Had FLA on Feb 8th.

Why did your prostate get to 190cc without something being done about it?

haha i had 5 biopsys  because of enlarged prostate and elevated PSA- all negative thank gooodness.No issues until i turned 55then i started having some issues peeing at night and took herbal which helped. Then went to urologist to see about rezum treatment. He said i had a big prostate maybe 80 cc and I got an MRI- turned out to be 190 cc and here I am  at 61 thinking what can i do to resolve this and keep on truckin.

Congratulations 190cc is pretty good for your age. .I had GL on my 75cc prostate in 2004 when I was 70 and by 2013 it had regrown  to 135cc when it had 80cc lasered away.

Answers to your questions. 

My prostate was 125cc some have been larger like Mike's (mike skier) was about the size of yours. He was the guy right behind me and about 12 months ago. He is great now but he just does not still get on the site. He is loving life and bought a place in Mexico. If you want to contact him I can hook you up with him and he will gladly talk to you just PM me. We in the K club all try to stick together and help if we can. 

The cost of FLA is expensive in that it is $21,000 but I must say the results in my opinion were well worth it to me. FLA does not usually cause any sexual issues, especially erectile dysfunctions as FLA  is very precise and controlled to the millimeter of distance.  The procedure is not even any where near the nerve bundles of the gland. Not even in the same zip code of the prostate. So No ED and if you doctor is as good and as trained as Dr K, he spots the nerve bundles, the ejaculator glands, and the seminal vesicles and then stays completely away from them. The ejaculator ducts which is the thing that would cause retrograde issues are not cut or touched so no retrograde ejaculation. This is not a guess work procedure as it is done inside the MRI with eyes on the procedure while doing the work.

I will say that I fully believe that the success is made in the choosing of the doctor to do the procedure. Dr. K is not only trained in IR he has a degree in Bio Medical Engineering which I believe helps him a great deal with producing the best procedure. This treatment is as much an artistic procedure as it is a science. Sadly, other prostate treatment are based on a lot of luck as they have a more random approach.

We in the K club all understand how good he is as he shows us all why, what,  where and how each  of us individually need this procedure done. No two men or their BPH conditions are the same. He is very precise and detailed. And he know what he wants to precisely do before he does it.

You hear men on this site say that the procedure took 3 hours after the prep work. NO one else in medicine takes that much time and precision to do a prostate procedure. He check then check it again then check it a third time for precise accuracy. 

Yes, FLA is minimally invasive and does not enter the urethra at all except for the catheter which you wear for 5 to 7 days after the procedure. Then recovery is two steps forward and one back for about 5 weeks then BINGO. I came home with the catheter on the fifth day and drove myself for 6 hours. I removed the catheter on the sixth day and went to work two days later. Results seems slow as you have to wait for the inflammation and the removal of the coagulated tissue in the gland to happen. 

What? a prostatectomy? Rather radical wouldn't say for a BPH condition? If this was me, I would contact Dr. K and get a consultations. It is worth asking as it does not cost you to do so. 

I had my FLA 15 months ago and still very pleased. Don't tell anyone but I would have paid much more if I would have know the results. I was miserable for better part of 9 years. Again no sexual side effects. if you need contact information, just personal message me. (PM) on the little envelope next to my name above. 

I hope this has helped you. Did you said you are 61 or am I getting people mixed up? I was 65 when I did the procedure. I tried to answer your question in order. 

 

Mine was <30cc prior to the procedure. I imagine it will shrink a bit over time.

There is no direct correlation between size and LUTS. Some men have large prostates and no issues and others (like me) have 'normal' size glands and have issues.

As one urologist told me - it's not the size of the donut, just the size of the hole...

I had my FLA approx. 9 months ago. My prostate was 185CC with a large median lobe and a benign cyst that was protruding into the bladder. Needless to say I was a mess. I now pretty much sleep through the night and do not have any real urgency issues unless I eat spicy foods. I no longer take any meds and this has improved my health and well being. It seems every month my stamina and energy improves. I believe this is from the toxic meds leaving my body and better sleep patterns. I cannot tell you how much the FLA changed my life. I am 66 and I am starting to feel 40 again. Dr. K is the real deal!!

