Mini-Turp questions

@mike4225 my husband went through a TURP procedure at a hospital and was sent home with the catheter in place. Everyone else we know has stayed in the hospital overnight but his urologist didn’t want him in the hospital overnight. If he is to go through this procedure again he said he will not agree to it unless they agree to keep him in the hospital overnight.

Since you will be away from home, I would highly recommend asking - even insisting on - an overnight stay at the hospital.

The catheter started leaking an hour or so after returning home. We had to call in a nurse twice in here days and all she did was flushed the tubing but the catheter would start leaking after she left.. His surgery was on a Thursday too and he had the catheter in till the Sunday when he went to a Clinic to have it removed. He was in extreme discomfort and pain the entire time the catheter was in. He says he never wants to go through this experience again.

Make sure you have bed pads while you have the catheter in. My husband soaked several of those bed liners.

Whatever you do, do.not.remove.the.catheter.yourself. You can do damage doing it. You should arrange to go back to the hospital or clinic to have it removed.

Hello.
I'm not sure what a mini-turp is?
I can only answer to my experience from May 27 2025 - about 3 weeks ago. I had a MEDIAN LOBE TURP and a UROlift procedure due to BPH. Not all turps are created equal.

My urinary issues sounded similar to yours except I didn't measure my output. In addition, I finally started having retrograde ejaculation so that was the kicker that made me get surgery. I was maxxed out on Flomax so this procedure was my best option. Not my ONLY option - my best option.

Surgery 8am - 1 hr length - I did stay in the hospital overnight and left the next day - midday - without a catheter. My Urologist didn't give me an option. It was that or no procedure. I'm very gad I did. Had I only needed the UROlift, I would have no catheter and home by noon same day.

The catheter, for me, was at times painful - I cramped HORRIBLY for about 1 minute about every hour or so. They gave me valium but it only subdued the pain some. Otherwise, it was annoying but not bad. Again, that's just my experience, others seem to handle it better. But you will want that catheter and the flush they give you. It's VERY helpful.
I can only say this - I would absolutely stay in the hospital overnight and ask why I couldn't have the catheter removed when I left. Initially I balked at both staying and a catheter. But now, I'm very glad I did.

They only strapped the tubes to my leg when we walked. You'll want that otherwise gravity will pull out your catheter and add extra pain to your penis. There was some blood that escaped the catheter and we had a small clean-up. Nothing alarming but it was somewhat sizable spill.
Sleeping in a hospital? Doubtful - I was constantly awakened by either getting my vitals taken, catheter check or getting blood draw for labs. After she pulled the catheter the next day, the nurse wanted to see me pee - trust me, not a hard thing to do - both samples were 200ml +. Good to go.
Next, keep your diapers and the urinal jug for about a week. Wear one home, bring your jug. That was my one overlook. I wish I would've had a diaper to wear home. I picked some up that day.
Bring home some of the puppy pee pads from the hospital. They gave me some - again, helpful for the first week on top of wearing the diaper to bed.
Get a butt cushion. It helps the bladder not get jostled so much on car rides or it sounds like in your case, a flight.
Take the Phenazopyridine - turns your pee very dark orange - that helps soothe things but it does give you some urgency. Or maybe I had urgency anyway? After a week, I was confident enough that I dropped the diapers, the Phenazopyridine and the puppy pee pad. The soreness lasted about a week and was mainly when I started to pee. Nothing concerning or excruciating, just...there.
3 weeks into it, still some blood in the urine, peeing gets better mostly and then maybe a setback. There sometimes is some pain when I start to pee but again, nothing concerning. 2 steps forward, 1 step back - you never heal on a straight line upwards. I no longer stand there forever waiting to stop dripping or start dripping again after I walk away. I always thought of those online meme's I see "Why does Grandpa smell like pee?". I never wanted to be that guy - even though I have no kids. Now I'm not that guy anymore.

Now, I seem to shut off and have a better stream. So it is much better. Sense of urgency is better - not perfect - but noticeably better. Again - it's early - gotta be patient.
Retrograde ejaculation is fixed! We probably shouldn't have tested that so early and she tried to talk me out of it - not that anyone cares - but I would say preliminarily this was all a great success.

All in all, I am very pleased and things seem to work much better and I'm not even healed yet. It will take time for your bladder to get back to realizing it doesn't have to work so hard to urinate. As my Urologist told me - you have to go through it to get to it. I don't have a follow-up with him until 1 month later - June 25. He said there was no point in seeing him any earlier. I get it now.

