It has been about a month an a half since my TULSA procedure so I figured I would give an update.
The biggest take away is that I significantly underestimated the recovery process. Even with all the research I did I got the impression that it would be one or two days out of commission and back to normal after a week or so.
My impression of the severity or misery index may be skewed to the high side because I had hurt my back and knee a few weeks prior to the procedure. I was also pretty run down from taking care of my parents for so long with a burst of stepdad activity during November. The back and knee pain made it very hard for me to sleep. One position hurt the back, the other position hurt the knee.
The worst part of the recovery was having to have a catheter for 8 days. I think they attached it too close and it seemed to pull out too much when I sat on the toilet or in a chair. I did not like this at all Sam I am.
I had to sleep in the recliner while I had the catheter and I would wake up every hour or two. At least I did not have to pee. But I found myself tired during the day. I can't say if this was the stress of the procedure or the not sleeping well.
For the past six weeks I was waking up every hour or two. I am not sure if it was because I needed to pee or because of back pain. The past day or two my back seems a lot better and I seem to be sleeping for three hours at a time.
I also found that for the first three days I did not have a BM. And after that my BM pattern changed. As of today I seem to have two or three BM's per day.
I did not have any problem with urinary incontanence. After a month or so I can say that I think my urine stream is much better than it was before the procedure. The only problem is that it seems to leak a little when I finish urinating and I need to blot it with some toilet paper. But overall I am very satisfied on this subject.
I can't report on erectile function That seems to take three months before you can assess the situation. But I am hopeful.
Before the procedure I thought that I would be laid up for a day and then able to resume caring for my step father. That was totally wrong. Fortunately (from one perspective) he was in the LTC facility and I did not run into this problem.
Although I say that the recovery process was much more than expected, I think that it is less than a radical prostatectomy or radiation. I found out that my neighbor had prostate cancer and EBRT for 40 treatments. He told me that he had all sorts of problems with his rectum, digestion and intestines. It sounded like he was much more miserable than me for a month and a half at least.
I have not had much contact with the urology team. After pulling out the catheter the nurse literally walked me out to the checkout counter because I wanted to stay too long.
I am scheduled for a PSA test at 3 months. I will be able to discuss things with the APRN more then.
So bottom line, I am satisfied and would choose TULSA if I could do it over. I am not looking forward to the biopsy at one year. But that will be the acid test.
The principal researcher on the clinical trial comparing TULSA with prostatectomy told me that they had had three TULSA cases that failed the one year test. I am not sure of the quantity, but I think they have done about 50 so far. So that would be about 6%.
I will update the thread once I get my PSA result in March.
The biggest take away is that I significantly underestimated the recovery process. Even with all the research I did I got the impression that it would be one or two days out of commission and back to normal after a week or so.
My impression of the severity or misery index may be skewed to the high side because I had hurt my back and knee a few weeks prior to the procedure. I was also pretty run down from taking care of my parents for so long with a burst of stepdad activity during November. The back and knee pain made it very hard for me to sleep. One position hurt the back, the other position hurt the knee.
The worst part of the recovery was having to have a catheter for 8 days. I think they attached it too close and it seemed to pull out too much when I sat on the toilet or in a chair. I did not like this at all Sam I am.
I had to sleep in the recliner while I had the catheter and I would wake up every hour or two. At least I did not have to pee. But I found myself tired during the day. I can't say if this was the stress of the procedure or the not sleeping well.
For the past six weeks I was waking up every hour or two. I am not sure if it was because I needed to pee or because of back pain. The past day or two my back seems a lot better and I seem to be sleeping for three hours at a time.
I also found that for the first three days I did not have a BM. And after that my BM pattern changed. As of today I seem to have two or three BM's per day.
I did not have any problem with urinary incontanence. After a month or so I can say that I think my urine stream is much better than it was before the procedure. The only problem is that it seems to leak a little when I finish urinating and I need to blot it with some toilet paper. But overall I am very satisfied on this subject.
I can't report on erectile function That seems to take three months before you can assess the situation. But I am hopeful.
Before the procedure I thought that I would be laid up for a day and then able to resume caring for my step father. That was totally wrong. Fortunately (from one perspective) he was in the LTC facility and I did not run into this problem.
Although I say that the recovery process was much more than expected, I think that it is less than a radical prostatectomy or radiation. I found out that my neighbor had prostate cancer and EBRT for 40 treatments. He told me that he had all sorts of problems with his rectum, digestion and intestines. It sounded like he was much more miserable than me for a month and a half at least.
I have not had much contact with the urology team. After pulling out the catheter the nurse literally walked me out to the checkout counter because I wanted to stay too long.
I am scheduled for a PSA test at 3 months. I will be able to discuss things with the APRN more then.
So bottom line, I am satisfied and would choose TULSA if I could do it over. I am not looking forward to the biopsy at one year. But that will be the acid test.
The principal researcher on the clinical trial comparing TULSA with prostatectomy told me that they had had three TULSA cases that failed the one year test. I am not sure of the quantity, but I think they have done about 50 so far. So that would be about 6%.
I will update the thread once I get my PSA result in March.
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