Rezum 28 days post-procedure
Posted , 7 users are following.
Okay so 4 weeks from the procedure I want to update you guys:
As of last night I think I can definitely say my urine stream is better than pre-procedure. I only woke one time to pee last night and was actually surprised when I woke how long I had been asleep.
I am still passing blood at the beginning of my urine stream. Its hard to say how much, maybe a teaspoon? It starts out as all red blood and turns to urine sorta quickly. I have less burning in my urethra today and yesterday than I did when my Foley was removed Thursday.
Overall I was Foley cathed days 1-3, totally blocked night time of day 3 so back to a Foley days 4-9. On day 9 my stream was weak and dribbly, but I could pee... I began self-cathing on day 10 and that went well for 5 days until the catheters created a "false passage" (a hole in my prostate) which the catheter was hung up on, and I couldn't get into my bladder. Back to the Foley for 7 days longer. When the Foley was removed at 3 weeks and 3 days, my stream was decent, and its gotten better in the last 4.5 days.
Still bloody ejaculations. Low volume ejaculation as well. I don't think I have retrograde... but I wont know what is going on until I am fully healed.
I was going to update on the other thread, but its so long I cannot find my other posts. Ill try to maintain this one...
Feelings as of 4 weeks out:
Boston Scientific outright misleads with recovery time. Its not 2 weeks for most of us.
Self cathing is way better than Foley. I hated the foley so badly, it was torture.
Nobody prepared me for the blood that comes out of my penis, both urinating and ejaculating. Its a lot of blood, although it seems to be getting a bit better.
1 like, 30 replies
kevin881
Posted
Yes, but I’m not sure that doing so would be very common up here. I’m in Chicago and I’m wondering if where you’re at there’s a state law regarding that? I’ve had multiple procedures done over the years and I’ve never been provided with any notes unless I request the records.
mark89781 kevin881
Posted
Hi Everyone,
Here's my summarized Rezume experience. I'm 51 and was annoyed with getting up to pee 2 or 3 times per night . Not annoyed enough to consider a procedure with any serious risks though. Then I read about rezume. My urologist in Chicago was one of the original developers of the procedure and a lead researcher in the study for FDA approval. He assured me there was very little risk of anything, including RE. And he said initial pain would be for about two weeks.
So i had the procedure done on Mar 29, 2019. Had a catheter in for 5 days. When the catheter was removed -- OMG -- the pain while urinating was almost unbearable. It was so bad i considered having a catheter put back in. The pain went on for about 10 days and subsided . There was blood in my urine for about 2 months.
I masturbated at the 3 month mark and it was completely normal -- semen volume might have actually increased. 2 days later same result. Great. Then 2 weeks later (at about the 4 month mark) during sex with my partner, zero ejaculation. And shortly afterward when I went to pee, there was a LOT of blood in my urine. But no blood thereafter. But also no ejaculation.
So now I am at about the 8-month mark. Nighttime urination has decreased to maybe 1 time, and sometimes none -- so that part worked. BUT, almost zero ejaculation. A very tiny bit of semen comes out. So it appears that I may have permanent RE . Which is very frustrating. I went to a different urologist (who also performs Rezum) and he said that they're seeing this more often now and he felt like the RE incidence rate was closer to 30% -- versus the 2% my original -- highly experienced -- urologist told me.
So, beware. There will be very significant pain for about 2 weeks afterward, and RE is a very real risk -- despite what Boston Scientific or your urologist tells you.
In closing, if I could go back I would not have the procedure done due to RE . Good luck with your personal situation.
--Mark
derek76 mark89781
Posted
However you still accept that the ten days of pain was part of the price to pay ?
mark89781 derek76
Posted
Derek,
Yes, the pain was a reasonable price to pay. I would just like to have been better warned about this. i was only warned about "some discomfort" after the procedure. That's the understatement of the century .
--Mark
Marty02 kevin881
Posted
Your results are pretty consistent with what I was told to expect by 6 or so Rezum urologists I visited. Chance of RE is less than many other procedures, like TURP and HoLEP, but still around 30 percent. They also told me recovery was often not fun. HoLEP has a quicker recovery with a high chance of RE.
You made a reasonable choice based on your RE adverse objective. There is more data and doctor support coming out now, about new procedures with better statistics, that wasn't readily available earlier this year. For example, FDA only approved Aquablation this past May.
