Rezum recovery... my story.

Did you ever self catheterise? When you say you had painful urination, do you mean you had very bad burning? How much were you retaining before the surgery?

How long did it take you to fully recover? I have not had terrible pain, but at 5 weeks I had not seen any improvement and was put on BPH meds. If anything my condition was worse than prior to having rezum treatment. On meds my condition has improved, but I think that is the meds and not the treatment itself. I won't know for another week when I come of the meds whether my condition has improved. It seems strange as my prostate was only 37 gms and I had 4 steam injections.

Hi David,

I am happy to hear you are improving. My prostate is 38 grams. I have a median lobe obstruction. Did you also?

I also have had emptying issues - my urologist said probably for most of my life. I am 69 now.

I am considering several different BPH surgeries but I have a markedly distended bladder and supposedly pelvic floor dysfunction, which Dr Kaplan said is caused by years of me overcompensating in trying to empty.

After these tests Dr Kaplan said my issue is not complicated. He would do an electro vaporization of the prostate and said my pelvic floor symptoms would disappear but I still should do pelvic therapy after. Other urologists have suggested other surgeries.

Did you have any of the above and also can you provide us with an update on your Aquablation as 9 months have passed since your post?

Drugs have never worked for me.

Thanks

Bob

Hi David,

Thanks for sharing your story. Your symptoms were somewhat similar to me so it's good to know your recovery in more detail. You said you suffered extreme pains 4 weeks after RESUM. I am experiencing similar issues (pain when urination, frequency and weak stream) 10 weeks after the RESUM. My doctor think this is Bladder outlet obstruction either due to spasm or bladder neck contracture. I am wondering how you recovered from week 4 to week 9. Did you take any meds to recovery?

Thanks,

afu

I've been really annoyed at my doctor for failing to explain the recovery process. Had I known, I would have postponed it. Maybe for years. I had the catheter in for a week. I intermittently felt the need to pee while it was in, and there was pain along with that. The pain didn't stop when the catheter came out. It hurt every time I needed to pee, and it hurt more when I actually peed. It sometimes hurt a lot.

Every time I peed, there would be some amount of blood that came out, followed by the urine. There would be clots and strings in the blood. One time I wasn't able to pee until the urine pushed the blood clot out. The bleeding went on for about eight weeks, then stopped for a week or two and then started up for another week.

Initially, I was getting up five times per night to pee. I'm now back down to twice, which is the same as before the procedure. I would pee at least once per hour all day long, and the urge to pee was always very intense. I could just barely control things, so I started wearing adult diapers. I started taking an herbal remedy to cut the intensity, and that seems to be working. I'm now down to using male incontinence pads rather than the full diapers. I feel like I may be able to wean myself off the pads in the next few weeks, but if I get too far from a toilet I'm in trouble. Overall, I'm nearly back to where I was before starting all of this.

david31511 reported his very good experience in Rezum but never updating. Is there any positive report about the Rezum?

7 weeks of hell. I had my Rezum procedure on July 21, I had a Foley catheter for two days following the procedure. The first couple of weeks I had a little better flow than before the procedure accompanied by pain radiating from my bladder down the shaft of my penis. The pain became excruciating when about the 15th day after I no longer had a "stream" when I urinated. My stream became a drip drip drip and took about 15 minutes standing at the urinal waiting for my bladder to empty. Like you I did not find any pain med that helped this. The doctors office did an ultra sound because I complained a great deal about what was going on. They said that my bladder was empty so I probably did not have a block and my symptoms were part of the recovery. I found that standing was a bit better than sitting when I tried to urinate. Either way there was extreme pain. I also would get instant and painful urges to urinate about every hour or so. Needless to say I did not get very good sleep and was up 3 to 4 times a night. This went on for the month of August and I was ready to call my lawyer. I thought maybe the steam injection cooked some nerves that was causing the pain. I was at my wits end when during the second week of September I passed a large blood clot when trying to urinate and had almost instant relief. My stream was better than it had been in years and most but not all the pain was gone. I was amazed. A few days later the great stream went away and I was back to the drip drip drip with pain. This lasted 3 days and I passed another large blood clot. Since the second clot passed, about 3 days ago I have had a great stream, with very little pain. I'm hoping that this will be the last time I get clogged up with blood clots because it is obvious that they are what was causing my problems.

Thirteen years ago I had a TUNA (trans urethral needle ablation) which was two needles inserted thru the urethra and a current ablated the prostate tissue. Similar to the Rezum using steam. I remember that a week after that procedure the doctors office filled my bladder thru a catheter and when I voided the water a great deal of clots also came out. I did not have the problems then that I experienced this time. I mentioned this to the PA who I saw post procedure and she did not think that would help me now. I will tell you that if I get blocked up again I will insist that they "back flush" my bladder in order to try and remove any blockage.