Good to here Steve. Hope my situation works similar to yours. Hope to get off the flomax 8mg a day. How long did you wait to guit your meds.

Jim

It seam like that was not big enough to cause a problem.  Did you ever get the copy of what they took out on the MRI  Ken

Glad it is all working for you.  Being it has been 9 months.  How is your sex life.  Did you end up with retro.  Or was that not a concern.  Just wondering.  Take care  Ken

While my prostate is 'average' in size, there was still partial occlusion of the prostatic urethra, which was visible by both MRI and cystoscope. Many men with large prostates have no issues and some with small/normal sized ones do. This is just one of the many things that make diagnosing and treating LUTS challenging.

I know where he ablated (bladder neck and midway down the prostatic urethra on the posterior side. I will not have another MRI for 4+ months, though I did have another cystoscopy on 1/31 - the urologist report cited a 'cavernous prostatic urethra' and it looked very different than before the procedure.  

 

Being he did the bladder neck did he say anything about retro.  I know when it heals it has to re form.  I hope ever thing come out ok  Ken

I am currently experiencing that - don't know if it will recover in whole or part. One of the trade offs.

I for one do not think you should have to trade.  Most of the men that had it done did not have that problem.  Before it was done and Dr. K told you about what he was doing did he say anything about retro or did you ask or was that not a concern.  Get well soon  Ken  

This was not expected on my part.

Every man should ask questions before a procedure or Dr. K which I feel he is a caring doctor should have told you something being he was going to cut away at the bladder neck.  Most bladder neck surgery you will get retro.  What done is done maybe when you heal more and the prostate re forme's you may get it back.  Heal well  Ken .  

Tim I have a question, I thought I remembered that you had retro from flomax before your procedure? Are you still taking this? I have seen several guys that got better slowly after getting off the drug. I also know some guys on the drug stay on it in reduced dosage for a while after the FLA as the inflammation goes down. This is completely a precautionary idea I believe and I think slowly after the drug is stopped you would regain ejaculation. Just an observation. 

Over the years, I've tried all 3 of the selective alpha-blockers as well as one non-selective. None of them gave me much relief and all 3 of the selective caused retro, though it always recovered within 7 days of stopping the drug. All of these drugs carried much more problems in side effects than any benefits. I've read NIH studies that claimed approx 50% of men get any appreciable benefit from alpha-blockers, I definitely was not one of them.

Per Dr K's instruction, I started taking Tamsulosin 4 days prior to the procedure and took it 14 days after. At that point the nasal congestion was preventing me from sleeping and I was still unable to urinate, so I stopped. As of today, it has been 7+ weeks since I stopped taking it, so that should no longer be a factor.

My goals for this procedure were to:

1. Ablate the visible cancerous lesion

2. Provide improvement in my LUTS

While I will not know the results of #1 for a while, I already consider #2 a success.  While I would prefer not to have retro, my condition may improve with time. This was a known potential issue and one I accepted. While I prefer not to have it - quite frankly, even if it does not change - with the improvement I've seen in my symptoms, I consider it a very acceptable tradeoff. All of us are different and to my understanding, it is not common with most FLA procedures, so hopefully no one that is considering FLA should be deterred by my results. At most, my experience should only make men aware that sometimes complications may arise and be prepared to deal with them if and when required.

I am happy that it is working out for you.  Every men should be happy with what every procedure he pick but we should not have to trade off for anything.  With what he did he should have talked more about the chance of retro.  He cut some of your bladder neck and if you read up on it most men end up with retro.  It is still early it man get better.  I hope for you.  It may heal who know how the body works. Most of the men that Dr. K have done did not end up with retro.  The procedure does work because of the way it's done.  I think I am going to talk to Dr. K and get more information on the whole procedure.  Good luck  Ken