TURP: Did your bladder eventually wake up completely?

Hi @donjoyiii, welcome. I expanded the title of your discussion to reflect your question. Others like @stew80 @ckostoff @trusam1 @susanfalcon52 @heavyphil @wrothrock might have some tips for you.

Also see these related discussions:
- What's your experience with TURP procedure for prostate cancer?https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/turp-procedure-for-prostate/

See all https://connect.mayoclinic.org/group/prostate-cancer/

👍

Hello Don…tough days for sure with your bladder. I personally did not suffer with an overstretched bladder, but a friend of mine did.
He visited many urologists but no one was willing to operate on him. He was self catheterizing and totally hated it! Finally, he found a young doc who thought she could help him.
She surgically reduced the size of his bladder and almost overnight he began having the urge to urinate again. He’s been fine for the past 20 years.
Hopefully, you will not need any further intervention, but if you do and the docs tell you ‘nothing can be done’ don’t believe it for a second. Best,
Phil

thank you

Hi Don,
After an IRE Nanoknife ablation procedure and several days of Foley catheter my doctor removed the catheter. I passed the void test in the office and was sent home. A few hours later I could not pee which rather quickly became an emergency situation. After a harrowing one hour trip through Philadelphia traffic back to his office they triaged me with a temporary intermittent catheter and instructed me on how to do this on myself. I had to self catheterize for over a week before prostate swelling reduced enough for me to urinate normally. Anyhow, I can empathize a little of what you are going through. I imagine and hope things will improve going forward. Hang in there and get off the opiates ASAP.

