I just went through two surgeries; the green light laser to remove the part of the prostate which had me stopped up, and a second surgery to remove stones in my bladder.
I utilized a urology practice shared by 3 doctors/surgeons. One of the doctors did the laser surgery, and a second, the bladder surgery. The one doing the green light specialized in that type of surgery. The younger fellow, who removed my bladder stones, does all the urolift procedures there. I had requested the urolift after hearing of its benefits, but the fellow who did them there didn't want to do it on me, primarily because I had had a number of UTI problems while on the catheter and he said that the staples used might continue to cause infections. He had other concerns also after reviewing my file, but I don't recall what those were.
So that left me with the other two options, the TURP, which they also do there, and the green light. After reading up on both it was clear to me that the green light was less traumatic(not much bleeding, no need for an overnight stay, shorter recovery time as I recall, and so on), and comparable results to the TURP.
I just had a follow up visit with the surgeon yesterday. He was pleased with the results I reported, said the effects were normal and would take some time to go away(bladder doesn't empty completely without pressing on abdomen, urination a little too frequent, and too much urgency). He said that my bladder had been significantly irritated by the years of BPH problems and a lengthy period of using a catheter(another story), and that it would take time to readjust.
For those who are dealing with BPH and the options they have, I would recommend as much reading and research as you have time to do on the various procedures available to you. Having said that, I concede that the choices are many and somewhat bewildering. I was tied up in knots for a good while over it, but I'm satisfied with my decision and now believe it's just one of those things which lacks a foolproof solution.
I also learned during this process that getting one's questions addressed and answered requires some insistence. Don't let the medical people get away with not providing you with the information you need. I understand that they are extremely busy, but with your future in their hands to some degree, they need to make sure you understand what they have planned for you and why. The doctors who did my surgery did very well in this regard, but I often had to go through nurses and other staff to reach them. They are dealing with many patients, and consequently due to the time constraints have to let the nurses and others take care of all the routine and lesser tasks like changing catheters and so on.
I hope that all this is somewhat helpful. Best wishes to all of you who are confronting the issue or will be in the near future.
Regards,
Andy
P.S. Let me know if you have any questions for me and I'll do my best to get back with you when I can -you might try PM if I don't respond on this thread in a reasonable period of time.
