Urolift this week by the NHS

Very much so. Unfortunately it's taken many months to get to this stage. Initially it wasn't too much of a problem but that was over a year ago. After initially seeing my GP a year ago I am hopefully now going to have the operation on Thursday. After initially being referred to a specialist, there is a wait of up to eighteen weeks to get to see one. All the various tests were done over about a month, then a further wait to see the specialist again to discuss the results. 

I felt insulted and unhappy after waiting all that time to be offered only one treatment. TURPS!  What another specialist had advised was a Urolift and when I mentioned that was told that he couldn't help as they don't do them. He said I'd have to go private. He couldn't/wouldn't advise on a way forward other than that I would have to have a look on the internet to see if any other hospital was doing it and to speak to my GP to see about getting referred to another area. So in a nutshell, you wait months, and when you finally have all the tests you reach a brick wall. I have to say that my experiences with Basingstoke have been completely different. They seem much more organised and take the time to explain everything in great detail. Dorchester on the other hand seem to need a good kick up the arse. My GP has also been superb. Fingers crossed for Thursday and I'll be back soon to let you know how I get on.

When I saw the specialist in Poole he would only offer TURPS. I told him I wanted to find out more about PAE, and he just mentioned offhand that they do the procedure in Bournemouth.  If I hadn't raised the subject he would not have offered it and there is nothing on the Bournemouth website to say they do these various procedures.   The radiographer told me they have had 90% success and he was surprised they didn't get more referrals!!!!  

Our NHS is brilliant in as much as our treatment costs us nothing - but the system is disjointed and almost impossible to navigate, especially if you don't want the bog standard treatment.  Thank goodness for the internet!

Good luck on Thursday.  Stay positive.  Make sure you ask lots of questions about what to expect after the op because once it is done you won't see the surgeon again until your next consultation.  

 

Smudge.  in the US it is a  little different.  I have read on here that over seas there are sometimes you don't even see the same doctor.  And here we have the same problems to.  Some doctors are only trained to do one or two procedure and they will push them on you So we go for a second opinion .  And when you mention the less evasive procedures they will tell you that they will not work.  You have to get the information to make your pic.  Urolift is a very good procedure.  At 59 when I had mine  I did not want any side effects that the other will give you.  Retro especially.   Most doctor think this is not a problem at our age Men at any age should not have to give up anything just to pee better.  All fuction are important.  I wish you well and good luck on thursday.  Let us know after  Ken      

I'm in Orlando and when I had mine.  I talk to my doctor every day.  He called me in the morning to make sure I felt ok.  Smudge you will be fine. They say it take about a month to heal but I was fine after a week.  Just relax and drink alot of water  God bless  Ken

Although my Urolift was not a permanent solution for me (The brilliant effects lasted only for a couple of months...), the recovery was phenomenol!  I had the surgery on a Tuesday, was very uncomfortable (and on pain killers) the next day, flew 3000 Km home the following day, and the day after that, I stacked a half cord of firewood, with no ill effects.  So your recovery could come much more rapidly than the doctors expet!

Hello Warren.  I hope you get better soon.  It just get me when you have a procedure to fix the problem and you still have to do CIC.  I know you have to heal but.  You should have been able to pee better.  With a turp they make a tunnel You think it would work within a couple of weeks.  But it happen with al of the procedures  We all heal in different ways.  Good luck to you and god bless  Ken 

Well it's been a week since the op. I had the procedure in the morning and was discharged later the same day. I have to admit that I was scared about the op. I've never been in hospital before. I needened have worried. Everyone was excellent and it didn't hurt at all. After the operation I was returned to a ward bed along with another patient who had the same procedure.

There you are encouraged to drink lots of water as it's crucial that you need to be able to pass urine before being allowed to go home. The other patient responded better than me. Unfortunately for me, when I was later seen by the specialist in the ward it was agreed that a catheter would need to be fitted for a few days to help give my insides time to recover. At the time, I'd drunk so much water that I felt I was going to burst and it was a relief to say the least.

Living with the catheter was ok. Not painful but slightly uncomfortable. On the upside, I was able to completely empty my bladder and have a good nights sleep. Over the next couple of days, a slight amount of blood in the urine disappeared to nothing.

