Good report, Maurice, but I see you live dangerously!<G>
Presumably, you have seen the news about salmon since!:(

Sorry about the poor flow. All I can say is that I kept soft
drinks handy and kept sipping and had no problems. Flow has
slowed from "fire hose" to normal for me since but that is to be
expected.

Good luck.

Derry

Hi,

I'm 2 months post PVP and it is 3 PM here in California. My mornings and
early afternoons can be quite dysfunctional......minimal, painful stream,
and urgency. It is just now that I can sit down and calmly report this as I
often spend much of the day in virtual misery. I attribute this to bowel
movements inflaming the already sore prostate (they are quite proximate and
share the same nerves). As soon as the rectum relaxes (can take 6-8 hours) I
get a decent painless flow with less urgency. You might consider this in
assessing your problem. A couple of Extra Stregnth Tylenol seem to ease the
situation. Occasionally, a perfect, stress-free bowel movement gets the flow
up and the urgency down, earlier in the day.

Certainly not the "one or two week" back to normal scenario presented by
Laserscope.

Keep us informed.

Good Luck,

Marcus

Had PVP at the Ashdown Nuffield Hospital at Haywards Heath, UK on
Tuesday, Jan.13th, under Tim Larner. Herewith summary of events:

Tues.13/1/04:

10.35 Checked in - having already undergone pre-admission tests last
month.
14.00 - 15.30**: PVP (general anaesthetic)
16.00 Back in room. Bladder painful (see ** below). 2 CODYDAMOL
tablets
cooled that down within an hour.
Oxygen mask (until 17.50), saline drip (until19.40), catheter until
next morning.
17.50 Enjoyed 2 large salmon sandwiches & salad, + banana & hot choc.
No pain or even discomfort - not even from catheter, surprisingly.
Started reading Ludlum  novel 'Treveyne'.
22:45 Hot chocolate, lactulose, + assortment of pills/tablets (incl
sleeping pill).

Wed. 14/1  (PVP+1)

07.50 Cup of tea. No pain - not even discomfort (even from catheter).
08.15 Breakfast
09.30 Catheter out after Larner' visit. Hardly a twinge, surprisingly.
Hadn't looked forward to catheter, but it wasn't really a problem
(except need to avoid rolling over on wrong side!). And it was nice
to
be able to knock bedtime drinks back without having to get up during
the night!
10.15 Hot bath!
11.05 Cranberry juice
11.25 First post-PVP pee (300ml)! Dark pink, but good flow and no
hesitation. Little discomfort, surprisingly.
12.15 3-course lunch
12.30 2nd pee (400ml). Still quite pinky. No discomfort. Checked no
residual (ultrasound).
13.30 Left hospital. Walked to HH railway station (10 mins)
14.05 Caught train to Southampton. determined not to use train WC!
15.40 Arrived Southampton. Just held on long enough to get to WC. Flow
not as good as first 2 pees, though. Disappointing...
17.00 Home. Already peeing clear urine - and has stayed that way,
except for the odd drop of blood from penis tip at first.

They started me on 25mg VIOXX (Rofecoxib) anti-inflammatory tablets
(1/day), and 500mg Ciprofloxacin (2/day) and sent me home with 7 days'
and 14 days' supply respectively.

Overnight at home was up every 1-2 hours, and flow was even worse -
almost back to pre-PVP - in fact the first (01.30) I thought I had
gone into full retention - scary. I hope this is quite temporary -
presumably due to swelling due to traumatisation by instruments.

PVP+2 (Thurs)

In the morning I felt so well - no discomfort even - that I played
snooker for 1.5 hours, then had a lazy afternoon.
No toilet calls from bladder between 10.30 and 12.45, although when I
got home and started thinking about it, all of a sudden there was a
strong urge to go and I hardly made it to the WC in time!
Felt perfectly normal the rest of the day. No urgent bladder calls...
Kept off alcohol, although no one had said I should. Just thought it a
good idea pro tem. Was it?!
Overnight, up 3 times (not due to urgency, but because something woke
me up and there was some feeling of something in there, so went out of
habit, I suppose).  But flow still pathetic.

PVP+3 (Friday)

Felt entirely normal apart from much discomfort overnight due to
bowels still gummed up from the general anaesthetic. (This has been by
far the biggest post-op nuisance!) Amazingly, still no discomfort
peeing, bearing in mind all the things that had gone on down there
during the op, including destruction of that part of the urethra
within the prostate., and (see ** below).
Also, at last - after downing several dollops of lactulose - Mafeking
has finally been relieved...
However, flow is still *abysmal*. Has anyone else had this in the
first few days? Is it simply some swelling  somewhere that will soon
go away, or could it be some debris that is partially blocking flow
(which was quite good for the first 2 pees on PVP+1)?
WC visits during the day have been more than pre-PVP, as drinking
water more often; about 2-hourly, but if ignore gentle 'WC visit
indicated' signals until the 'Quick, get in there' signal then there
isn't much time to spare!

So, to summarise so far, an incredibly fast and painless recovery, but
- so far - with a dismal flow rate.

Will post further if anything changes (hopefully improvement in
flow...).
(Would, welcome others' thoughts on latter.)

---------------------
** Before doing the PVP, Larner did his routine check of the bladder,
where he found 3 small 'pre-tumour's, which he removed using
'diathermy',
taking samples for biopsy. He said they were the benign kind that grew
outwards rather than into the flesh, but that I would need to have
regular checks as they tended to grow back (like basal cell carcinomas
presumably) - or perhaps he was just saying that to stop me panicking.
Is a bit scary...
Anyway, that presumably explains why the op took so long (35 mins for
the PVP, 55 for the bladder), and why the bladder hurt afterwards.
-----------------------

Maurice Batey (Retired in Hampshire, UK) (age = 70, but still quite
fit!)

http://www.maurice.eurobell.co.uk

(Change "no.spam" to "." in E-mail address.)

