Hi all, back at home now and all seems to be going well at the moment. I'll put a more detailed report up very soon.
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.
"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.
Sorry...that last post was misdirected
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!