Doug Joslyn was like most men: he didn’t go to the doctor unless absolutely necessary.
Two years ago, with a new job on offer, he was required to get a physical – and it proved to be life-changing.
“The way the nurse looked at me, I knew I had cancer,” he remembered.
Unfortunately, he was right. Doctors discovered he had bladder cancer that had spread to his prostate. Doug was, understandably, upset.
“I was gonna die,” he remembers thinking. “As I was growing up, the people I knew that had cancer, they died.”
But the team at the Tallwood Urology & Kidney Institute had hope – and a treatment to save his life. They removed the cancer and rebuilt his bladder.
“I had the dream team,” he said about the Hartford HealthCare team that helped him. “I don’t have a fear of dying anymore. I’m not planning on it.”
But the treatment left him with an unfortunate side effect – one that every man fears: erectile dysfunction.
“You can ask any man. That it’s an important part of your life,” he said.
That’s where urologist Dr. Jared Bieniek from Tallwood Men’s Health was able to help.
“We tried different oral medications without much benefit,” Dr. Bieniek said. “We also tried injections which didn’t work out and weren’t a good long-term choice for him.”
That’s when it was decided that surgery for a penile implant would be a good course of treatment for Doug.
“The sensation comes from the skin level, and so men still have normal sensation,” Dr. Bieniek said of the procedure.
“There’s no pain,” Doug said. “It’s as normal as normal can be.”
In the end, doctors not only saved his life but gave him a new one.
“I wouldn’t trade my life now for anything,” Doug said.
Click here for more information on Tallwood Men’s Health in Farmington.