@swl1956 yes i stopped all opoits 2 days now

June 5: You fly from Myrtle Beach to Connecticut for your father's funeral.June 6 (Medical Error #1): After the funeral, you wake up in severe pain, unable to urinate. You visit an urgent care clinic in Hartford, CT. The clinic misdiagnoses a mechanical prostate blockage as a standard urinary tract infection (UTI), prescribes oral amoxicillin, and tells you that you are clear to fly home.June 7 – June 8 (Prolonged Suffering): You fly back to South Carolina while in complete urinary retention. You remain awake for two straight days in agonizing pain because the amoxicillin cannot bypass a physical prostate blockage.June 9 (Tuesday - The Emergency Save): You contact the VA, who directs you to the McLeod Health Seacoast Emergency Room in Little River, SC.The Trauma: Emergency staff perform an ultrasound scan and drain a massive 4 quarts (approx. 3,800 cc) of trapped urine from your bladder. Carrying nearly 10 times the normal capacity causes severe, acute-on-chronic overstretching and deep muscle trauma to your bladder wall.The Narcotics: Due to the extreme pain, the ER administers two separate doses of IV morphine followed by IV fentanyl.The Physical Injury: Because your prostate is heavily swollen, it takes medical staff two painful, forced attempts to successfully thread a Foley catheter past the blockage to relieve the extreme pressure.Phase 2: Office Challenges & Diagnostic Mapping (June 23)June 23 (Official McLeod Chart Findings): You return to the clinic for a scheduled Transrectal Ultrasound (TRUS) camera scan and an in-office Cystoscopy scope. Your Foley catheter is pulled prior to the procedure.The Bladder Proof: The scope goes into your bladder and officially notes: "No stones, tumors, or lesions were noted within the bladder." This provides the written medical proof that your bladder tissue is completely healthy, clean, and viable.The Prostate Blockage: The scope identifies a severe "Lateral Lobe Obstruction." This proves that the side walls of your 44-cc prostate have grown directly inward, completely clamping your urethra shut like a tight vise and preventing your bladder from emptying.The Office Trial Oversight: The doctor's report states: "Patient is return to clinic this afternoon for a bladder scan if he is unable to void." They pull your tube and prematurely send you out the door to drive home to see if you can pee on your own. Because your urethra is completely crushed by the lateral lobes, you cannot void. You return to the office at 2:06 PM stating you are in severe pain and have only "dribbled" despite drinking 32 oz of water. The nurse performs a bladder scan which initially miscalculates a low 309 mL residual volume before a rescan reveals you have ballooned well past the 750 cc mark, severely compounding the muscle trauma. A catheter is forced back in at 2:08 PM. You fail two more similar office challenges later in the month.Phase 3: Surgical Success & Hospital Neglect (July 1 – July 4)July 1 (Surgery Day): Dr. Timothy Gajewski performs a successful transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) surgery at McLeod Health, completely tunneling out those blocking lateral lobes to create a wide, open surgical channel through your prostate.July 1 – July 2 (The Continuous Irrigation Backup): You are placed on Continuous Bladder Irrigation (CBI). Hospital staff fail to monitor your drainage output. Your collection bag overflows, forcing continuous high-volume irrigation fluid backward into your freshly operated bladder under extreme mechanical pressure, severely re-traumatizing the recovering muscle wall.July 2 – July 3 (Stagnant Blood and Clot Rescue): Your daytime nurse fails to perform active syringe irrigation while you are on a leg bag, allowing blood to pool. The night nurse performs only passive gravity irrigation. The next morning, thick clots completely lock up your urethra. A physician has to perform 30 continuous minutes of manual syringe pumping to forcefully suck the heavy clots out, causing severe local trauma.July 3 – July 4 (The Overnight Clearing): Following the clot rescue, Dr. Gangi clears the lines. The night nurse performs regular, successful syringe irrigations every 4 hours overnight. By Saturday morning, your fluid is completely 100% clear and your bladder is completely rested and ready for a clean trial.Phase 4: The Saturday Chart Omission & Discharge (July 4)7:00 AM: Dr. Gangi inputs the morning medical order to officially discontinue the Foley catheter for a Trial of Voiding today.11:15 AM: Dr. Gangi visits your bedside. Seeing that his 7:00 AM order has been completely ignored by the nursing staff for over four hours, he explicitly tells you he wanted that catheter out "hours ago" because the floor is behind schedule.11:50 AM: Dr. Gangi logs into the digital system and signs his morning Progress Note, pre-authorizing your discharge based on a hypothetical success before the test is conducted.12:09 PM: Nurse Megan Palombi logs Dr. Gangi's verbal care plan, setting a strict safety rule: "If greater than 400 mL, place 16 french foley catheter."12:40 PM: The floor staff finally remove your catheter—nearly 6 hours after the morning order. The nurse tries to blame the 5-hour delay on you requesting pre-removal pain medication (Percocet).2:10 PM: Your first urge to pee hits. You complete the first of three scheduled cup voids, passing exactly 100 mL of pink-tinted urine into cup number 1. You subsequently fail your remaining attempts, passing only 100 mL a total of 5 times. You stop drinking water once you realize you are trapping fluid.4:15 PM: You call the front desk to notify the nurse for your safety bladder scan. The nurse brings the scanner in, but abruptly claims she "forgot something," walks out, and abandons you for over 30 minutes to process a routine discharge for another patient. Left entirely unmonitored, your bladder balloons to a dangerous 570–590 mL while you try to void 4 more painful times.4:45 PM: Dr. Gangi calls your phone. Knowing you are only peeing a tiny bit but wanting to recover, he asks if you want to go home with or without a catheter. Recognizing the danger of leaving in retention, you insist on the tube.5:00 PM: As your family arrives to visit, the nurse returns. Because the 590 mL stretch caused acute tissue swelling inside your raw surgical tunnel, a smaller 16 French tube will not pass. They violate Dr. Gangi's original order and force a thicker, stiff-tipped 18 French Coude catheter into your body.5:12 PM: Dr. Gangi signs your final Discharge Summary, glossing over the entire afternoon's retention crisis by writing: "Postoperative course was uneventful. Discharge to home

OMG! I cannot empathize with that. Even my brief experience with urinary retention was enough for me to consider suicide. So sorry for you having experienced this nightmare. So much incompetence and under staffing in hospitals. Unfortunately, I'm thinking this is becoming the norm. 🙁

@donjoyiii

Jesus!
I am sitting here cringing at the experience.