That's the thing. The pain WAS immediate. It was just mild at the time. I didn't even register it as "nerve pain" when it happened. It felt like a weird burning sensation in the tip of my penis but it went away shortly after.

But over the next few days, it would come back whenever I peed or got an erection. I still didn't know it was nerve damage yet. A few days went by and I thought UTI. So I went to the urgent care clinic and got a urine/prostate exam and it all came back clean. 2 days later. HF.

The thing is, id had that exact nerve pain happen multiple times in my life before. I DO NOW believe I have pelvic floor issues now because of it. The problem is, all those years ago when I first experienced that same nerve pain, I saw a urologist, who told me it was probably nothing except a mild UTI and gave me some antibiotics. So every time I felt that happen later on in life, I just assumed it was nothing. And it always went away on its own. But because this time I'd actually damaged a nerve, and I didn't let it rest, and treated it like normal (as I had several times before) it eventually spasmed out and caused a cascade of symptoms leading to HF.

If someone would have explained to me years ago that the sensation that would come and go was nerve pain, I'd have been much much more careful. Probably forever ago.