After this ticklish sliding sensation stopped, I noted my first pain-
free erection for the first time in 18 years. This erection was not bent, but instead straight and normal. I carefully masturbated, without pain, for the first time in 18 years. It was as if I had entered a time machine and traveled back in time. The next day I noted something else I had not experienced in 18 years, my first normal bowel.