Post GreenLight Laser Surgery Recovery
Posted , 59 users are following.
I had GL surgery four days ago and would appreciate feedback regarding the recovery process from those that have also undergone this procedure. I currently void every 30 to 60 minutes at night and every 30 to 60 minutes during the day. My flow is a stream for a few seconds then dribbles for maybe 30 seconds. Is this pretty typical? After the surgery I was drinking 1 1/2 liters of water per day but I may reduce this because I am not convinced my bladder is emptying fully. What do you think about this? When I void, it really burns at first and often I will get bladder spasms as well. Do you think the pain is radiated pain from where the prostate was vaporized? Do you think I will see improvement with these symptoms on a daily basis or weekly basis over the next month or so?
3 likes, 165 replies
john70433 jim0601
Edited
Hello Jim 0601,
My Name is Jack and I just had the GL last Thrusday on the 23rd of Feb.
The Procedure went great and the Hospital Munroe in Ocala,fl. were super great. Very professional !
Getting a Catherter put in for four days was a bummer. After they pulled it out on Monday, I had the same urination frequencies as you,even worst ! I had to go back to the Dr's office and they pulled the cath out in the morning and had to go back in the afternoon to take bladder retention test ,all was well. Bladder was emptying correctly. Thank God.
But I was urinating every ten minutes. I had to pull my car over and urinate in my plastic bottle,tough! Things started to slwo down to one hour and in the evening every two hours. Now I am back to one hour or thirty minutes.
I also get the same spasms,a real bummer but I wiggle side to side and that seems to help, the Nurse showed me how.
I drink coffe in the morning and I I know now I need to stop drinking coffee for awhile,tough to do. I am an active Guy at age 63 years old. Ride my bike 18 to 20 miles a day almost everday, play golf latter on and my wife and I go to dancing classes.
All shut down for now and trying to keep busy. I hope this procedure works !
henselt john70433
Posted
If you are content with your every hour and a half peeing routine, then keep drinking coffee. If not, then stop the coffee for a few weeks and switch to a good quality decaf afterwards. (I'm told that even decaf is not great for the bladder, but it is a compormise and I don't miss the regular coffee one bit.)
I would definitely hold off on the cycling for a while. The frequency does diminish, but it does take about a month, in my experience, before it begins to approach anything near "normal." Try to be patient.
john96277 jim0601
Edited
After cath removal, first two weeks was intermittent peeing, with a huge desire to go when it hit me. At the end of the second week, the huge sensation to go, was reduced, but in the third week, developed a burning sensation peeing or not. Would guess that is from the tissue healing. That feeling is now beginning to abate.
Before getting the GL process performed, I interviewed or obtained four 2nd opinions from different urologists. Wanted to know how many GL procedures the docs had done. If they were offering TURP only, then said thanks and went elsewhere. Finally found a doc who had completed over a thousand GL procedures, with minimal issues. Can’t recommend doing this doctor search process enough. You want to find a doc who has done more than several hundred of these procedures, not 10 or 20. As another poster suggested, the skill of the surgeon with the GL is a key component on the success rate of the GL or PVP procedure you are planning on having done.
Other option I would strongly recommend is to have the uro doc show you how to self catheter.
This saved me several trips to the ER due to post healing tissue blockage. So I ordered a case of the single use catheters and have a supply if needed.
Would also agree with some of the other posts, the speed of recovery depends a lot on how large the prostate was to being with. Faster recovery times tend to go with smaller gland sizes.
I am focusing on the longer recovery time of 8 weeks or so. I have two friends that had a PVP procedure performed. Both were up and around a few days later, but both also had much smaller gland sizes.
derek76 john96277
Posted
Why did they do continuous Bladder Irrigation and send you home in a catheter ? GL was originally intended as day surgery or kept overnight if done late in the day. My one in 2004 was done by a Uro in a team of four doing trials who had done a total of 38 and I was his eight patient.
It always seems to me from reading this Forum that British Uros who work in hospitals are better trained and have better outcomes than American ones working from their 'Offices'
My catheter was out after 14 hours and I travelled home by train on day two without thinking "Toilet" On day three I was at the races drinking mugs of coffee and surprised that unlike previously I had not needed a pee all afternoon. At the start of urination I had little spurts of blood and a burning sensation but no urgency.
john96277 derek76
Posted
The Uro I went to does not do the procedure in his office, but in a surgery center, or local SR at the hospital. most with smaller glands go home that afternoon.
derek76 john96277
Posted
My overnight bag was like red wine but once the catheter was out there was very little after a few hours and that probably came from the urethra as it is like a sponge and absorbs a lot of blood.
When I had Thulium/Holmium laser (Revolix) seven years later after my prostate regrew to 135grms I was sent home with a catheter in and that became blocked a few times with clots,
cliff04829 jim0601
Posted
Hi
Your symptoms are normal . I had GL back in January 10th and it took about 2 weeks for things to settle down. I never ever experienced burning sensations , but needed to keep a close on the bath room.
