Fla 2nd time

Posted , 20 users are following.

Just wanted to let everyone know that I will being going back for another Fla procedure. Had my 2nd 3tmri. Looks like not much has changed. Prostate is smaller than before. Talk with Dr K several times now. He has never done a redo only on cancer never on bph. I am apprehensive about doing another Fla, but dr says he can be a little more aggressive and that he wished he had been the first time. I am hoping for just a little touch up and that my bph symptoms will be gone. I am keeping faith that Dr K is truthful in his ability to remove more and have better results. As of now the only thing that is better for me since the first Fla is the meds seem to be working better as before they had stop working and had no choice but to have some sort of surgery. I go in January 25 for fla. This time I have stopped the finasteride for about 3 days now so my prostate should be normal size when i go in a month for Fla. He does think this will help and says he will have anyone on finasteride stop before Fla from now on. I am sort of a ginny pig.  Dr K will be doing procedure for half the cost. $ 11,000.00 I may have to self catheterize once the finasteride gets completely out of my system. That scares me the most at this time. Wish me luck guys I will need it. If it works i hope it may give other guys hope if they choose to try again. Hope I don't get retro grade or any other problems. The pills i take do that already so I am used to retro. Best case is that i have not sexual side effects and i pee good and will be able to get off all meds finasteride and flomax. I will only be in Houston for 3 days a quick in and out. One of my concerns is that he may get to aggressive, which he said he will be more aggressive but not to aggressive. If that makes sense. I will keep you folks informed. I am nervous, but considering the alternative surgerys i feel this is the best. This will mean i have about $35,000 invested in my prostate.  I guess this means im crazy, but its only money. 

Merry Christmas

2 likes, 54 replies

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  • Posted

    Next Thursday Fla again. Off of Finesteride for about a month now. Everything is still working only problem is it takes a minute or so to get the p** going. Did have to self catheter for one day. I did it but wasn't to much fun. Not sure how y'all do it on a every day basis. Anyway I have high hopes that this 2nd time will do the trick. Wish me luck and a prayer or two would be nice. I'll keep y'all posted on progress. Have a great day.

    Jim

    • Posted

      " ..takes a minute or so to get the p** going..."

      Hi Jim, did you have this problem when you were on finasteride ? I have similar problem and finasteride did not help, so I stopped taking it a month ago. Did you tell Dr K about this ? Did he say FLA will fix it ? Wish you the very best. Hank

    • Posted

      Good luck Jim, I know you are on good hands with Dr K. The waiting is the hardest part I think.

      Take care

    • Posted

      Hank, Are you aware that it takes up to 6 months of daily doses for finasteride to take effect?
    • Posted

      I tried it for 7 months without much improvement. Thanks. Hank
  • Posted

    Thank you guys..

    I'm thinking it's going to work this time.

    Jim

  • Posted

    Jim you mention stopping finasteride and having problems peeing. I thought finasteride was used to shrink the prostate or at least to slow growth. Seems to me since it takes a while for the prostate to grow back peeing wouldn't be a problem. Qutting tamsulosin or daily cialis might cause peeing problems in short order.

  • Posted

    So how did it go Jim?
    • Posted

      It's only the 2nd day. Time will tell. As far as recovery im doing fine. A little sore. Dr K took out more around the bladder neck. Catheter isnt much fun have 6 more days on that. Coming back to California tomorrow. Ill keep y'all informed. I can say this Dr.K is the best doc ive every had.

      Jim

    • Posted

      Glad to hear it went well. Hoping and praying you get great results
  • Posted

    Hi Jim, hope the procedure went well for you and that it will give you the results you are looking for this time.

    You mentioned above that you did have to self cath one time last week. Did you have someone at a doctors office show you how to do it?

    I got some catheters from Dr K but I am nervous to actually do it. I am usually able to pee normally but in late afternoon and at night it is difficult to begin a flow---I am afraid I may end up in the ER to have a foley put in place. I would much rather do the self cath if it is not too difficult. I am afraid I might do some damage while trying to insert it.

    Thanks, Rick

  • Posted

    Hi Jim,

    I wanted to check in and see how your second go-round with FLA went. I hope that you got the improvement you were looking for. If you could give us an update, that would be great.

    Thanks and best wishes,

    Fred

    • Posted

      Jury is still out. Just been a little over two weeks. I have had some improvements, but they are slow incoming and are slight.

      I will let you guys know, just don't want to say much as it's to early to tell. I'm am staying positive and hoping for the best.

      Jim

    • Posted

      Improvements? As in better than before the procedure, or better than after removal of the Foley? And how long was the Foley in this time?

      Good luck with the recovery

    • Posted

      Hi Jim,

      Thanks for the update. Will keep my fingers crossed for you. Please let us know how it goes. Wishing you all the best of luck with your recovery and hope it is quick and complete!

      Best,

      Fred

    • Posted

      Ok dr k removed more prostate from bladder neck. Had Foley in for 8 days. On the first day of removal of Foley. Peeing was great with no hesitation. 2nd day was almost as good as first but was deminising. 3rd day was back to when I went in. Took 3 urabil a day for days for bladder pain. Got to 2 a day and just a day or 2 ago i now take just 1 a night with less bladder pain. Hesitation comes and goes. It seems but barely I'm able hold urine more and possibly not peeing as much. Hoping in the next couple of weeks things will be inproving more. The ultimate for me will be to have noo bladder pain. good stream and get off flomax. I t hink b ladder pain was and is from having to push urine t hr ough the inf lamed areas of bladder neck. Also seems slightly tha t my streasm is better. All tthese improvements are minimum at best. Some days seem slightly better than others, But they are improvements. Wife says its to soon to tell and im sure she is right, im just a really impatient guy.

      Thank you guys for asking.

      Jim

    • Posted

      Wishing you nothing but the best, of course.

      As we know, no magic until 6-8 weeks. Lots of weird sensations before then. No point in analyzing or worrying over what is only going to change in the next few weeks! :-) I definitely had urgency and restricted flow for at least 3 weeks post op. 6 months post-op life is mighty fine, and I travel freely with no concern for where a restroom might be. Least of my concerns.

      Omward Upward my friend! Relax and let the healing take its natural course with confidence.

    • Posted

      Pete, really  glad to hear how it has gone for you. 

      John

    • Posted

      Hey Pete,

      Thanks for confidence and reassuring words. Some days I feel like things could be getting better and then it's the opposite. It's be around 3 weeks. I haven't said much yet because I'm still waiting. It is frustrating and taxing at times.

      But I do see progress little bits here and there.

      Jim

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