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My Prostate Artery Embolization with Dr. Bagla, Jan 2017

Posted , 28 users are following.

bcb1
bcb1

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.

3 likes, 168 replies

168 Replies

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  • brett23803
    brett23803 bcb1

    Posted

    Hi- sounds good - at the moment i am living with a catheter. What was the cost? I do not have medical aid
    • j.d.83438
      j.d.83438 brett23803

      Posted

      Hi Brett!  First, I have no idea what the cost is.  I have Medicare and  supplemental Insurance that (Thankfully!) covers everything.  May I ask?  Your use of "medical aid" versus "medical insurance"; are you in the USA?  I would suggest that you contact Br. B's (Woodbridge, VA) website, explain your situation, and ask them.  In the past, Dr. B has done research studies which may or may not cover some of the costs.  If you are in the USA, perhaps I can help research some options.

      Catheter...  UGH!  My primary motivation for the PAE was because I have been thru 4 AUR (Acute Urinary Retention) episodes; all resulting in an Emergency Room visit and catheterization. Attempted self-cath without success.

      Please feel free to PM me with any further questions.  I may not be able to reply immediately; but, will later this week.

      Hang in there!

      J.D.

  • kam04201
    kam04201 bcb1

    Posted

    Hi bcb1

    I just had mine done with Dr Bagla 6 days ago

    Not much difference yet but I guess too early to tell, I have some pelvis abdominal pain/presssure on and off.

    How your symptoms has improved since Jan 2017?

    • jjjj57989
      jjjj57989 kam04201

      Posted

      KAM  couldnt read your post, got taken to Bad Request - Invalid URL HTTP Error 400. The request URL is invalid.

      I had to search for it.

      I'm getting lots of these invalid websites in this forum lately.

    • kam04201
      kam04201 jjjj57989

      Posted

      Hi bcb1 

      just had and email that there was a problem with the site below is my original question

      Thanks

      "Hi bcb1

      I just had mine done with Dr Bagla 6 days ago

      Not much difference yet but I guess too early to tell, I have some pelvis abdominal pain/presssure on and off.

      How your symptoms has improved since Jan 2017?"

  • j.d.83438
    j.d.83438 bcb1

    Posted

    Good Morning!  Hopefully, all of the problems / glitches here have been solved.

    KAM:  Congrats on having the procedure with Dr. B !!!  I continue to improve and couldn't be happier!  Hope that your results are equally wonderful.  Occasionally, I still have a problem with "urgency"; but, that happens less and less often.  My guess is that the bladder is sstill trying to re-build and get closer to normal. I actually get 5 or 6 hours of sleep now which hasn't been the case for a long long time.

    Not to hijack this thread; but, Dr. B did a similar procedure on my KNEE!  Nothing short of a miracle!  Went backpacking 4days & 3 nights on the AT  = no problems and pain free - YAY!

     

    • kam04201
      kam04201 j.d.83438

      Posted

      Thank You for your response 

      I am glad that you are  doing well 

      it s been only 1 week for me so far, I am hope i will have similar results as time passes

    • j.d.83438
      j.d.83438 kam04201

      Posted

      KAM:  Everyone is a bit different of course.  My biggest problem for 10 - 15 days were from the darned antibiotics and the anti inflammatory drug which is a steroid..  Weird dreams, very tired, anxiety.  So much better when that regimen was over.  Hate meds!
  • luis55497
    luis55497 bcb1

    Posted

    Hi bcb

    Has the PAE last Wednesday and wanted to check with you if the blood urine discharge after 4 days happened with you also.

    Had the procedure at the VIV

    • j.d.83438
      j.d.83438 luis55497

      Posted

      Luis - In my case - No.  IIRC, I had a tiny bit of blood in my urine for only ~ 24 hours. I'm sure it is no big deal and will cease shortly.  I would suggest you call them if it continues. They are very good at responding.

      J.D.

       

    • luis55497
      luis55497 j.d.83438

      Posted

      Thanks JD

      I am feeling better now hopefully this will work.

      It’s frustrating that my urologist does not want to make a follow up on a procedure he did not recommend (or even knew much about)

      I expected that he would be interested in  asking questions and submit the results to a research center where they would consolidate the data.

      The statistical analysis available is very limited and the abstracts show variability from one research to another.

      I contacted Dr Pisco in Portugal and Dr Zegarra in Peru about their rate of success with PAE and they both were optimistic. 

      Analyzed the abstracts made by Wang et al and I believe this PAE procedure deserve more attention by the establishment so don’t understand why my urologist does not even want to talk about it. (and he is a researcher with Baylor College of Medicine in Houston)

      I do research and engineering (not for medicine) and cannot understand that attitude from the regular urologists is completely unethical.

    • j.d.83438
      j.d.83438 luis55497

      Posted

      Hi Luis!  Glad you are feeling better.  If you have read thru this list you will see that many of us agree that the uro docs are UNETHICAL!  Unfortunately it does seem to be all about the money!   They won't discuss PAE and, if they do, they condemn it.  Luckily I found this forum and Dr. Bagla!  Without coming out and saying it directly, the uro doc I had just "KNEW" I had prostate cancer.  What a jerk!

      Just for my own peace of mind I had a complete blood work up done recently and my PSA was down to 8 !!!  At one point it was 100 !!!  But, I have always been an over achiever...<g>...

      Hopefully you will have the same success!!!

      J.D.

    • luis55497
      luis55497 j.d.83438

      Posted

      Thanks JD

      That correlation between the PSA and the size reduction of the prostate using PAE is another question that I have.

      That is why I would like the urologist to keep doing the monitoring since my father died with prostate cancer.

      Until the regular URO and IR come to a some form of collaboration I need to keep closing the loop even if for my own sake.

      I would like the AUA to say something about this since  I feel like in a limbo.

      If you had a PSA of 100 and now reduced to 8 you need to have anfollow up with the URO anyway.

      We don’t know what is factor we need apply to convert post PAE’s PSA to standard reading.(if any)

      Best of luck

    • kenneth1955
      kenneth1955 j.d.83438

      Posted

      Yes that is true that some of the Urologist are unethical.  That is why you have to take control of the problem yourself.  If you have a urologist that is just pushing one procedure and telling you nothing of the others.  Get another that does.  A good caring doctor will give you many options even if some are not done by him.  That doctor is concerned about his patient.  It may take time but they are out there.  Enough about that.  I am doing some data to keep a record of all the procedure that we talk about on here.  Being this is about PAE.  I would like to here from the men that have had it done starting January of 2018.  I would like to know if you had pain when it was done the Dr's. name. And how was the staff.  How lone was the procedure.  Did you have any problem peeing after. Did you have a catheter.  Any blood at the 2 week mark and the 4 week mark. After the catheter did you have any problem peeing also was there blood.   And when your ready.  If you had any problem with sex and did you end up with Retro ejaculation.  This will be helpful to many men that are looking for a cure for there problem.  We need as much data has we can get.  This will be very help full  Ken   Sorry also the date of the procedure       

    • kenneth1955
      kenneth1955 luis55497

      Posted

      Good afternoon guy's.  I hate to change the subject but.  Has anyone been on Facebook lately.  I was on a few minutes ago and there is a add the UROLIFT procedure.  It's a video.  First time I have seen anything to do with the prostate on face book.  Good luck to you all  Ken    

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