Hang in there, nothing is as good as it seems or as bad as it seems. Just be patient, take the wins, see the progress and chalk up the backwards steps as 1 less instance it will happen.
For me - on a scale of 1-10 - with 10 being "shoot me and put me out of my misery why did I do this" and 1 being no big deal;
Hospital stay and catheter - maybe a 4 - not so horrible even with the occasional cramp pain. I brought my laptop and worked, checked my phone, kept busy. Glad I was forced to stay overnight.
First week - maybe a 6 (tops) because of the diaper, the urgency and a little pain. I would stick close to home. The diaper was actually nice because it gave me confidence to run errands and not pee all over the place trying to get to the bathroom.
After that - probably a 2. Take it easy, don't lift anything heavy, don't sweat the small stuff - some very minor pain, a little blood in the urine, etc.

I think you're worrying too much. It's not as bad as it sounds. I would absolutely do it again and made the correct decision.

My Urologist has done many Mini-Turps on an outpatient basis. Apparently unlike a full TURP only a small portion of the prostate will be removed. He advised me as I said my prostate isn't that enlarged it's just in a position where it is squeezing the urethra causing significant retention and IC. He apparently is confident I won't have an issue. He said doing it at hospital he is affiliated with wasn't a good idea. He said it would take months to get an operating room and is worried at my age being around people who could give me an infection.

Some of the issues discussed here certainly cause me worry. I will be staying at an upscale hotel next to the surgical center and the last thing I need is getting blood on the hotel carpet. As I mentioned I am literally minutes away from the hospital emergency room.

I will be packing 14 days worth of pads and multiple NorthShore and Depends diapers in my suitcase. I don't know my recovery time but staying at the hotel for 7 days seems like a good idea. Outside of the weekend which would be day 3 and 4 as the surgery is done on Thursday hoping the catheter is removed on Friday. If unfortunately it has to stay in till Monday I will have a few more days to see if there is any complications. I am prepared to stay more than 7 days if need be.

Not to get personal but how does this work after the surgery. You are wearing a diaper and the tube is coming out of the edge of the diaper. Dose the cloth material from the diaper irritate the tip of your penis because it holds you junk in pretty tight so you're not leaking. The bag is then strapped to your calf. When you switch bags from the daytime bag to the overnight bag doesn't urine or blood leak from the tube. I sleep on my side and this is going to be a real mess because not only am I wearing a CPAP mask with a hose attached but a tube with a bag placed somewhere below the mattress because it has to be lower than my body so the urine flows downward. I heard some men sleep in a chair because it's too painful to lie in bed. I always switch sides several times a night in bed. How do you reposition the tube when you do that. This is one time I wish I could sleep on my back.

Still worried about how painful urinations will be. Will I have urgency every 10 minutes after the catheter is removed or will it be more frequent. I dread having that razor pain 6 times an hour for 16 hours a day more than a couple days in a row.

Could I live with my situation without surgery. I don't know how many more years I have left and that thought of losing the use of my bladder or kidney failure with dialysis is not how I want to live. Flomax was masking how bad the problem was. The Urologist I saw in 2015 or 2016 told me I had retention. He said I would be able to urinate freely with the Flomax. My voids weren't big but no stop and starts or strains using it. My IC is the big issue and my Urologist told me he could treat it aggressively but not until surgery. Possibly using Botox injections to solve the issue. Maybe just eliminating the retention will work. I don't know. It will take months for my bladder to get back to normal.

Hi,
I'm not sure how a catheter and a diaper will work. My catheter was only in during my hospital stay. I certainly am no doctor, but I still don't understand the long term catheter for a partial or "mini" turp. It seems needless. My doctor pointed out that the hospital stay and catheter were a precaution and for observation.

I didn't sleep much in the hospital, I was always awakened by someone coming and going from my room. But I would think sleeping on your side would be ok, if you slept to the side where they had the bag and tubes. I just elevated my bed a little and slept at a slightly upright angle.

They will do a couple of ultrasounds on your bladder to see how you're voiding. Again, it seemed rarely is there an issue from what the nurse told me.
As far as pain goes, I really haven't had much at all. Maybe the first week when I first started to urinate, but it wasn't excruciating. Just a burning sensation probably from the surgical instruments and catheter. It dissipated quickly for me. Small price to pay for short term discomfort.
I don't think this will be as debilitating as you think - at least I would hope not. It's a very common and pretty minor surgical procedure. I would continue to press on the catheter issue and having it removed the next morning when you are discharged. Unless there is some other medical condition that you have that warrants a longer term catheter.

Not long term. The surgery is done Thursday morning. I come back to the Urologist's office Friday morning. If I can urinate the catheter comes out. If I can't it stays in till Monday. I misspoke about wearing a diaper with the catheter. I guess I will wear boxer shorts which I wore before my IC started. After the catheter is removed the diapers go back on and will wear until I see my IC disappear. I'm not expecting much. The surgery is to stop retention and frequent urination. Will the TURP eliminate IC, that remains to be seen.

