Aquablation: Post-surgery expectations

It sounds like you would do it again, and recommend aquablation. I'm 69, afluzosin is working just OK. Some nights i'm up 1-2 times a night, sometimes 4 or 5. I don't like the mild headache I seem to get from the medication, I'm tired of always thinking about my urination issues. But I don't want to take a chance on a good procedure gone bad.

This discussion has made me realize that this is a very difficult and complex decision, and it doesn't make it easy when you see some individuals having what I would call a failed aquablation proceedure, while others are extremely satisfied.

Thanks, After a late morning nap yesterday I noticed there was no blood in my urine. That lasted half a day. Then I had a coughing attack from a kernel of popcorn that took the wrong route and the bleeding started again.
My assumption is that it must take a while for those blood vessels to repair themselves. The doc said nothing about lying around at home post op in order to control the bleeding. I can still pee ok but the blood is irritating.
I am thankful though just to be able to pee again. I had forget what that was like. Trying to keep my 'eye on the ball'.......... thanks.

75 years old.
Had about 40% of my prostate removed.
I'm still seeing mucous, or something mucous like, in my urine, almost 3 month post procedure.
Doc said it was semen, but I don't get it.
I haven't had an emission for at least 4 months now.
Sometimes the mucous hardens at the tip and makes the beginning of urination a tad painful.
On the other hand, my urine production is usually (not always) more productive and predictable.
Still have to resort to peeing like a female, or I am likely to lose control of where the urine goes.
Still using diapers, are sometimes less moist, or even dry, when changing.
So there is gradual improvement.
Meantime, my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday, I am therefor feeling distraught.

@av8r6 - It is difficult. Might think of the decision as "personal risk management". What are the odds you'll be better off with vs without the procedure? There is no perfect answer and some uncertainty will always be in your decision...

For me - I, too, was tired of having urination be the center of many of my thoughts and activities. I was willing to risk aquablation to reduce or eliminate that long-term focus. While everything isn't perfect (six months post aquablation), I'm very happy I made the decision to proceed.

I am 70 years old, good health. My prostrate had grown to 148 grams in size, the size and had doubled in the past 8 years. Since 2010 I have had my PSA checked every 6 months and my average is around 4 to 5. Once my PSA hit 10 and my urologist performed a biopsy which came back negative out of the 16 samples he took. Prior to having Aquablation I was waking up on average 2 times a night. A couple times a month my prostrate would flare up and become inflamed where I was up 7 or more times a night, and this would last a couple days. I found Ibuprofen helped calm down the prostrate. When my prostrate was inflamed the urgency was almost uncontrollable, so for the past 8 years I wore a pad. I had the Aquablation procedure on June 18th 2024, 8AM that morning. I was awake by 10:30AM in recovery and the pain level was tolerable. I spent a night in the hospital being flushed and monitored the color of the output from my bladder in the plastic tubing. I had a Foley catheter and experienced one severe blood clot at 1AM that I had to call the nurse. June 19th I was discharged around 5PM. I realized rather quickly I was going to need depends, I was leaking from the penis catheter tubing. I also bought a gallon of prune juice knowing that after effects of any medical procedure do cause body functioning issues. June 21st I had my voiding test and the nurse was please with my results and removed the catheter. No pain. The oddest pain I experienced was sitting on the toilet. I felt like I was sitting on my bare hip bones. Maybe this was because of the hospital bed, this was my first time staying in a hospital bed overnight. July 2nd I had a post procedure follow-up. I seen my urology PA and he took the time to discuss things, I was still showing blood and still unable to hold the urgency. What I am puzzled by is the morning of the 9th day I went to urinate and the pressure I had was unbelievable, or in the words of my urologist I was chipping porcelain. I do not think my urine flow has increase all that much over what it was pre-procedure. In the 3rd week post procedure at night I had a blood clot the size of a small pinto bean pass, I felt like I got lucky. I had been passing what looked like very dark red scabs and my urine always had a reddish color to it which is almost gone now. I was using 5 to 6 depends a day for the first 4 weeks after the procedure. Slowly this has improved and I am down to 2 a day. I still have dribbling issues with a little sense of urgency when I feel I need to go and I am laying or sitting down. The movement and muscles in that area I feel are still recovering. Overall I think that due to the size of my prostrate it is just a matter of recover time. My PA offered me a prescription and I declined want the recovery to run it natural course. My urologist predicts my prostrate should shrink substantially over time.

@bob36 - Great story about your prostate. Glad you're well on your way to mending!

After 10 years of managing BPH with lifestyle change and taking Flowmax, I finally decided to go for Aquablation. I wanted to share my experience and answer any questions that someone might have.
Procedure was pretty straight forward, started at 8am, done by 9:30am. Came out of the room with catheter taped tight to my thigh so that bulb inside the bladder is pulled tight against urethra inside the bladder. Felt that pressure all day, but it was tolerable. They kept flushing bladder with large bags of saline. Urine was initially coming out dark red, but later changed to pink. Stayed in hospital overnight and next day, tension on catheter / bulb was released. That felt good. Flushing continued, towards the evening (2nd day) they decided to send me home because flush was relatively clear. Other than pain while urinating ( a lot on first day) everything else was good. In the hindsight, I should have spend good bit of time with Dr. to discuss how to manage pain. I figured it out how to manage it with the limited pain killers that were given. I could have avoided lot more pain if I was advised on how often and how much to pain killer to talk. Other than that everything went fine in recovery. Today is the 8th day. I have almost no pain while urinating. I am off all the pain meds. I am moving around, driving a little, overall been careful what I do. Frequency of going to bathroom is still there, it is expected. Like once every 30 mins to 90 mins. I am still advised to continue to take flowmax for next 2 weeks. I will update how further recovery goes. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.

@pinto25ji - Great explanation of your experiences and so helpful to others considering aquablation. Good luck with your further recovery!

How is your stream?