This is a journal I wrote starting soon after I got my Shaft Apadravyas and is the continuation/conclusion of "Finally, my Shaft Apadravyas." I did some minor edits but tried to keep it as original as possible. I am not a doctor, and these are just my own personal experience and are not meant to be any sort of how-to guide.
At A Glance Author Slowpoke Contact Slowpoke@bme.anon IAM Slowpoke05 When A year ago Artist me Studio my bathroom Location Washington, DC -----
It's been about 24 hours and the bruising is starting to get more obvious. There's definitely some bruising showing up under the head and the lower half is looking rather bruised but until the whole head turns blue or it stops refilling quickly with blood when I squeeze the tip I'm just going to assume everything is fine.
It's been about 36 hours and I'm happy to say it hasn't really oozed in the last 12 hours. I was work up a few times during the night with an erection. Surprisingly it wasn't the erection that hurt so mush as the penis pushing the fresh piercing up against the sheets. I was a little disturbed last night when after soaking my penis for about 15 minutes I was able to clean most of the crusties away and even move the skin a little near the top and bottom holes but wasn't able to rotate the barbell. Having only my tongue piercing to compare it to (saliva makes an excellent lubricant) I'm still not sure how much resistance to expect when trying to move the barbell. This morning I soaked it for about 25 minutes, there were surprisingly few crusties (only a little near the top hole) and afterwards I was able to push about a 1/4 in of the barbell out from either the top or the bottom and was able to rotate it without a problem (it took a little effort and felt like it needed lubrication to move easily but it could rotate). The key is that not only do I want it to stop bleeding but want it to actual heal. Also, starting last night I felt comfortable enough to resume peeing standing up. There were still what felt like a few crusties on the inside preventing the flow from starting up right away and if I really went all out I could feel it stretching stuff but nothing too bad. There may have been a few pink drops right at first when I was hesitant to start the flow but nothing to freak out about. I can't wait till the piercing has healed more so I can use a sound to find out how close to centered I was able to get it.
My girlfriend rocks! It's been about 40 hours and she brought me lunch and we hung out. Honestly we were just hanging out but this piercing seems to make it 10 times easier to get an erection, or at least notice that you have one, so for about the first hour or so I just couldn't keep my erection away. The piercing did start to hurt after a while but mainly when my already erect penis would flexed or "twitch." There were some crusties afterwards (mainly on the top and inside the urethra) but no noticeable oozing or additional swelling and a quick mild saltwater soak and q-tip were able to get everything looking good again. No problems moving the barbell or additional oozing after thoroughly cleaning both holes.
It's been about 60 hours now and I'm starting to feel like I'm 14 again. My penis has literally been semi-hard pretty much constantly (bigger than normal but still bendable) and just about anything will give me a full erection. I don't even know what I was dreaming about but I woke up twice with raging hardons. While I've never had aching balls, I think these are the type of erections that people may refer to as blue balls since they are so hard it hurts and you just need relief. Unfortunately with a fresh piercing through the shaft of my penis this isn't really possible so not only was it a crappy way to wake up but it took forever to go back down enough that I could get to sleep. As usual when I get really hard there were some crusties on the top and bottom this morning (along with the tip where blood oozed out of my urethra). A mild warm saltwater soak and q-tip quickly removed them and everything is looking good (I'm really liking this soaking business; it's like a hot tub for my dick). The bruising is still noticeable but seems to be fading a little bit. Note: Just because you have a very high pain threshold, heal fast, and it doesn't hurt does not mean you can stop taking ibuprofen; the reason it doesn't hurt is BECAUSE you're taking ibuprofen.
I've decided that 1 and 1/4 is just too short. Unfortunately it's Saturday and the new barbell won't ship till Monday and probably won't arrive till Wednesday so lets hope things continue to heal well even though it's a little tighter than I'd like (there isn't any slack in the barbell even when I'm not erect). Watching this thing heal is rather nerve wracking. I never really had to deal with crusties with my tongue ring and now that I can move the barbell I can actually see the holes and it's hard to tell the difference between normal white scar tissue and the possible yellowish tinges of a developing infection. I'm washing it twice a day and soaking it as needed but it's still hard to just take it on faith that it's going to heal well.
