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Prostate and Bladder Issues: What to do?

Men's Health | Last Active: Mar 8 12:51pm | Replies (163)

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@kayak461

Thank you for your help. I’ll ask you a few questions if you don’t mind? I’ll give you a brief status on my condition. I’m 3 months away from70 years old. At this point, no cancer has been found in my prostate with an MRI. My Prostate is estimated to be about 77 g in size. I’ve had 3 laparoscopic surgeries in the past on my abdomen.

How long were you in the hospital following HOLEP?
How long did you have to have a catheter in for?
Was recovery painful?
Did you experience incontinence!
Was there significant improvement in urination?
Was it difficult to get out and about within the first three months?
Did you lose the ability to have an erection?
Did you lose the ability to ejaculate?

I appreciate your thoughts and for taking the time to respond!

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Replies to "Thank you for your help. I’ll ask you a few questions if you don’t mind? I’ll..."

My experience with HoLEP has been very positive. I had it done by Dr. Amy Krambeck at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She has done over 3000 HoLEPs. My research told me that is what you want--someone who has done a lot of them. To answer your questions:
I was not in hospital overnight--it was day surgery at the hospital. I got out after a few hours in recovery. The catheter was removed in the recovery room that same day. There was almost no pain in recovery. I had only a little incontinence to begin with, and now almost none. My urination is much better after many years of struggling to urinate. When I urinate now I usually have a strong stream and seem to empty much better than before. I had no problem with getting out and about after the surgery. Actually was walking around Chicago the day after the surgery--probably too much activity that soon, but went just fine. Regarding sex, no problem getting an erection. Regarding ejaculation, I do ejaculate, but it is retrograde ejaculation--no sperm/seminal fluid comes out of my penis. I believe that is because the connection is cut when you have the HoLEP. So you do ejaculate but it goes into your bladder, I think. However, you do experience an orgasm just as before with great pleasure. I believe retrograde ejaculation results from every HoLEP.

A few addition thoughts: I needed a HoLEP due to medical necessity since at that point, in 8/21 I could not urinate at all and so it was covered by insurance. That was because I essentially went into acute renal failure due to urine retention. I only found this out as I was sick and went in for testing. I have ready that this often happens as very little symptoms of kidney failure, sometimes. Had my wife not insisted I go to the doctor, who knows how much damage my kidneys would have suffered. The urine backed up into my kidneys. I had urinating issues for years due to a very large prostrate--130 mgs at the time of the HoLEP--but no one ever warned or monitored whether I was retaining urine or the possible consequences for my kidneys. So important that you ask about this to avoid this issue. I wish I had been having bladder scans during those years which would have perhaps avoided my crisis but no one ever ordered one or warned me of this danger. I now have stage 3b chronic kidney disease due to the original problem in 8/21. I am okay but my kidneys will never be the same.

These are just my personal experiences, others may have had more complications from the HoLEP. There is a lot of info on the web about this, so do your research. All I know is from what I found there and then my own results of the procedure. Best of luck!