I also experienced not voiding completely , but that will improve quickly.
I never experienced bladder spasms so all and all I guess I was fortunate because with in a month I was back to normal peeing like a race horse.
At the same time all this was going on I was diognized with prostate cancer and went through the hoops like Cat Scan, bone scan followed by 28 realms of radiation.
I completed all of the above on March 17 last . I can tell you that I'm feeling great with no systems except a dribble a bit now and then , but my oncologist gave me the ok on Tuesday last . Now I will go on watch and have a blood test every four months for the next two years.
In summary sounds to me like your doing great , be patient and it will all work out for you
Good luck
Cliff D
glenn77 cliff04829
Posted
I had GL in March of 2016 and have been totally incontinent sincee then. With the same doctor, he did a Gyrus TURP in May 2016 to clean up a lot of debris that was causing inflammation, he said. After lying on my back for a couple of hours (or sleeping that way at night, I could keep in enough urine to have significant pressure. Going directly to bathroom, I've measured as much as 400, and once 450 cc. Usually, it's 200. What I had noticed in the months after the surgery was at the end of emptying the bladder, there would be a "sting" or burn as the sphincter (or what's left of it) contracted.
After going to a new doctor at a teaching hospital associated with a university, he discovered that I had strictures "right at the sphincter", in his words. I've had two procedures to try to fix the strictures, and am currently waiting to see if the second procedure works.
I have come to believe that the 1st doctor damaged the sphincte or associated nerves doing the GL. Or possibly, the emergency trip to the emergency department in the middle of the second night after the GL procedure, when I had accute retention. Maybe the young nurses inserting the Foley while I was writhing in pain did some damage?
In any event, the last 14 months with bag after bag of wet diapers has been no fun. (More recently, it's been condom catheters in the day and a diaper at night.) I am just hoping that we can get the strictures cleared up so I can finally have an AMS 800 implant.
cliff04829 glenn77
Posted
Sounds like you ran into major difficulties . I believe that one needs to select a good urgolist because they can do lasting damage , and when the procedure is completed it's too late to be selective. I do believe that your case is rare because I know quite a few people that had the GL and like me all went well post operation Let's how things clear up for you soonest
Thanks Cliff
derek76 cliff04829
Posted
Problem is we don't know the % that don't go well. Sites like this attract the ones who have had problems. Like Cliff I stick around to try to tell of the sucessful ones that are the norm. Although TURP has a longer and bloodier recovery time and most have retro the procedure usually solves the problem.
glenn77 derek76
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My new urologist thinks that various negative outcomes are under reported., So, who knows?
john96277 cliff04829
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john96277 glenn77
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Glenn, I did a lot of digging through the US www.Cancer.gov web site. did not book mark it but downloaded tons of data on both PVP and TURP procedures, success rates, and complications.
Also downloaded tons of data on the PSA test, and out of those who tested with a high value, or above expected range, how many actually tested positive for cancer when biopsyed. The nunbers were eye popping. Loaded the data into a statistics package and calculated the R squared value for the PSA test. Came back at 19% which is much worse than a coin toss.
Without getting too long winded, there is lots of data out there, but a person really needs to spend the time to look for it.
Best
bob120 glenn77
Posted
Glenn, I don't understand how you could go the the bathroom and measure 200 to 500cc if you are totally incontinent.
I also had tissue grow over my sphincter about 6 months after my first greenlight. I read a study in China where men were able to self cath every two weeks to prevent strictures from returning. I did that for about a year "to keep the channel open". It also let me measure my PVR which wasn't that good. I had a second GL about 18 months after the first and a Turp a year and a half later. The Turp got the best results. My PVR is down to about 32ml and have no problem with retention at present. But I still get up 3 to 4 times a night nd go from 200 to 400ml. I use a couple of bedside urinals in a basket so I can sit on the edge of the bed and go in the dark. I get right back to sleep.
derek76 glenn77
Posted
When I was first diagnosed with BPH in 1995 a journalist in one of the main British papers was researching TURP as he had recently been advised to have the Gold Standard treatment. His research convinced me to wait for laser surgery.
glenn77 bob120
Posted
Bob,
It is only when I'm lying down/sleeping at night for an extended time can I retain that significant amount of urine. Also, if I sit in a padded chair, I can accumulate some. That's because the chair padding puts some modest pressure on the urethra in the perineum area. If I'm standing, walking, etc., there's no control.
I use a condom catheter from a.m. until I go to bed at night, and then I removed the condom cath and use Depends. I get up 2 or 3 times during the night, awakened by bladder pressure. I always sleep on my back, and me new urologist calls it "positional continence," as being on my back puts the bladder lower than the exit at the meatus. I would say that 250 to 300 is the typical "wake up" pee during the night, and my total during the night is from 500-700 typically (sum of the visits). I am scheduled for an AMS 800 implant in about 5 weeks.
bob120 glenn77
Posted