I wish I had discovered this ng prior to my pvp a week ago, 5/30/06, so
I would have had a better idea of the questions to ask my urologist
pre-op regarding realistic recovery expectations, as well as to
establish a pre-op baseline of various measures such as retention,
output and flow rate.  The Laserscope Web site paints such a rosy
picture that it would seem that the procedure is little worse than
having a tooth pulled.

Unfortunately, I'm having problems and am having difficulty getting my
surgeon to get back to me.

Based upon a comment by the Resident at the hospital after my pvp
surgery, I suspect that median lobe involvement appeared to be more of
the problem than overall BPH. I was also told that a biopsy was done.

When I was de-catherized 24 hrs post surgery in the hospital, I
couldn't void but a few drops, so I was re-catherized until Friday when
I returned to his office. After several hours of voiding (little
spurts/drops at a time)  periodically, I got down to retention of 135
ml from about 200+ and was allowed to return home without a catheter.
For the first 48 hours I still had great difficulty voiding, probably
only doing 10-20 ml at a time. By Sunday afternoon, I had gotten back a
weak, but steady stream, after some waiting and straining each time.
Urination was extremely painful at first; now it still hurts/burns
significantly, but not as badly as at first. Yesterday (Monday) and
today I am able to void 100 ml each time with a weak stream, but not
much weaker than pre-pvp. (i.e. my stream is probably nearly as strong
as pre-pvp, though that's not saying much.) Frequency during the day
depends upon how much I drink to accumulate the 100 ml I output.

The worst part is that overnight I'm waking up every 45-75 minutes with
the urge to void, but am voiding much less than the 100 ml I can do
during the day.  It's always slow and painful in coming at night. I am
still on Flomax (40 mg at morning and 40 mg at night) and Cipro 500 mg.
Also taking ibuprophen.

My prostate is a bit sore and I'm wondering if a non-bacterial
prostatitis might be the reason, or at least a contributing factor.
I've had prostatitis a couple of times in my 55 years, and some of the
symptoms seem similar. I also wonder if I'm not having some bladder
spasm type of issues intermittently. Might the fact that a biopsy was
done also be a factor.

I've read where acidity in the urine can be a major reason for the pain
during urination (not to mention the traumas of the procedure and the
catherizations). Would raising the ph of my urine, for instance by
taking a little baking soda with a glass of water, help with the pain?

Are there any medications that are appropriate?  Two I've read about
are Prosed/DS and Phenazopyridine. (The Prosed/DS, however requires a
low ph of 5.5 or below to be most effective.) What about possible
palliative treatment such as a hot sitz bath, sitting in my spa (103
degrees) or applying ice to the prostate?

While I am noticing very slow improvement, as indicated above, the
frequency (approximately hourly) at night is obviously really
disruptive.

While I gather that my progress is less than optimal, I am far more
concerned about the prognosis for continued improvement. How much more
function can I reasonably expect to regain (eg. output, frequency,
retention, etc.) and over what period of time. Thanks to anyone who
takes the time to offer their insight.