Gggrr... this is making me nervous: either my penis is cold or I think the head is bruised. My bruising theory logic: If something is not getting enough blood it would turn blue, if it can get rid of the blood it turns purple it it's bruised it turns green. While more of the head is looking rather greenish it still inflates and deflates with blood when you squeeze it. Plus, I stood the highest likelihood of damaging the dorsal vein, not either of the arteries, and the head hasn't really swollen up or anything. I soaked him in hot water and most of the discoloration seemed to go away. Additionally, in an effort to keep clothing from hitting the piercing I've been sitting with my legs pretty far apart and not using a blanket to keep warm. That reminds me, I think I got some sort of microwavable heat thing I could use... this has promise. Heating pad feels good. FYI: having a warm heat pack near you balls feels good but for some reason makes you think you have to pee. It's been about 40 minutes and the color has improved, it's now the same as it was yesterday, lending added weight to the bruised theory. {Author's note: due to the way blood settles when not fully erect the bottom half of the head can look rather purplish when cold. While normal, you should be familiar enough to know what coloration is not normal}
Day 4: Okay, I used to find the idea of blue balls slightly amusing. It's not. I can't begin to tell how not cool it was to be woken up every hour, on the hour between 12am and 4am with a raging hardon that just wanted a little relief I couldn't begin to address with a piercing this fresh. I even dreamed about asking my old HS health teacher if she had some anti-Viagra... and then got an erection and woke up. How cruel is that? My hope is that the longer jewelry will put less pressure on the head and reduce this problem. Again it's not so much the piercing that hurts but the inability to respond to the constant stimulation it provides. I know that by nature I worry, but I really wish I had the 1 and ½ in barbell right now. Both holes are showing the obvious sign that the barbell is too tight as you can see indentations from both balls. Additionally, when I last peed there wasn't any blood but urine leaked out of the bottom hole, indicating the ball has caused the hole to stretch to be larger than the barbell alone. I think that the temporary damage from the balls will be significantly less then the scar tissue from trying to do this piercing one more time so will do my best to make it a few more days.
Man, I'm an idiot sometimes. Okay, so I was obsessing about piercing directly through the center of the shaft, including the urethra. This means I don't have one fresh new piercing but two: a PA plus a reverse PA through the shaft of my penis. I also happen to have a 10ga circular barbell lying around and it was amazingly simple to retract the barbell a little, pus it out the urethra far enough to screw on the bottom ball, and then slide the circular barbell through the bottom hole. From my sounding experience I know that my urethra can easily accommodate both the circular barbell and the bottom ball and while this isn't the most elegant solution (the top barbell is now about 1/4 in too long) it sure beats what I had before. It's only been 15 minutes and my dick is feeling significantly better. In fact unless I think about it I can barely feel the new piercing at all (before there was a constant dull ache), I tried peeing and didn't have any problem and in preparation for heading out changed into some kakis and everything went fine. I did notice that if it tried to hang directly down the barbell was more likely to get caught and tug on something but tucking to the side seems to work fine. I'm still looking forward to the 1 and 1/2 barbell though since both pieces of stainless steel jewelry make it feel like there's a weight hanging down there but no longer am feeling desperate enough to abort. As my girlfriend stated, "There's a lot of merchandise down there now and it's kind of freakish, how long till the barbell arrives?" Oh, and the discoloration is almost completely gone on the head and the bruising along the shaft is really starting to fade. {Author's note: This was a dumb idea, get ALL possible barbell lengths before starting a shaft piercing project. FYI: I have yet to get the two holes to align perfectly on the first try and would expect to repierce the bottom hole after the swelling has gone enough to know how far off the original piercing was.}
I some how thought that because a PA went through such a thin layer of skin that it wouldn't hurt. Okay so maybe the hole piercing doesn't hurt much but the jewelry is freaking heavy and doesn't really flip out of the way and so has the annoying tendency to try and support the weight of my dick. I tried to sit down and let my dick flop down naturally and it never touched the chair because it was being propped up by the ring. That's actually a lot of weight on a little hole and after a few seconds it really started to ache. Speaking of aching, lately I realized that it's not just the piercing that are aching down there but for some reason the shaft of my penis is feeling very achy. It still gets erections without a problem so I'm not really worried and firm massage like pressure helps in a non-sexually arousing but comforting sort or way.
Day 5: Note to self, when you have the bottom ball from a straight barbell and the shaft of a circular barbell inside your urethra and you get and erection and have the urge to go to the bathroom ignore it. Or at least let the erection go down. So yeah, totally peed crimson at 2am but on the bright side the erection itself didn't hurt and for the first time in days it was the thought of going to the bathroom, not a painful erection, that made me wake up. Work was fine but walking sucks and since I don't have a car I had to walk a lot. Normally I walk at least a few miles every day but even cutting back I was in some serious pain. There was definitely some big spots of blood on my boxers by the time I got to work. The pain from the PA was just too intense and after some gentle probing I came to the conclusion that it was too far back to be useful and decided to remove the circular barbell. This helped a lot but there was still a dull ache from the bottom ball and going to the bathroom hurt as pee wanted to come out the hole former occupied by the PA. This was a very painful day and I'm starting to get a little worried. I'd always figured that the pain would lesson as the healing progressed and this can only indicate that things are not going well.
