very much over the last few days, still pretty awful looking with bruising.

Recovery: Day Three

I am so tired today. Erections last night were painful and often. I stayed in bed for around 4 hours and then gave up. I was at a really low point for most of the day.

In the evening though, I sit in bed and read with the dressing removed for a couple of hours. I am able to see the stitching in detail. The head of my penis looks battered, but the stitches are neat. It's been bleeding in a couple of places, but not too much.

The head is VERY sensitive, just to the air even, but by the end of the two hours, it settles down. It feels comfortable enough and I am encouraged. I re-dress for the night time because  a tight dressing similar to the one the surgeons gave me will stop my penis from getting too long in a nocturnal erection and pulling on the stitches.

Recovery: Day Two

The night was awful. Nocturnal erections started happening every half an hour from about 0530 until 0800. It's not so much the painful nature of them, because it's bearable, it's the lack of sleep that's demoralising. At 0630, I got some ice out of the freezer, put it in a bag and laid it on my penis as I was going to sleep. This afforded me an hour of uninterrupted sleep.

I decided to have a shower and not to use condoms because I've got lubricated ones and I'd end up with lube everywhere. So I taped a plastic bag around it, which didn't work. It was soaked inside the bag, so I re-dressed it again just in case the sutres might start bio-degrading.

Wearing cycling shorts at work is effective, but very hot. I have to keep going to the bathroom every hour just to get some air around my loins. It's also very tiring because I haven't slept properly.

Recovery: Day One

I sleep for six hours like a baby, then awake early. Dihydracodeine disappears from the system after about 6 hours, and my penis aches a bit, so I get up and have some food and a drug cocktail before returning to bed for a couple of hours. This was a mistake, I had a sugary breakfast and I think it might be best to stick to six hours sleep for the time being. I don’t sleep well, and after an hour I wake to find bit of ‘morning wood’ causing me some pain. As I do some mathematical problems in my head, it subsides, but every time I drift off it sneaks back up and a few times it is reasonably painful. I give up and begin to face the day.

The chap looks like he's been in a fight. The head of my penis is clearly starting to dry out and the skin is starting to peel. This was expected. There is also dis-colouring, yellow-y black colours are creeping in and I think this is the expected 'bruising'. It is not swollen and I put this down to the strong anti-inflammatory. It doesn't feel as bad as it looks.

I'm not allowed to have a bath for a week because it will encourage the bio-degrading sutures to bio-degrade too soon and I'm not allowed to get it wet in the shower. I plan to use a condom to protect it but for today, I just wash at the sink to save on effort.

I will be returning to work tomorrow and work in a very active environment, there will be twisting, turning, reaching, lifting and I will be on my feet throughout, so I have only today to experiment with clothes. Advice suggests tight underwear to keep everything in place, and loose outerwear so as not to rub. I choose to go to the underwear extreme and try some lycra shorts I use for cycling. I only have one pair, so I wear some additional cotton underwear underneath at the risk of it being a little warm down there. I don’t have any of the skater jeans I used to have as a teenager, such is the fashion now, but I pick the loosest I can find. Getting dressed is uncomfortable and I recommend putting your socks on before anything else, bending over becomes more difficult after the ‘chap’ is held in place.

The tight cycling shorts are effective and I find myself moving around with relative ease. Bending over is difficult, but I'm happy to go to work tomorrow. I stop taking the dihydracodeine.

Disaster in the evening when the dressing fails. It just slipped off in the cycling shorts. Luckily I bought some gauze dressing and fabric sticky stuff during the day and am able to re-dress. Which is a fiddly process.