Two days ago (Tuesday) the catheter came out. Normally I'd have gone back to Basingstoke but because I lived so far away it was agreed that the district nurse would make a house call. This was first thing in the morning. I took on water throughout the day and late in the afternoon I was peeing enough not to have to have a catheter fitted again. Phew!!!!!

Im pretty sure that having the catheter fitted probably put me back a few days regarding recovery but I believe for me personally, it was the correct decision.

The first night was very uncomfortable. I was peeing about every 45 minutes and it hurt. IT REALLY HURT and was like passing razor blades. I found deep breathing and ibroprufen relieved the pain a lot though. As they say "No pain no gain"".

Wednesday was much better. I managed a walk with the dog in the morning and later in the day felt much better. I managed a good nights sleep last night with only one quick visit to the toilet.

Today feels much better again. I can pee without too much pain and discomfort and the pressure has gone from a dribble to a slow constant stream now with much more urine being passed. I'm far from being 100% but now feel really positive for the first time since I can remember. 

Thank you for all the encouragement on here. I'm back in a few weeks to check again with the specialist to see how things have gone and I'll be back here to let you know how things have gone on.

regards Smudge.

 

Glad to hear you are doing OK.  It is still early days but at least you are progressing in the right direction and you are getting some sleep.  Look forward to hearing the progress report in a few weeks.

 

Happy to hear that all is going well.  See what I say about a catheter.  I had mine put in while I was asleep.  For me going in hurts more then coming out.  Drink alot of water to flush it out  It will get better in time  Ken 

Yes, it was excellent advice Ken. Thank you.

It would be very interesting to know how Urolift patients are doing 1, 2 , 3 years on? Do we have any on here? i am presuming in some patients the prostate will continue growing and further interventions would be needed?

 

Hi Andy, I suspect you are very likely correct. It was explained to me as being only a short term measure although defining short is difficult as it is a relatively new procedure. The time of 5 years seems to be the general consensus. As far as I am aware, I'm only one of a handful in my local area to have it. Possibly the first on the NHS in this area so I doubt that there will be much in the way of stastics at the moment. Personally speaking to my surgeon, the success rate seems to be quite high.

Andy,

The last report we saw was last summer. They don't like links here but a search should find it. It said though that at 4 years, 86% were still experiencing the expected relief. The other 14% had something that had to be attended to. What those things were was not broken out as I recall.

Glad to hear about the progress!

 

Well I had mine done April of 2015.  All has been ok with the Urolift.  But let me tell you something else I had a infection in Decemeber 2015 a prostate infection. Cause by my stricture.    I was on cispro 1000MG for a month.  In feburary 2016 I had my stricture checked.  My urologist said the stricture was fine but one of the implants came loose He tryed to fix it in the office but it hurt to bad and he had to stop.  4 weeks later I had the repair done.  When he went in he found the one that was loose so he replace that one and he had the tighten the other 3.  He thinks that my prostate got smaller because of the cispro.  Now it Feburary of 2017  Still doing go.  But I think my stricture is worse.  I go to the bathroom ok but there are some day I feel like am going to much.  If I had to do it again I would with no problem.   At 61  I still enjoy sex and I may not be having it as much as I did when I was younger.  But I do not want to loose anything.  That would be the only procedure I would let him do.  I will be having a scope done in a few weeks and we will see what is going on. Take care all.  If you have any questions I will be happen to answer you  Ken    

We all have to remember that we are being told this by a doctor hopeing this would fail and you have to t one of there other procedure that cost more money.  For even man that has a less evasive procedure that is money out of there pockets.  My dctor has been doing them from 2013 all his patient have not had to have other procedures.  There is a good chance that it will last 10 years or more.  It all depends on how many are put in.  I have 4 now but if I have to have a couple more put in so be it.  I still have my prostate and im going to keep it.  To many doctor rush a patient into surgery and most of the time something else will work just as good.  Just ask question and if the d does not answer them for you.  Move on and find one that will  Ken

Thanks Ken, just out of interest where do you live?