Day 6: Got to work with relatively little pain and didn't think to even check my piercing and started some projects. Then I noticed this wet sensation on my thigh. Thank goodness for cotton boxers and silk lined black slacks. The blood didn't even soak through the pants but there was a lot in my boxers and it was still oozing out slowly. Needless to say I freaked. I mean it's been 6 days, I should be well past this stage. Since I'd already told my boss the day before that I wasn't feeling well he wasn't too surprised when I walked into his office at 11am and basically said I needed to go home. Luckily I was able to catch a taxi about a block from the office and got home without incident. {Author's note: for some reason, both this, and my regular Apadravyas, started oozing quite a bit for a few hours after about 6 days of healing in some sort of last ditch effort to make me remove the jewelry. Judging by other experiences of rather random oozing I get the feeling this may be normal, or at least normal for me.}
It was still relatively painless to bend the top piercing enough that the bottom ball exited the Urethra so that I could double check that the bottom ball was still in place. I'm really worried and am very torn at this point as to what I should do. Obviously the lower ball is irritating the inside of my urethra. The new jewelry and 10 gauge needles should arrive by 10 tomorrow morning. I honestly think that the placement of top piercing is looking much better and that it is starting to heal. Something tells me that it will be just as painful to wait another 20 hours as it is to give up and remove everything. I've given myself an hour time limit. If it doesn't stop oozing in the next hour I'm going to take it out.
It's been 20 minutes and the bleeding has not stopped, in fact it's gotten worse. It's time to abort. Some things are just not meant to be pierced, and I'm starting to think that my shaft falls into that category. This was the third time I attempted this piercing, I've promised to myself that there will not be a fourth. The placement is too difficult, it is an extremely risky piercing and it takes too long to heal.
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AFTERMATH
It's been a few hours. The piercing stopped dripping about 15 minutes after removing the jewelry and stopped oozing 30 minutes later. It's been a few hours and there is some mild pulsing pain but the dull throb from having the barbell in place is gone, I somehow didn't realize just how painful the piercing was since most of the time it was just a constant ach but now that it's gone I'm feeling much better. Without the ball blocking the flow urine didn't try to exit out of the lower hole and the upper hole was way too clotted to allow anything to flow through it. I'm starting to see lymph secretions instead of blood oozing out the holes and not surprisingly the bruising on the lower half of the head is getting more apparent. I think this is because with gravity the blood settles to the lower half. It's definitely greenish, still inflates and deflates, and has feeling so I'm not too worried.
Day 6: finally there aren't any more crusties on my urethra and the bottom hole has almost completely closed, nothing ever leaked but I could still see where the hole was. Tried sex again for the first time in two weeks and while worth it, the top hole did start oozing again as I managed to rub the scab off. I think the combination of the crusties and not being able to get as much of the urine out after I finish peeing (it hurts to squeeze or shake so I do my best but it still usually leaks a little) might have irritated the urethra opening as it's looking slightly irritated, almost chapped, as it is a little bit redder than usual. It's not painful so again I'm going to take the wait and see approach.
Day 12: The path of the piercing is starting to get much less painful; I can now squeeze the head without pain and in most cases can get an erection without pain. It still aches a little bit if it gets really hard but I figure this is normal as I pierced both cavities and the erection must be putting a lot of pressure on some recently healed holes. The bruising on the head is really fading but not completely gone. Again, I believe this is because the head actually wraps around the cavities that fill with blood so that if it hurts when I get really hard those recent piercings are probably oozing a little on the inside and with gravity pulling the blood down in most cases the bruising is probably most visible on the head. The skin near the urethra is still looking a little pink but not painful and is much better than it was last week. I'm still not all that worried about it as it continues to not hurt and unless you were looking for it, you wouldn't notice the pinkness.
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CONCLUSION
While I intend to keep the promise I made to not try this piercing again in addition to the healing notes there are a few bits of advice I'd like to pass along. I am convinced that the shaft of the penis was never intended for a long term piercing. Just from studying the anatomy, if you pierce it horizontally your will pierce one or both of the corpora cavernosa (the two tube like things that fill with blood and allow you to get an erection); if you pierce it vertically you are pretty much guaranteed to nick the Dorsal Vein and quite possible the arteries as well. If you do decide to try this piercing be prepared for a frustrating and probably very painful four to six MONTH long recovery, if it ever fully heals. Make sure you have at least a 1 and 1/2 in barbell. Stock up on food and consciously plan out how you can minimize the amount of walking you do; a $10 taxi fare is more than worth the cost.
If you do the piercing directly vertical, be prepared for one of both piercing to be off center. In my case the top, the deep reverse PA was too far forward (actually pushed the crown up a little), and the bottom, PA, was too far back, and both were slightly off center. If you want to adjust the holes, the sooner you do it the better, I knew by day 2 what was wrong with the top hole and if I'd been able to move the bottom hole and used a longer barbell to begin with things might have turned out differently. If you're seriously contemplating this piercing think long and hard about all the risks you are taking, and honestly ask yourself if it's worth it to you. There is a reason this is considered an extreme piercing.
I heard that about 50 percent of the people that get this piercing are forced to abort and end up removing it fairly quickly. That statistic may actually over state the portion of people that manage to successfully heal this piercing.
As a side note, while I've given up on shaft piercings, my "regular" Apadravyas is currently seven months old and I am very happy I didn't give up completely. These piercings have taught me a lot about myself and I'm still learning. I hope to post a couple of similar posts on the process and healing of my Apadravyas in a few months.