Next year, no doubt, there will be yet another new procedure. You can't look at this stuff once you've made your choice. The technology is always improving.
RE is not the end of the world; you did your best trying to avoid it. May the flow be with you - it is a game changer!
derek76 Marty02
Posted
DId you have to pay for each Uro consultation or does your insurance pay for it ? How much does an appointment cost. A private appointment In the UK costs between £160/£220 plus any tests. The NHS say that any appointment patients miss costs them £160.
Marty02 derek76
Posted
My share (copay) was $50 per visit, plus 20% (deductible) of outside lab work. Here in US, different insurers have different deductible and copay rules. Its exhausting to keep up with each year we change policies.
Marty02
Posted
...but, Derek, we also pay monthly premiums - which can be significant, depending on employment circumstances - just to have insurance coverage.
derek76 Marty02
Posted
You are getting wider cover than we do. Here it is even difficult to get a second opinion with the NHS.
Marty02 derek76
Posted
I guess this is not the forum for health insurance discussions, but I would wager that what I pay for my coverage minus what you pay for NHS coverage would more than cover private paying for numerous 2nd opinions in the UK. Of course, that assumes you are lucky enough to have the funds on hand.
As a self employed 63 year old, I pay over $9,000 per year for individual health insurance in New York State. Employed people might spend as little as 1/4 that amount or might pay 2/3 of that amount depending on the plan and how much their employer contributes. Premiums have more than doubled in the past ten years. Our system is broken.
Not being able to shop doctors is a severe limitation of NHS coverage, IMO, but I pay dearly for the privilege of having insurance coverage for shopping. Some plans here limit the number of 2nd opinions to two or three, but that can often be worked around.
The cost of health insurance and single payer vs free market coverage is a hot topic here and would make an interesting international forum discussion. I don’t believe any country has really solved the problem of providing optimum affordable universal coverage, certainly not the USA. It’s interesting to compare experiences with people around the world.
steven05114 Marty02
Posted
Marty,
.
I am 63, paying my own health insurance at about $9000/year with a low monthly premium-high annual deductible policy in Colorado. I ended up on paying about $2500 out-of-pocket for my Rezum with an additional $500 for the consultation and cystoscopy.
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This $3000 was still less than I would have paid before meeting my annual deductible if I did the mono TURP that my Kaiser urologist offered. In Colorado, Kaiser only does mono TURP while in California, they offer Rezum, Urolift and other more modern procedures.
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In the last 10 years, my premiums have more than doubled and I had to pay out-of-pocket and out-of-network to get the procedure that I wanted and not risk permanent damage from a stone-age TURP. Yes, in the U.S. our health system is broken.
.
Steve
Marty02 steven05114
Posted
My wife just went on Medicare. I think a lot of people are surprised by the fact that, while cheaper, it is far from free. I'm told, however, it is less hassle, especially if you buy supplemental insurance and not advantage insurance. Ill believe it when I see it!
Boethius kevin881
Posted
Kevin, How are you doing? Hope you continue to see progress. Can you provide an update?
kevin881
Edited
Hey. Update, two months out:
I am able to void my bladder, I have no blood and no clots or chunks coming out when I pee now. I do not ejaculate however, so I seem to have retrograde or damage to my ejaculatory ducts. I am seeing my urologist early January, so I will talk to him about this then. Ill request a cystoscope to see if it is damage to the ejaculatory ducts.
Im not overly concerned about it. I knew it was a risk and honestly I had severely reduced ejaculation for the last decade because of the BPH. My orgasms feel the same and whats most important is that I can sleep through the night easily, void completely, can get erections and am happy. I feel if this is permanent then it was a small price to pay for what I had been dealing with...
Recovery for about 4 weeks was pretty crappy. I wish I had been prepared for that, rather than the overly optimistic recovery time that Rezum manufacturers seem to advertise.
kevin881
Edited
Update 3.5 months from Rezum Procedure:
I feel pretty normal but do have retrograde ejaculation. My urine stream is much better than prior to the procedure, but in the last month it is actually LESS great that it was at my last update. Its definitely not bad at all, but at 2 months post-procedure I was like a garden hose.
Sleeping through the night, mostly. Almost no discomfort when urinating, as there was around 2 months.