Glad to hear you're doing well smudge

Good Evening.  Sorry i'm getting back to you so late but just got home.  I live n Orlando Florida  Ken

Andy, I had the Urolift in December of 2015. The doctor, one who did the trials in the US for FDA approval, said I was a "borderline candidate," but he had a hunch it would work.  Well, initially it did, and following the proceudre, I literally jumped off the table, while calling for a pee receptacle.  I peed like a teenager, it was amazing! On the doc's okay, I stopped the Avodart and Tama---whatever, the two drugs I'd been taking (and hated)  Unforunately, after several months of my return to normalcy, the flow slowed, then stopped.

After consulting with the doc, I was scheduled for a repeat Urolift (I already had 6 implants; he said we could try more.).  We went out to Utah in late October for the procedure. An unfortunate combination of events (my wife falling in a canyon and breaking her neck, days before the procedure, and the discovery that I had a UTI) prevented the second round.

Since then, I have reconsidered the second Urolift (even the doc said, Well, if the first one didn't do it, how could we be sure the second round would?!), and am considering iTind, if it ever gets approved here...

Following the doc's advice, I cathed only 3x per day, NV the rest.  Unfortunately, this led to my cathing 600–1100cc of pee.  Not good, as I had a "permanently distended bladder." 

After a few months of that, and then, late last Summer, I switched to the WORLD-FAMOUS JIMJAMES CATH LIKE YOUR BLADDER HEALTH DEPENDS ON IT REGIME, and started cathing and listening for body signals.  I cath 5-6 x per day.

 

"The doctor, one who did the trials in the US for FDA approval, said I was a "borderline candidate but he had a hunch it would work."

It's interesting to see how many times this type of comment is associated with unsatisfactory results.  Although I suspect there are unpredictable factors that lead to unsatisfactory results, there are, based on numerous posts here, a considerable number that were associated with a doctor either ignoring or pushing the envelope on the manufacturer's specifications and recommendations.  Whenever one hears the doctor say " I think it should work"...get out of there. 

Anyway, I hope things work out for you. Even though I have urilift in, I too have my eye on the iTind procedure in case the future has more issues for me and will be interested in it as it matures. 

Hey Buddy  I had mine done in April of 2015 and all was fine.  Now my doctor told me I have Chronic Prostatitis.  I have been going to the bathroom ok but there are some day I can go 10 to 12 times and only a little comes out.  Don't want to not go and try you never know.  We will talk more when I see him in 2 weeks.  He say it is stress related and not to irritant the bladder and no sex of any kind for the 2 weeks.  If I have to have another couple of implants put in that will be fine.  I have 4 now.  Chuck P started with 4 and had to have another 4 put in He is fine now.  Some men just have to have more.  Take care  Hope your wife is doing ok  Take care  Ken 

Thanks, Ken.  My wife and I flew home to PA with her neck in a brace, and she had a screw put in to repair the break.  She is healing fine, and forgave me, when I said (one time, only!)  "Well, at last your head is screwed on right..."     She is part of the 3% who have this kind of injury and suffer NO long-term effects.  Lucky us!

Bill, I understand your "get out of there" remark!  In this case, I have great respect for the doctor, who is one of those rare guys who LISTENS!  He has said he is happy to talk/text/email any time, because I have made it clear that I am I concerned and involved in my treatments, etc.  He said he had a hunch it would work, I asked what his record was on hunches, he smiled and replied, "Pretty good!"  He's been candid, clear and open.  He's done hundreds of Urolifts, and I would be only his fourth "re-do."  He said at this point he would recommend TURP, which he also does, but knows I won't go for it!  He has medical concerns re PAE and others; which we have discussed.  Haven't yet mentioned iTind.  Of course, since I'm a "survivor of another repair, I can't get into the iTind trial groups!  

I'm glad it is going ok for her.  My mother-in-law did that in a auto accident.  She was in a striker bed for 2 years the doctors told her she would never walk.  She told them Yes I will I have 5 kids at home.  My x wife was 8 at the time.  She had to learn how to walk drive and do everything right handed she was a lift e.  Take care Just keep loving her and she will be fine  Ken 

You're right to also to 'go with your gut'.   I did neglect to balance the reaction to a less than recommended approach with the record of the doctor. If they've reviewed that with you and you're comfortable so be it. 

Hi, Thanks for the update, please keeep them coming. making these decisions is diffiucult ,input like yours and other members helps tremendously. thanks Edd