PAE w/ Dr. Bagla 9 Days Ago (Nov 2019)

I used the experiences a several men who posted on this site to make my eventual decision to have PAE done and have Dr. Bagla do it . I thought I would recount my experience in hopes it might help someone else.

I am 55 y.o. and I've had gradually worsening BPH symptoms since my early to mid-forties. While I was never in as bad shape symptom-wise as many stories I read here, it affected my quality of life and I wanted something done. For instance, I could always urinate on my own, never had to cath, I just had a weak stream and a frequent urge to go. Sometimes when I hit that bathroom, I would pee out literally a couple of cc's of urine and that was it. Other times, it was a "normal" amount. I could never tell how full the bladder was based upon how the urge felt.

I highly endorse Dr. Bagla. Professional, courteous, competent. The staff is efficient and competent. Like another post I recently read, I really felt like I was in good hands.

Because of my height (5' 10"), Dr. Bagla gave me a choice of having the catheter inserted in my wrist versus my groin. He said it made zero difference to him in terms of difficulty or effectiveness. But the benefit to me was a better recovery. Less restrictions on walking post-procedure. I chose the wrist. Side note: I was at the upper end of the height range to choose the wrist because of the length of catheters available.

Day 1, I walked out of the office and felt more normal, not groggy or drugged, than I have with any other surgical procedure. They use a 'twilight' sedation versus a general anesthetic. Didn't feel much, if anything, day one except I was winded, out of breath, walking back to the hotel after dinner. I had to stop 3 times to catch my breath.

Day 2, I began to notice my urine stream was noticeably stronger. Not working with high pressure yet, but definitely an improvement.

Days 3 and 4 were the worst, recovery-wise. I had an unrelenting urge to pee, even if there wasn't anything in my bladder. It was worse sitting than standing. So, I stood for 3 - 4 hours in the airport waiting for my flight. I ran out of pain meds for the urination Day 4 (Sunday) and had to suck it up until Monday to get another Rx. This was the worst of it for me. In hindsight, it was not that bad. I may have had a little blood in my urine initially but it's hard to say because the pain meds turn your urine a deep orange-ish yellow.

I am now 9 days post procedure and I feel normal. Stopped taking the pain meds day 6 though I could have done without starting day 5. My stream is stronger but I still get up at night a couple of times to pee. I do believe I evacuate more urine from my bladder during the day so that is an improvement.

Why I chose PAE: Every other procedure I read about mutilates the prostate and requires a catheter. No thanks.

Also, I may change urologists. My former urologist retired so they assigned me to a different doc in the practice. He's really young. Probably a smart, knowledgeable guy. But he was really negative on the PAE. He really tried to persuade me not to have it done. He kept pitching Rezume. My assumption is he pitched PAE as a negative because he couldn't do the procedure and make a buck off of it, not because it was best for me or what I wanted. Being more charitable, maybe he's just not knowledgeable about PAE? I don't know which it is, but I don't think my well being and my wishes were upper most in his mind. He would have happily mutilated my prostate with a laser if was willing. Again, no thanks.

I am happy to update this as I put more time post-procedure behind me. Also willing to answer any questions.

Mark

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