My Prostate Artery Embolization with Dr. Bagla, Jan 2017

I appreciate some of the detailed threads on this site about the PAE procedure - and after reading them, that became the deciding factor in me choosing to go with a PAE procedure rather than Holep laser.  It seemed like the PAE was so much easier and less invasive...why not try it first, right?

I'm fortunate that I live fairly close (about 2 hours away) from Dr. Sandeep Bagla, one of the top IR guys in the country for this procedure (if not THE top guy).  I can tell you first hand that Dr. Bagla is a first class doctor and all around nice guy as well.  Very professional, courteous, answers all your questions, and just gives off that vibe like you know everything's going to be fine if this guy does my procedure.  After driving down to meet him in person and do the initial consult at his office, I left there thinking - YES, this is the procedure that I'm going to have.

My urologist in Winchester, VA is actually a very good guy (doesn't do any in-hospital procedures himself, only does in-office procedures) and when I asked him about the PAE, he knew about them and had read about the procedure, and thought I'd be an excellent candidate.  He encouraged me to go foward with it.

There was some difficulty getting my insurer to pay (they initially denied the pre-authorization) so Dr. Bagla had to do some follow ups with the insurance company doctors in order to get them to pay for the procedure.  

Dr. Bagla and his team at Vascular Institute of Virginia is just top notch.  There's no other way to describe them.  Very friendly, easy to work with, and very professional.  There wasn't one minute that I didn't feel like I was in good hands.  My procedure was in mid-January, I got there at 7:30am, they started my IV of solu-mederol since I'm allergic to IV contrast, and within about 45 minutes I was on the table in the surgery suite.  The sedation they use is excellent - fentanyl and versed I believe.  Enough that I was aware of what was going on (I remember thinking geez are they done yet...? during the procedure), yet I was still off in a cozy, dreamy happy land.  Weird but cool.  

The proedure was a success, took about 90 minutes.  Laying flat on my back for 2+ hours afterwards was miserable.  By far that was the hardest part of the entire procedure.  Killed my back having to lay flat on a very hard mattress, if I ever had it done again I'd bring a nice memory foam topper to have them use, lol.  

Anyway, I was out of the office by about 1:15pm and on the way home.  I passed a little blood in my urine while there at the office.  Nothing uncomfortable, no burning or anything like that.  I can't take nsaids so I didn't take any prednisone following the procedure, no ibuprofen or anything like that.  I took one Celebrex in the morning and one in the evening for several days afterwards.  This was by far one of the easiest medical procedures I've ever had done.  No problems at all.  Again the only discomfort I had was laying flat on my back for two hours after the procedure.  Other than that it was a piece of cake.

It's been nearly two weeks and I've had steady improvement.  Not a night & day difference - but definite improvement.  I'm not peeing like a racehorse yet, but defintely peeing better.  No dripping afterwards.  Getting up less at night, so my sleeping is better.  You don't realilze how much your sleep is affected because it happens so gradually over the years - but wow, sleeping for 2-3 hours at a time rather than getting up every hour or so is so much more restful.  I still get up about 3 times per night...but that's much improved from 4-5 times per night.  And it's only been two weeks so I'll still get more improvement.

I can say that without a doubt, I highly recommend Dr. Bagla and his staff.  And I highly recommend the PAE procedure.  If you are having doubts....I'd say just go ahead and do it.  It was so much easier that I had imagined.  Very happy that I had it done.

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