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Prostate and Bladder Issues: What to do?

Posted by ch665296f @ch665296f, Apr 19, 2016

I am a 68, nearly 69, year old man that has had bladder issues for years. I had green light prostate surgery 8 yrs. ago which helped for a while. Now, my prostate has had some regrowth and I have developed several bladder diverticulum. I have had just about every bladder test possible. I also have some incontinence issues, and manage by wearing diapers when necessary. I'm ok with that. My urologist had me on a combination of tamsulosin and finastride, but have not realized much of a difference. I'm a bit afraid of some of those drugs because I have read that they could mask the development of a more serious prostate cancer.

My urologist suggests that I may be a candidate for surgery, but what kind? Turp or total removal of the prostate? I have also read that turp sometimes needs to be repeated. Don't want that to happen either. What to do?

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slr123 | @slr123 | Nov 29 11:45am

I would strongly encourage you to have both the robotic diverticulectomy and prostate enucleation at the same time. I would also strongly encourage a second opinion. I underwent both at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. It was done quickly and efficiently. It certainly didn't take more than an hour in the operating room. Medicare and my supplement covered all of the costs. If your on traditional Medicare, something is way off regarding your costs and if you are on Medicare Advantage they are probably trying to intimidate you. If so, you should appeal their decision.
Prior to having surgery, I dealt with multiple community Urologists who downplayed my symptoms and discounted the presence of a known bladder diverticulum as being of any concern until I developed sepsis. You are at high risk of getting very sick if you continue for long with an indwelling Foley catheter. Sepsis is a life threatening condition. Don't put off taking care of this.

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popolopo | @popolopo | Nov 30 4:42pm

I have pain in my penis and tesrticles I take prostate drug and they helped incontinence . For pain I use tramadol. Pain is somewhat intermittent but always returns . I am going to try CBD now also for pain

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Dec 12 4:05pm
In reply to @blapro1 "I am a 75 year old male with a history of high blood pressure, an enlarged..." + (show)
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I am a 75 year old male with a history of high blood pressure, an enlarged prostate, and chronic kidney disease (b). I have not been the prefect patient (always keeping appointments and keeping every appointment as scheduled) however I have been a daily jogger/walker and reasonable diet conscious senior. One morning in September I woke up for my morning run and went into the bathroom, feeling my daily need to urinate but nothing came out. Long story short, nothing came out ALL DAY! That evening I went to the ER and they TOOK CARE OF BUSINESS - to my horror but eventual delight at finally being able to pee again - though via a foley catheter. According to the doctor I have a very large prostate and a pretty large bladder diverticulum. For TWO AND A HALF MONTHS I've been wearing these contraptions along with their little bacterial friends as my doctor and I go through discussions of types of surgery and (with the Holidays approaching) time in his schedule to perform the surgery. About two weeks ago we agreed upon a 5 hour robotic diverticulectomy combined with a prostatectomy . However, a day after we set the date I received a message from the health care company stating that my payout would be in the tens of thousands of dollars - not to mention unlisted costs for "supplies" "anesthesiologist" and other things. I would have to make major adjustments in my life just to make their monthly patment requirements and at my age that would be difficult to do. This started me thinking about other means of getting the job done. My question to you guys is, do you think this surgery could be split (diverticulectomy then 3 maybe four or more months later for the prostatectomy). My thoughts on that is not only monetary but also because I read and heard that a 5 hour surgery would be "risky" for a man my age strictly due to the possible long term cognitive effects the anesthesia alone may take on the brain. I also read and heard that proscar and flomax (which I have been on for two months and already seeing positive results has been known to do a good job at shrinking the prostate so that both surgeries may not be necessary and the diverticulectomy may be the only surgery that may be needed and may not even require the costliness of the robotic process. I just got home after a third hospitalization due to a third UTI related problem. I would appreciate your thoughts on this matter.

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@blapro1, I hope you saw the helpful replies and questions from members like @kayak461 @ch665296f and @slr123, who have experience with prostatecomy and diverticulotomy surgeries.

@blapro1, how are you doing? What have you decided?

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