Would I recommend this procedure to others. I have mixed emotions. The memory of the past weeks is terrible. The results since passing the blood clots is fabulous. I have the best stream I have had in years and the twinges of pain seem to be going away with time. I think as long as someone is aware of the possible negative recovery then they should consider this procedure.

David, I'm so glad I found your story, although after I had my procedure a week ago tomorrow. My prostate was enlarged, about twice the normal size, causing issues with emptying of my bladder which my urologist explained would cause significant issues later in life (I'm 62 now). I didn't have any significant issues the first few days; I was on the catheter until Monday and seemed to be doing well. I went back and early Monday and they removed the catheter, but on Monday after noon, I was peeing very little compared to what I did in the bag and during the night on Monday when I got up, I was in much pain, unable to go at all. I called first thing Tuesday morning and had to go back and they re-catheterized me and I now have the catheter until next Monday morning. However now, I am experiencing the pain you experienced when "pushing" and also it seems blood and possibly semen maybe coming out at times, making me think I have prostatitis, since my lower abdomen and testicles are sore and have been since Monday night after my bladder became overly full and unable to empty. I've been out of work for almost a week, when my doctor told me 2-3 days............and I have a disabled daughter that my wife is having to take care of mostly by herself. I hate that I'm in this "bind" and not able to take care of myself and my family. I plan to call the doctor in the morning and ask some questions related to the way I'm progressing rather than waiting until Monday, in case they need to address with some medication in the interim. Glad to hear though that once you made it "through" that you have fully recovered and things are working well. That's what I really want to hear!

Thanks David31511 and the rest of you guys. My doc told me very little of what to expect post procedure, so hearing others' accounts is helping to know what is normal. I'm 62 and had 4 steam zaps Nov 2023. My doc recommended catheter only overnight. Glad I listened, as my bladder spasmed frequently, and the drainage tube tugged when I walked, overall close to intolerable! In addition, "Razor blades" pain when passing urine for next 10 days. Ouch. Doc gave me NSAIDs but I waited until Day 11--what if inflammation is part of the prostate healing and "remodeling" process? Then the Cox-2 inhibitor helped very little. (those don't slow clotting) Blood at start of urination began Day 8. Dark bloody seminal fluid showed up day 14. Some days urination seems a little better, but then weak stream, pain and blood the next day. No one knows what is going on in there during healing. 17 days out and urination was still frequent, difficult and painful, with occasional blood at start, so source must be the steam needle punctures. It makes sense that there are blood clots, near those original puncture holes and likely inside, where they may exit only through sem ducts. Maybe flushing out clots every week would speed up healing? Who knows. Bottom line: if in the end the result is good, with no retrograde problems, then it will have been worth it. Last I want to mention, the instrument itself during the brief procedure was painful--local lidocaine was insufficient in my view, propofol would have been better. I think the bore of the instrument is too wide, and speculate this may also damage the urethra lining, leading to painful urine passage for the first 1-2 weeks. That can't be avoided (unless Boston Scientific narrows the instrument), but if I need to retreat, I'd only do it with conscious sedation, and ask for urinary antispasmodic medication during catheterization.

David, thank you so much for posting your experience - it gives me hope!

I had the resume procedure 17 days ago( 56 cc prostate - 6 injections). The first two days were slightly painful but really manageable, and from day 2 until day 10, it was great ( basically pain free with little spasms from time to time ). With the graduation on the bag, I was able to calculate the amount of liquid I was excreting, and I realized that I voided about 2.5 L of liquid per day, which is very far from what I was avoiding before the procedure ( I basically lost 10 pounds in 10 days and it made me realize how much fluids I was holding in my tissues before the procedure). I had the Foley catheter removed after 10 days. The day the catheter was removed, I came back home, and I was really happy to see that I already had a stronger stream. However, from the following morning until now (7 days), I will just describe my experience like you did : pure hell when I try to pee (drop drop by drop and excruciating pain). I am writing this because like you, I was trying to find information about what to expect after the procedure basically on YouTube, which is very misleading, I feel some videos are just there has promotion, because my experience is far from what is described there. Some people people say they had the procedure, a little bit of pain in the first few hours that followed the procedure and two days later, everything was fine and they resume their normal activities without any problem and blah blah blah. In my opinion, this is all BS or they just had a sham procedure! I was lucky that my doctor warned me that at the beginning I would think that I made a mistake and that I should not have had the procedure. Has he said: it’s going to get worse before it starts to get better. He was clear, benefits would only start showing up after 21 days (more or less).

So I’m just describing my experience here to say that so far, my experience is very similar to yours, hoping it will help people that are concerned that their experience is nowhere near what is described on YouTube ( like I was). I will probably post a follow up once I reach three months, which is supposed to be about the time the healing process will be close to be completed according to my surgeon. Stay tuned