Aquablation: Post-surgery expectations

@icorus1959 Did Dr. Myer do your aquablation or was it another doctor - maybe another hospital??

Prostate size: 145cc
Age: 60
Very large median lobe pressing into my bladder obstructing bladder neck
Had Rezum done a few years ago. Did not want RE so TURP and other similar procedures not considered.
Rezum failed 100%. Recovery was dreadful. Had to self-catheterize for 3 weeks until swelling went down and bladder returned to normal.
Decided no more surgery. I would just stay on the drugs.
1.5 years later, had a large bladder stone that had to be removed by robotic surgery. Waiting makes things worse.
3 months after bladder stone surgery, I had aquablation done.
Approaching 4 weeks:
Pros:
*no hesitancy, large powerful stream almost immediately
*urgency that I had in the first few weeks is now gone
*no leakage
*get up one time a night
*no RE. my ejaculate volume is 4X what is used to be. Apparently my prostate was blocking more than just my bladder.
Cons:
*don't always get the feeling that I'm done urinating, so have to double void.
*soreness when urinating - 1 to 2 on a scale of 10
*will take time to mentally get to normal state. I still use every bathroom that I come across just in case. If I'm going on a longer trip, I still will use the bathroom a few times right before I get into the car. I still use the stalls as it use to be a long process to urinate.
*I still get a clot expelled in my urine now and then
Summary: So far - life changing.
Note: I asked my surgeon how much of my prostate was removed. He said most of it.

@art12 My situation is virtually identical to yours. I'm, 62 , have 138cc prostate with a large median lobe pressing into my bladder. I have the Aquablation procedure schedule for early December. My wife and I have a large Christmas party (50-60) people scheduled to be at our home 10 days after the Aquablation procedure and just 5 days after the catheter removal. The party was scheduled prior to the Aquablation, otherwise we wouldn't have done it that way. My question is, could you have reasonably tolerated entertaining for 4+ hours in your home 10 days post procedure? Am I a fool to even consider doing so? We could cancel, but save the date cards already went out, so a bit of a hassle. I can skip the alcohol and bathrooms will be close. Thx

@wadaman01

My answer to you is enjoy your party. I think 10 days will be ample time to heal enough to spend 4 plus hours entertaining. At your age which I think will be a big plus in your recovery, you should be fine.

I had the surgery back in March of this year and I hate to say so with some of the less than stellar stories I read about the post-surgery experiences on this site, but I'm totally happy with my results. I think it's important to know that Aquablation can be a total homerun as well. I had a 125cc size prostate with the usual having to find a bathroom in a hurry, travel was a chore as I had to plan bathroom stops along the way, etc. Now, I can go on long trips without a worry, only get up maybe once per night, not at all if I watch my liquid intake in the evenings, my urine stream is full and from tests, my bladder empties entirely. I was 68 at the time of my surgery.

My only side effect has been RE but what the heck, I'll take that in exchange for all the positive benefits. I do hope your surgery goes well Sir, and you enjoy your party.

@stein5488 Thank you for responding. You're right about some of the stories. It had me questioning if I should go through with the procedure.

@wadaman01
I think you should be okay, I was 77 with 84 CC and had cath in for a week and after removed bloodly urine for another week, but no problems holding off urinating. All was well for me for a few months, then went back to old ways like I never had surgery. Put me back on flomax. Did a scope and said not enough was taken out would I like revision surgery. So far I have said NO. Found out a resident really did the surgery- NOT the doctor/surgeon I had been seeing and scheduled with. All KUMC would say is that should be expected in a training hospital. I was not happy they experimented on me. But more to your point, I think you will be fine, enjoy your party.

@wadaman01 I'm 64 and had the aquablation in September, but I had a combo procedure where they do the PAE days prior to reduce bleeding so I only had the catheter 24 hours. You should be okay at your age, but everyone is different so there are no guarantees. So you duck out for a couple of extra bathroom visits, you should certainly feel well enough to socialize. I could have returned to work at a week. That's a large prostate and with a large median lobe delaying would have only made things worse, you're right to get the procedure before there is to much damage to your bladder.

@wadaman01 Looking back at my experience I had minimal problems 5 days after catheter removal and 10 days after surgery. There was lots of blood in my urine at that point post surgery, so that was a bit concerning. But I know now that is part of the healing process. I was drinking lots of water to help wash away the blood so was urinating frequently. If you are in your home with access to toilet you should be fine. On my 3 month follow up visit with my surgeon I learned that carbonated beverages, such as sparkling water, which I was drinking lots of, can irritate the bladder. I stopped drinking sparkling water and other carbonated beverages and my control of urinating has improved. Overall the procedure has provided me with good improvements.