HoLEP recovery

@plynhky I was with Kaiser in San Diego, Dr. Mitra De Cogain was my surgeon.

@jiminos thanks! Have to shop wisely!

I just had holep this week 12/17. 65 yo, good health prostate 86cc...2 neg biopsies, 2 neg mri in last 5 years. Had a retention in October and was catheterized for 4 days which I didnt want to ever do again. Scheduled the holep with Dr. Dora. Surgery was at 2 pm on wed, I was back in care hotel by 6 pm with catheter. Removed next morning at 8:30 and immediately went to bathroom. Lot of blood but expected. Nurse gave me granny panties to wear as they said would have leakage for up to 4 months. Went back to care hotel, drank 2 liters and returned at 2:30. Scan showed zero urine in bladder so they said I can leave. Today is saturday, 3 days from surgery, 2 from catheter removal. Thursday, drank lot of water, took the meds they gave me for burning when urinating which was bad first day(well 3 on scale of 1-10) and turned urine iodine color. But was able to pee like I have never done before, when they say firehouse its true. Friday, wake up in morning, first pee lot of pinkish blood some more burning but hydrated all day(3 liters water) and keep having strong streams with color still iodine from the meds and some reddish pink. Saturday(today) woke up passed some pink urine to start(ping) but no burning. Stopped the med for burning, took a 2 mile walk, drank about a liter of water on walk. Came home and felt urge to pee, seemed like it was stuck for few seconds then firehose again and noticed 3-4 black scabs which I understand is normal. Color is turning more clear once off the med for burning. Only day 3 but so far I have had zero incontinence and only minor leakage. Few drops when I coughed once really hard and passed gas, but had a very thin pad in and never noticed any liquid at all. No leakage to speak of while walking or any other time which is amazing to me but everyone is different(I did do kegels for 2 weeks prior as suggest so that had to help). Biopsy came back negative and took out 59 of the 86 so prostate size now 29. I can't say enough good things about the Mayo Clinic and Dr Dora and rest of the care team. The day before surgery at pre op, while going thru multiple tests, I have never seen anything as efficient. Blood drawn at 10 am was already posted to my app with results in 40 minutes, EKG results in 40 minutes, I was shocked, why cant every place work like this. So while only day 3, I am beyond happy with the results and again, can't say enough good things about Mayo and Dr Dora who is the goat as far as I am concerned with these types of surgeries.

Congratulations @alexdav ! I was fortunate and had Dr. Dora’s HOLEP surgery as well…..3 1/2 years ago! Smartest decision I believe I ever made! You’re on your way!

So happy for you. Wish I could say mine was that way. It has been nearly 13 months and I still have incontinence, on antibiotics for the 8th time and have a hard time getting my urine to flow. It has been a miserable 13 months. I am not a happy camper about this procedure. The urologist said I would be peeing like a young man but it has never happened. I have to squeeze the urine out. I did kegels for 6 months then gave up because the leaking was not getting any better. The longest I have gone without a UTI is 2 months. I am so frustrated.

Have you considered taking d-mannose for your bladder or whatever causing the required antibiotics? I usually take 2 G of Manos with a probiotic to fight bladder or urinary tract infections.. once in the morning once at night. I take colon Care by Gardner life for the probiotic.
Dr Dora also did my Holep in 2019.
I listed the link to my experience earlier in this thread if you're interested

@nabulldog I just put the D mannos supplement on my shopping list and will purchase some today to go along with my cranberry supplement. Thanks for the information.

@elcorbs
I’ve been 1week since the procedure.. the burning pain upon urination is getting easier to handle but clearly this ain’t for sissy’s..I’ll have to reserve final judgement for a month or more..

@elcorbs Sorry to hear that...wondering if they said anything about scarring in the urethra which sometimes happens and they have to expand it(think of a straw that is pinched in middle the diameter isn't the same all the way thru) which would cause straining...I have been taking a stool softener just so that I wont strain during bowel movement which has reduced the bleeding for me, now 10 days post surgery and just some pink at first pee in morning...I usually drink 3 liters over course of day and by mid day its very clear...I do kegels couple times a day and the only times I have leaked is a few drops during morning walks(4 miles) so just some stress leakage...stick with it, everyone is different but for me its been best thing I have done, on par with my hip replacement which was another miracle procedure..good luck..

@alexdav You could be on to something with the urethra having scar tissue. Immediately after surgery my stream was great! I felt so good that I finally had a stream after 20 years of very little. A little over a month after surgery I had a plug in my penis and couldn’t urinate. I felt it come down my urethra then stop before completely coming out. I went to the ER and the doctor couldn’t get the plug (tissue) removed. They inserted a catheter beside the plug. I had that in for 10 days waiting on my urologist to return from knee surgery. He removed the catheter and said the plug was gone. He did a cystoscopy up into the bladder to see if he had left any other tissue. He said it was clean and I should be good. From that time until now I have had 7 UTI’s but only verified with cultures 2 times. I had a a culture a couple of weeks ago and I just finished a round of antibiotics taking Amoxicillin which was what the lab said was recommended for this strain of bacteria. My urologist says my bladder neck is not in the best of shape. I leak during the day just drops, but when I do my morning walk I really leak. I went golfing 2 days ago and I leaked really bad. After surgery I was going through 6 to 7 diapers per day. This went on for about 6 months all while doing daily kegels. I finally went to just liners and stayed with the kegels. My leaking never improved from that point so I stopped doing them. My stream is weak like it was before the surgery and my urologist says it is because of my weak bladder neck. If I could get the UTI’s under control I could live with the incontinence. I drink water all day long. I can’t drink coffee, eat spices and tomato’s. I had tomato soup 2 weeks ago and ended up wetting the bed I leaked so bad. I normally don’t leak at all at night. My urologist knows my frustration but basically told me I would have to live with this. I am going to start doing kegels once again. Maybe I gave up too soon. Just not sure what to do. My next appointment with my urologist is not until August. Thanks for your insight. I do appreciate the feedback.