According to Dr. Walsh, I shouldn't anticipate anything more
until a year to eighteen months after surgery, so he's not concerned.
Dr. Josephy's view is more pessimistic, but then I'm not really any
more anxious to have an implant for erectile dysfunction than one
for incontinence. (You can't have both, by the way — there's a limit to
how much plastic plumbing can be installed in a human being.)
On the off chance that my progress might be speeded up (or even
jump-started), I paid a visit to Dr. J. Francois Eid, at the New York
Hospital — Cornell Medical Center's Sexual Function Center, in New
York City, the state-of-the-art facility for men's sexual problems, a
building so modern, elegant, and tastefully furnished that it seemed
unlikely that any of the baser human physical functions could be
served there.
Considering the problems of Dr. Eid's patients, it seemed to me
cruel, whether by design or by accident, that his nurses looked like
beauty-contest winners, though on reflection, the intention may
have been to encourage the patients to proceed with their treatment.
In any event, there was certainly a startling contrast between the
glum-looking men, mostly well-dressed and middle-aged, in the
waiting room and the members of Dr. Eid's staff flashing past in their
short white coats.
Eid himself was tall, youngish, athletic, and good-looking, with an
almost imperceptible French accent and a cheerful ''can do'' attitude
toward sexual function. He listened to my story sympathetically. The
walls of the examination room I was in — there were several, the center is a kind of factory of male sexuality — bore elaborate posters advertising a pocket-size kit for self-injection, as well as for Dr. Eid's
book, Making Love Again. Before I was finished telling him about my
surgery he handed me a gown and asked me to strip.
As Dr. Eid examined me, he gave me the doomsday scenario
which is at the core of his thesis: the more erectile dysfunction (he
does not condone the use of the word impotence) continues, the more
muscle tissue in the penis atrophies. The longer the patient puts off
treatment, the less effective it will be, and the smaller the erection.
He considers it such a severe problem that he recommends beginning a course of treatment as early as possible after surgery.
Selections reproduced at www.phoenix5.org with the kind permission of the author.
Copyright © 1996, 1997 by Success Research Corporation
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