Though impotent since the age of 60, it wasn't until five years later, once he'd retired and rested up, that George S. really missed the ability to have sex. He was almost ready to give it up.

"I didn't realize they could do something like (Prosthesis),", recalls George. "I'd heard of putting in wires and things. That didn't sound like the answer. Actually, I hadn't paid that much attention".

While consulting Dr. Elist on another matter, George casually mentioned his erectile problem. Dr. Elist introduced George to a man who had undergone penile prosthesis. That man's satisfied experience convinced George to have the operation himself.

"I was sore for a week; it was similar to having a hernia done. It took a month and half to heal up, but it works now."

At age 68 1/2, George has sex about three times a week. In the 2 ? years since the operation, he's had zero problems with the apparatus.

"I don't think that often about it," says George. "It's just like a normal erection. If I didn't say anything, nobody would know it was there."

George was married a few months after his prosthesis, to a woman he's known for more than 20 years. "It wasn't really because of the operation that we got married," he avers, but the implant has unquestionably enriched their wedded bliss.

John D. was never one for chasing after a lot of ladies.

"I just take care of what I can," states the 74 year-old member of the usher board of his Baptist church. When he began having trouble taking care of what was his, he sought help. John had two girl-friends at the time of his difficulties, one 63 and one 34.

"I don't know if it was excitement or what," John relates, "but with this younger woman, I just couldn't do anything. It's the shameful feeling to be disappointed."

He tried pills and therapies to no avail. A year ago he agreed to have an implant. After an initial complication with his foreskin, which swelled and wouldn't come back forward after ejaculation and had to be removed, John has had no failures with either his young or his old girlfriend.

"We used to go to bed and have to wait and wait and this stuff," remembers John. "We'd have to kiss and go on like that. Now it's just go right on. It's not bending in the middle because it got soft."

"Last night I made this connection with this girl. This morning I didn't do anything. I just took a bath. I really play it cool, and I enjoy it that way."

John feels that his newfound prowess is a blessing from God, who gives man the wisdom, knowledge and understanding to do heart transplants, kidney transplants and, now, penile prostheses.

"I pray to God that everything will continue working," concludes John. " I will be happy with what it's doing right now."

Emmet W. is a California circuit judge in his mid-50s who opted for the complex and costly inflatable prosthesis.

"I didn't feel I'd be using it that often," reasoned the judge. "I didn't want to be seen as though I had a constant erection at the racquet club, but I'd be very happy to have it in case something came up, if I met a beautiful girl at a party, for instance. I wanted the assurance that if I did decide to go with her, neither of us would be dissatisfied."

So far, now disappointments have darkened the judge's calendar, and he has received and unexpected reprieve from a concurrent ailment.

"Prior to the prosthesis," confides His Honor, "I had to go in to the urologist every few months to have my urinary tract cleared out. It was extremely uncomfortable."

May men, upon reaching middle age, because they lost the ability to have an erection and ejaculate, develop an enlarged prostate, which renders urinating painful or impossible. Following prosthesis, these men engage in sexual activity and ejaculate more often. Their prostates shrink back to normal size, usually without any surgery, and the urinary problems disappear.

"I'm suing it much more that I ever dreamed I would," enthuses Emmet, " and it's good for me to do so."

Steven M. is only 30 years old, and already he is on his second lifetime. A victim of severe diabetes, Steven's erectile ability deserted him in his early 20s.

"I was totally baffled by it," he says of his initial failures. "I was sure something must be seriously wrong with me, emotionally."

Steven sought psychiatric therapy, but to no effect. He became increasingly desperate as his outlook dawned more and more bleak.

"There I was, 27 years old with o hope for a normal life, no future, no chance of a family or a wife. What kind of husband could I have been? I couldn't even be a boyfriend."

Finally, a young internist considered the possibility that Steven's was a physical malady. A serried of complex tests confirmed the intern's hunch. No blood was getting to Steven's penis.

Since being equipped with a semi-inflatable, squeeze-top prosthesis, Steven's outlook has turned around 180 degrees "They put a catheter in during the operation, to protect the urethra; so the first time I urinated afterward, it burned like hell. That's the last unpleasant sensation my penis has caused me since then," laughs Steven. He digs out his wallet and proudly shoes off a snapshot of his wife and their new baby. "I don't want to get cornball about it," he says, his voice cracking, "but his implant has given me a new life, literally."