T his summer I got a new boyfriend, moved into a new flat in Berlin and started a new job — it was one of the happiest times of my life. One Friday, my partner was having an early night, so a friend came over with a few bottles of wine. When I hooked up with a handsome, bearded nurse, I suggested we go back to my place, where he proposed he give me an erection-enhancing injection. I was hesitant.
I had tried something similar a few years before; it had hurt a bit and I had stayed hard for longer than I wanted to. But the nurse seemed really keen, so I consented. That was the biggest mistake of my life. I can still feel that sudden increase in pressure as the medication entered through the side of my penis.
It was uncomfortable, but not painful, and it worked. When I woke, I thought it was strange that I was still so hard. I had had a long-lasting erection before — called a priapism — and an ice pack had helped. I assumed my erection would go down eventually, so I enjoyed the party. At 5am the next morning, I woke with a constant ache in my still very erect penis.
I tried painkillers, ice packs and hot baths, but nothing worked. Doctors later told me that the longer your penis stays hard, the wider the scope for lasting damage. Getting help fast is key — ideally within two to four hours. I had waited more than By 3pm, I was in the street, screaming in agony, waiting for an ambulance. When I got to hospital, I was in more pain than I thought possible. Doctors inserted needles of different shapes and sizes into my penis, sometimes drawing blood out, sometimes flushing out the toxins, once with a curly device that I felt ripping through the tissue, drawing blood in an attempt to bleed out the medication still inside.
I was told I had been given a drug usually prescribed for erectile disfunction. It was the darkest time of my life. I had no idea if I would have sex again. I had met the love of my life and was terrified I would lose him. I was too weak to eat or drink and the blood clots were at risk of spreading to my major organs, which could have killed me. Emergency surgery was scheduled for the next morning. Dr Pottek, a reconstructive urological surgeon, performed a procedure under general anaesthetic called the Grayhack shunt: he joined a vein from my leg to the base of my penis to withdraw the trapped blood.
