Had Urethroplasty surgery

hello,

I will share my story and journey so far with this urethral stricture problem.

This problem started back in feb 2017. all of a sudden i had complete blockage of my urethra and was unable to pee. i put lot of efforts and strain on my bladder, back muscles and pelvic floor to squeeze the urine but only limited to drops for about 3-4 days. back then i didnt have proper insurance and i found an urologist (whom i later came to know was not a n experienced doctor ) and booked an appointment immediately. he thought it was infection and ordered urine analysis which came out negative. then he gave me ciprofloaxin 500mg for a week and sent me home. after a day of taking cipro i started peeing and i peed about 2-3 days normally. but once the medication was completed i had the blockage back again and i started peeing little amount at a time. this time i had to pee every couple of hours because of very little amount of urine i was peeing and my back, bladder and pelvic floor muscles started to become sore because of the pressure.

anyways fast forward to june 2018 and this time i had good insurance and found a doctor and booked appointment. this doctor when i complained about my problem he thought it was prostate issue but inside i knew its a stricture. he gave me some medication for a week for prostate problem which is i guess tamsulosin. it didnt help a bit and moreover since its already been 1.5 years suffering from this problem the issue becoming severe where sometimes it looked like i have to go for emergency. however i told the doctor its not at all helping and then he ordered VCUG test to check if something going in my bladder and urethra.

Note: from my expereince ordering VCUG as a first step to find out the issue is not at all a good idea because if you have stricture this test may make it more worse.

however, this test failed because the balloon catheter was not able to cross bulbar region of urethra. but it helped a bit for me to get dialated indirectly and i was able to pee bit more this time than before. after few days the doctor did a cystoscopy and found its a urethral stricture.

NOTE: so ordering a cystoscopy/RUG when cipro or tamsulosin dont help with this problem is the right choice of evaluation but not VCUG

this doctor only did cystoscopy and ordered DVIU surgical procedure directly.

NOTE: ordering DVIU directly after knowing problem through cystoscopy is not right choice because at this point before DVIU, the doctor should have done RUG procedure to evaluate the exact location and approx length of the stricture.

in my case RUG did not happen because of inexpereince from doctor and hence i had gone through DVIU procedure. after surgery before discharge the doctor told its about 3-4 cms of lenghth that they have to cut the stricture with knife and told me i have 50-50 chance of a complete success.

NOTE: if in my case an RUG test was ordered, then the doctor would have known its a big stricture and could possibly recommend urethroplasty directly instead of DVIU. reason is DVIU can only be successful for shorter stricture like 1-2 cms.

now I had completed my DVIU i was put on 5days with foley catheter in the penis and removed it. first time after 2years i was able to pee huge amounts of urine and initial days it looked like my commode was very short to handle the distance of urine coming out. fast forward to Jan 2018. i was stricture free for about 3months and gradually i started seeing my flow got reduced. all of a sudden in january i had complete blockage for few hours.

but somehow after few days the stricture was open and i was able to pee with reasonable flow for about 3 more months. now i had found very good doctor and once i filled out form online with the hospital they ordered me RUG directly to check the location and approx length of stricture. stricture is back and now i think the length might have increased.

however, i had buccal mucosa urethroplasty on July 31 and doctor told it was about 4cms (please note that even 1mm of increase in the stricture is very bad for this issue). however now i am on my day 5 of recovery and i have 15more days to go to complete 3 weeks of post op recovery process. so far iam having reasonable pain in my cheek but tolerable and didnt have a bowel movement yet. so waiting on my bowel movements but passing lot of gas.

anyways anyone out there with this problem - i thought sharing my experience might help you to understand what evaluation is good and what is not. i will keep you posted with my recover process and please keep me in your prayers.

NOTE: important things

1)finding good doctor for evaluation is the right choice as a first step.

2)ask the doctor what procedure needed and why .

3)know the approx length and location of the stricture before going for any surgical procedure

4) be in good spirits and have positive energy in yourself.

thank you,

victor

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