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Tulsa Pro Experience, Mayo Clinic MN – July 2024
Gleason 7 (4+3). I was treated Wednesday July 17, 2024. I checked in at 7am, entered the MRI/Tulsa suite at 8:15, and woke up in the recovery room around 11:30am. Approximately 30% of my prostate was ablated. I woke up with no pain and catheter in. The first 5-6 hours of the catheter were a little tough as I felt an urgent need to pee, but you can’t because you have the catheter in. Was fine after that. I did take Oxybutynin for bladder spasms at night. At 12:30pm, I walked out of the hospital and 2 blocks to my car to be driven home to Minneapolis.
Over the course of the next 40 hours, I just needed to regularly empty the catheter bag and continued to have no pain. Didn’t even take a Tylenol. The morning after TULSA I took my normal 2 mile walk. Catheter was removed at 7:45 Friday morning and I was good to go home. Catheter removal was not bad and they had to ensure I could pee on my own before release. Urine stream is about half of normal but will improve as inflammation of urethra declines. No medication needed at this point.
I did a ton of research before deciding on TULSA Pro. I talked to 7 different doctors. 4 current and 3 retired (1 had RP and another had radiation). The technology and low risk of side effects made this an easy choice for me. I was also fortunate to have the cancer contained in a fairly small lesion.
I couldn’t be more pleased with the procedure and my care at Mayo.
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@jcf58
Congratulations. Grateful Tulsa Pro has worked so well for you.
Best wishes for many more years
Thought I would give a two-year update on my Tulsa experience. I was just down at Mayo in Rochester last Wednesday and Thursday for my two-year complete check up. As a reminder, I was a 4+3 with cribriform, and a PSA of 8.6. My PSA has held steady at 0.8 for all 8 of my quarterly checks. All four MRIs have been negative. As part of the two year follow up, I had a transperineal biopsy of 14 cores. All 14 came back as benign. Very impressed that Mayo had the results back to me in two business days. I remain side effect free, and I’m very happy with the route taken.
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Real good info on catheter so far, however, many people have catheter for 10 to 14 days like I did, so one does have to plan around that. You might want to call and ask what they say how long the catheter will be in and since I had a lot of BPH it was in there awhile. I heard some do fly home or try doing activities, but I don't think I could have done that post Tulsa. I rented an AirBNB for the time I had catheter and found what worked is to catch up on streaming TV shows and so on. I guess it varies widely and does depend on how much ablated or ablation fraction, and how much BPH one has.
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2 ReactionsI carried the catheter bag around in a small bucket around the house and in a reusable shopping bag when walking thru the neighborhood!
Thanks. And that was with a catheter for the first few days? Wow. Didn't think it would be that easy. Good to know
I only had 30% of my prostate ablated. I walked out of Mayo at 12:30 pm and walked 3 blocks to my car. I felt like I could have driven home. Went for a 2 mile walk the next morning. My recovery may not be the norm though.
Will I feel like flying home later the same day or next day? I have to fly into town the day before for treatment. Then I have treatment at 8am. I'll have a catheter for a few days. Will I feel like flying home later that day? Or the next day. Thanks folks.
Mine was covered under Medicare in 2024 (had to be done in a hospital— I did Mayo Rochester).
What did it cost and does Medicare now cover
I had TULSA done at 68 years of age. Total gland ablation was performed for a 3+3 Gleason, with nine out of 30 cores positive for cancer. At 3 months post-TULSA, my PSA was 0.10, and my MRI results at 6 months ( see above ) show no cancer. My PSMA before TULSA showed no uptake, not even in the prostate, though the biopsy indicated cancer. I had two tumors and some mild BPH. It looks like TULSA resolved all of those issues.
Post-TULSA experience was zero pain, seriously, zero pain from the treatment. I had two medications for bladder spasm and the feeling that I sometimes needed to pee. I rarely took those for the 12 days I had a catheter.
You can have your prostate removed, and still have a chance of cancer returning. I looked for a procedure that was minimally invasive, low pain, quick recovery, did not limit any future treatment that hopefully I would not need, and did not require me to have the prostate removed. TULSA was the answer for me. At 6 months, I appear to be cancer-free. I will see what my URO wants to do, maybe another MRI at 1 year post-TULSA. I'm not sure what he will want to do, but right now I am delighted and grateful.
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