Are you happy with your Artificial Urinary Sphincter?

@peterj116 So its about a 6 week recovery?

@mirsy Generally. It needs time to heal before the pump is activated by the urologist. Until then, he'll just continue with the pads as usual. The first 2 weeks are a bit uncomfortable, with swelling etc, but once he gets through that, it's just waiting for the next appointment to start the pump.
After that, it's all so worth it.

He has already been through 7 weeks of extreme discomfort with the Foley so maybe this next procedure wont be so bad for him. Thanks again for your input!

@mirsy

I had a foley catheter for 13 months and it didn't harm my bladder. I was 81 at the time. I had that catheter for all of 2024.

Very glad to hear this and happy for you! Wow a whole year must have been awful!

@mirsy Yesterday we saw the urologist regarding the AUS and he thinks my 80 yr old husband can withstand the procedure and recovery. The doc wanted to make sure my husband had good enough hand dexterity to push the button to make the AUS work. He also mentioned another patient who had the procedure but couldn't operate the button. Is it fairly easy to push the button or do you have to feel around for it? Thanks again for your help!

@mirsy That's excellent news.

Everything I'd read beforehand said to use one hand to hold the 2 tubes at the top of the device (did he give you a model of the device, so you know what it's like? Here's mine) to steady the thing - it's pretty slippery in there - and the other hand to squeeze the pump.
I found pretty quickly that I could use one hand - 3 fingers to pull the device to the side & use the thumb & finger to squeeze the pump.
It's easy to push. Too easy, in my case. They say give it 2 or 3 squeezes, but mine often works with one. It's just a rubbery button.
The button on the right there is the activation button. That's rarely used.
The squeeze part is the flat bit on the left. Push it a couple of times until it leaves a small dent. It refills on it's own in about a minute.

@peterj116 No Dr. Chan did not show us a model of the device. He said he has done about 40 of these procedures and trained at the hospital in Texas where the device was initially made. For some reason I thought everything was under the skin -LOL. Better it's right where u can see it. Thank you so much for being so helpful and caring. It really helps and we are grateful!!!

@mirsy
Yes, it is all under the skin.
That's a model of the device, for getting used to it. It's a shame you weren't given one.
There are lots of videos of animations, showing how it works.
But I only found one video of it actually being used.

Here's another photo of the device & the instruction cards

@peterj116 Thank you so much for the above - sorry its taken me so long to reply. He is scheduled to have the AUS procedure on December 5th. Sure hope it will go as well as yours did. Do u have any uncomfortableness sitting down because of the procedure?