REZUM--HAVE YOU HAD THIS DONE???????

Please - have your URO set you up to self cath. Leaving a Foley in indefinitely is not what the company recommends, does not allow you to live a normal life and will not give your bladder a chance to recover. Lots of people who can void some of the time fail those tests and the longer your bladdr goes with no excercise the longer it will take to get back to normal.

I know he's got the MD, but if they had put me through the same regimen, 6 months later I might still be on the Foley, Please - your doc is committing borderline malpracitce!!!

Thanks Oldbuzzard for taking the time to write me back.

Just a point of clarification: 

I have not had the Foley installed for the entire time.  My Foley has made 4 times round trips in the last 39 days.  They installed it immediately after the Rezum procedure and pulled it out 4 days later. Due to my inability to evacuate they re-stalled it again on day 9.  They took it out again on day 16.  Same evacuation problem so they re-stalled in on day 19.   It came out again on day 23.   Same problem.  They re-installed in on day 26 and took it out day 29.  Again, same problem.  They re-installed yesterday (day 32) for the 5th time.  I'm due to get it pulled on day 36.  This has not been fun but I guess it could be worse.

With respect to self-catheterization, I’m not opposed to that in general but in my particular case they are advising against this.  During the last two trips in with the cath tube they ran into blockage in my urethra adjacent to my prostate where the Rezum procedure was done (the technician is speculating that there may be swelling scar tissue in this area perhaps from the procedure; but that is just a technician’s guess at this point).  Yesterday, (day 32) was particularity difficult for the technician to get the tube past the blockage.  For that reason, self-cathing is not being recommended.

I’ll see the doctor next week; the technician has mentioned a possible scope/camera run to inspect the urethra.  The technician also indicated that there are surgical options relative to a blocked urethra (didn’t ask for details on these ‘surgical options’; I’ll save that for another day).   

Anyway, at this point, I’m praying that I can recover at least back to the point where I was just prior to the Rezum procedure.  I would be happy with that.  My doctor is very good so I’ve got high hopes that all turns out well in the end.  But… getting to the ‘end’ for me is turning out to be a medical adventure , ha!

Note: If I undertood my doctor corectly, the size of my prostrate before Rezum was 48 grams. My doctor indicated that 50 was the limit with respect to the Rezum procedure.  I’m thinking that the large size has complicated my recovery.  Other than an enlarge prostate (and now this recovery issue) I’m in pretty good health for being 65 yo.

Take care - John

I believe the limit on Rezum is 80 and many docs are doing it on larger ones. 48 isn't all that big - 20-40 is normal, the direction of growth is probably what caused you the problem more than the size. My prostate was 30 - exactly normal but I had trouble peeing for years.

When do Foley caths in the ER, they use big heavy ones, which may be part of the problem. The self cathing ones that people talk about (like the speedicath 14s) are smaller and go up much more easily and may actually be better. My suggestion is that you try it -you can always go back to the ER  and have another Foley put in, but you may well find that self cathing is possible - that will normalize your life and give you bladder a chance to revive itself. It will also only irritate the swelling once every few hours (instead of constantly with a Foley) and with a smaller, more flexible tube. I would have the scope done next week if you can't pee - but I would also try the self cathing and see if you can do it and if that allows you to at least void a little bit at a time.

Here's what I would do. ASk your doc for a catheter script and order the speedicath 14s. When you get them, have your doc remove the Foley and show you how to self cath. After a month on the foley, its gonna HURT. Get some peridium (OTC now) to use to help with that. Go home and try to manage self cathing - see how much you can pee with patience and practice - probably just a little at a time. If ytou cant self cath, have him do the scope and see what's what. But if you can, stay with it and watch things improve. The majority of the improvememt comes in weeks 6-12 and while I was off the cath by 4 weeks, I would have failed the voiding test for sure. I don't see that you have anything to lose by trying the self cathing route. YOu maybe able to manage better than you or your doc thinks. 

OK thanks for your input.  I will definately disucss this with my doctor on Monday.  Self cath would be much better (I think) ) than this Foley bag around my leg...  eeerrr!!  In the end, I'll post and let you all kow how it works out.  

Here is what I found online about emptying your bladder.

The quantity of urine left in the bladder after urinating (post-void residual volume) increases. An intermediate range of 50–100 mL is normal, but regular post-void residual volumes of 100–200 mL or higher is considered inadequate bladderemptying.

I had the procedure September 7 and I am not completely emptying my bladder, however if things stay the same for me, I am happy with that even though my doctor may not think so.  I would just say try to determine what you can live with concerning the amount of urine left.

in my experience it was a work in progress. Even when I was able to pee (started dribbling at about 2 weeks post procudure), it came back slowly, dribbling at first, then getting progressivley better, in fits and starts. At first, I had to pee every 45 minutes or hour, because I couldnt' get much out. It got better and by week 6 I realized that I was better than when I went it. Emptying fully is still a bit of work, but still getting better. In my case, my bladder is the issue now, but I'm fully convinced that if sojmeone put a foley in every time I didn't pass voiding test, I'd still be wearing one. You have to work and recondition your bladder. Stay with it and soon you'll be over 200 and up from there. I probably never voided more than 150 until 3 months after Rezum (for at least 5 years prior) and while it was annoying, I did just fine.

You're doing better and better. Keep at it and DON"T LET THEM PUT THAT FOLEY BACK!!

You'll get wat better than you are now. THe most improvement comes in weeks 6-12 and you'er nowhere near that. Based on how you've reacted so far, you should expect an excellent result

Thank you all for taking the time to write, share amd provide input.  I discovered this blog several days after my Rezum procedure.  This blog has been such a gift to me. I have learned so much. From time-to-time I'll continue sharing my recovery progress.  I wish you all the best!

It's not so much what you pee out but what is left in your bladder after you pee. The amount left over is called the post void residual (PVR) and ideally should be under 50ml although under 100ml is a figure often cited as acceptable especially as we get older. 

So looking at your numbers it's really hard to say one way or another if you would pass a flow test although the increase in output is encouraging. Since you're not self cathing, the easiest way to find out your PVR is to pee at your doctor's office and right after have him do a bladder scan. Most urologists have bladder scanners right in their office. If you were self cathing, you would simply cath right after peeing and measure the volume of the catherized urine to compute your PVR.

Jim

Didn't mean "flow" test, meant "void" test. A flow test is something different (measures how fast your urine comes out) and can be done either at your doctor's office with a flowmeter or you can do it at home and can get a pretty good estimate with a stop watch and measuring cup. 

Jim

And I thought I had it bad - so sorry. You might want to consider asking your URO to look at the situation with a scope. You should be WAY better by now, based on what I've read, heard and seen in the trials and this forum. YOu might have an obstruction in your urethra, or if you had bladder issues before, they may be contributing to it. If your bladder is the main issue, a short course of Myrbetriq might help. It did for me. But something isn't right here and you should consider getting to the bottom of it IMO