I didn't enjoy the burn every urination for 48 hours straight after the scope. Don't know how many days it will last with TURP. I will not fly home until it is resolved. Have be close to Urologist's office until I'm sure there are no complications. It's going to cost me a fortune to have food delivered to my hotel if I can't get around for several days. Even it's constant frequency.

On another topic I still had complications from my scope 2 weeks out. Yesterday I had an a UTI. After dinner I had to start urinating with pain every 8-10 minutes. I would only urinate about .50 ML. Not burning pain but flared pain from penis to bladder. This went on from my around 7pm to 11am the next morning. I couldn't do anything. Couldn't get to a doctor or even pick up an RX. I was debating calling a Tele-Med and have an antibiotic delivered to me. Fortunately I went to sleep and apparently it went away. Maybe my body rid itself of the bacteria that was causing it. This is exactly what I'm worried about with the TURP. I have never had anything like that happen to me before. Imagine not being able to leave your house because you have to urinate every few minutes. The urgency and pain were terrible. I did take an NSAID and Ibuprofen. Obviously having tubes and a scope inserted in my Urethra left some kind of bacteria in there despite precautions. It might have lied dormant for a few weeks before becoming active. Maybe it happened from the beverages I had. Iced tea and water in a restaurant. Never heard of getting an infection from drinking beverages. If that was case people would get UTI's constantly.

Hopefully no more issues till my TURP in mid July.

Hello, I pray all goes well. I've posted a few times but will probably stop as I don't have anything new to share. I'm looking in the rear view mirror since my 2010 TUMT destroyed me in many ways. Please consider these talking points below seriously from my experience. I tell no one what to do. That's their personal choice.

1. Do NOT rush into any procedure despite any doctor telling you it's critical or urgent. ALWAYS get 2-3 second opinions. Request reference patients from doctors to speak with, knowing they will likely cherry-pick the best outcomes. Information is your best friend.

2. Take a conservative route, first. Exhaust invasive procedures to the end. You may be surprised that you can avoid big mistakes.

3. My personal opinion is that "every" urologist require his patient to learn to self-catherize and perform that process daily for at least 3 months. This, along with a medication like tamsulosion (which I have found helpful though some may not tolerate) works well for me as I've been scarred and "disabled" through two previous invasive procedures. I self-cath today with speed and ease. Using sterile technique is absolutely essential to prevent a UTI. Buy the best towelette on Amazon and spend a couple minutes to clean well. Initially I always took a brief shower and used Hibiclens each night, but with sterile technique you can avoid this step. Self-cath may be an inconvenience but it avoids the worst possible outcome where you essentially become a eunuch.

4. Get over your fears and man up. Yes, I was terrified at first and embarrassed by having to be catherized by several different nurses back in 2010. Yes, I was terrified of the cystoscopy at first. Yes, I was terrified by the TUMT procedure which I was IMHO coerced into performing. Yes, I was terrified about going home with a catheter bag strapped to my leg for weeks. But in the rearview mirror, it was for nothing. It's better to seek your inner strength and determine many other men and women endure incredibly more trauma for other types of diseases and surgeries.

5. Mentally hope for the best, but plan for the worst! Doctors will definitely tell you of the side effects, the worst possible outcomes. And they will estimate the rare percentage these occur. However, they DO occur and it could be you. How will you cope with the worst possible scenario? It may well be you. You never know. Simulate the worst outcome in your mind ahead of time.

My wife pushed me to see a doctor back in 2010 as the congenital defect from childhood resulted in a constricted urethra. It presented itself as BPH. As a younger man at the time I stupidly believed the doctor's threat that my bladder could be stretched to become inoperable due to 900-mL of retention. He said I wanted to avoid emergency bladder surgery and be forever impaired. Yet there were alternatives I was not encouraged to try. There were newer procedures he was unfamiliar I later discovered. I was rushed into a room, stripped naked, my anus packed with ice and a microwave probe inserted and taped to my penis. The problem, in hindsight, is that the doctor didn't personally oversee the procedure. He left the room and left a nurse or med-aid to run the electronics that microwaved my insides for 60 minutes. The pain was insufferable and I would have been preferred to be water-boarded constantly for six months compared to this pain. It did its damage. So much regret and pain for my wife to live with afterwards as well.

However, IT IS, WHAT IT IS. I made a free choice, albeit ignorant, and I live with the consequences. I only tell of this experience to educate men to think and choose conservatively and wisely. And men should "man up" to live with their choices with peace and hold others blameless. Meditate, pray, speak to your friends and lean on them. But live with the outcome in peace.

This is only one man's story. Best wishes for all educated men who are fearless.