I told you the sandwiches were good there, Maurice!

Same thing happened with my flow.... first pee after catheter was
perfect, then it slowed down. I think partly it was because the
bladder was used to retaining 200ml or so, but after PVP I got this
urgent need to pee with very little in there, and the bladder was too
thick-walled to contract easily to push it out.
What's the flow like at high volume? Is that more encouraging?

If not, since Mr Larner gives you an anti-inflammatory to take, that
suggests something is likely to get inflamed.... it's the urethra that
has had most to put up with, considering the size of the laser tubing;
maybe that swells up, and narrows the passage.

Anyway, don't be disheartened by that flow rate.... At PVP +3 months
I agree with others who've said it takes that long to get the full
benefit of the operation.

Great stuff Maurice, hope that the flow improves with the days. Two
questions, did you opt for the general anaesthetic or was it reccommended
and why the oxygen mask later?
Derek.
Had PVP at the Ashdown Nuffield Hospital at Haywards Heath, UK on
Tuesday, Jan.13th, under Tim Larner. Herewith summary of events:

Tues.13/1/04:

10.35 Checked in - having already undergone pre-admission tests last
month.
14.00 - 15.30**: PVP (general anaesthetic)
16.00 Back in room. Bladder painful (see ** below). 2 CODYDAMOL
tablets
cooled that down within an hour.
Oxygen mask (until 17.50), saline drip (until19.40), catheter until
next morning.
17.50 Enjoyed 2 large salmon sandwiches & salad, + banana & hot choc.
No pain or even discomfort - not even from catheter, surprisingly.
Started reading Ludlum  novel 'Treveyne'.
22:45 Hot chocolate, lactulose, + assortment of pills/tablets (incl
sleeping pill).

Wed. 14/1  (PVP+1)

07.50 Cup of tea. No pain - not even discomfort (even from catheter).
08.15 Breakfast
09.30 Catheter out after Larner' visit. Hardly a twinge, surprisingly.
Hadn't looked forward to catheter, but it wasn't really a problem
(except need to avoid rolling over on wrong side!). And it was nice
to
be able to knock bedtime drinks back without having to get up during
the night!
10.15 Hot bath!
11.05 Cranberry juice
11.25 First post-PVP pee (300ml)! Dark pink, but good flow and no
hesitation. Little discomfort, surprisingly.
12.15 3-course lunch
12.30 2nd pee (400ml). Still quite pinky. No discomfort. Checked no
residual (ultrasound).
13.30 Left hospital. Walked to HH railway station (10 mins)
14.05 Caught train to Southampton. determined not to use train WC!
15.40 Arrived Southampton. Just held on long enough to get to WC. Flow
not as good as first 2 pees, though. Disappointing...
17.00 Home. Already peeing clear urine - and has stayed that way,
except for the odd drop of blood from penis tip at first.

They started me on 25mg VIOXX (Rofecoxib) anti-inflammatory tablets
(1/day), and 500mg Ciprofloxacin (2/day) and sent me home with 7 days'
and 14 days' supply respectively.

Overnight at home was up every 1-2 hours, and flow was even worse -
almost back to pre-PVP - in fact the first (01.30) I thought I had
gone into full retention - scary. I hope this is quite temporary -
presumably due to swelling due to traumatisation by instruments.

PVP+2 (Thurs)

In the morning I felt so well - no discomfort even - that I played
snooker for 1.5 hours, then had a lazy afternoon.
No toilet calls from bladder between 10.30 and 12.45, although when I
got home and started thinking about it, all of a sudden there was a
strong urge to go and I hardly made it to the WC in time!
Felt perfectly normal the rest of the day. No urgent bladder calls...
Kept off alcohol, although no one had said I should. Just thought it a
good idea pro tem. Was it?!
Overnight, up 3 times (not due to urgency, but because something woke
me up and there was some feeling of something in there, so went out of
habit, I suppose).  But flow still pathetic.

PVP+3 (Friday)

Felt entirely normal apart from much discomfort overnight due to
bowels still gummed up from the general anaesthetic. (This has been by
far the biggest post-op nuisance!) Amazingly, still no discomfort
peeing, bearing in mind all the things that had gone on down there
during the op, including destruction of that part of the urethra
within the prostate., and (see ** below).
Also, at last - after downing several dollops of lactulose - Mafeking
has finally been relieved...
However, flow is still *abysmal*. Has anyone else had this in the
first few days? Is it simply some swelling  somewhere that will soon
go away, or could it be some debris that is partially blocking flow
(which was quite good for the first 2 pees on PVP+1)?
WC visits during the day have been more than pre-PVP, as drinking
water more often; about 2-hourly, but if ignore gentle 'WC visit
indicated' signals until the 'Quick, get in there' signal then there
isn't much time to spare!

So, to summarise so far, an incredibly fast and painless recovery, but
- so far - with a dismal flow rate.

Will post further if anything changes (hopefully improvement in
flow...).
(Would, welcome others' thoughts on latter.)

---------------------
** Before doing the PVP, Larner did his routine check of the bladder,
where he found 3 small 'pre-tumour's, which he removed using
'diathermy',
taking samples for biopsy. He said they were the benign kind that grew
outwards rather than into the flesh, but that I would need to have
regular checks as they tended to grow back (like basal cell carcinomas
presumably) - or perhaps he was just saying that to stop me panicking.
Is a bit scary...
Anyway, that presumably explains why the op took so long (35 mins for
the PVP, 55 for the bladder), and why the bladder hurt afterwards.
-----------------------

Maurice Batey (Retired in Hampshire, UK) (age = 70, but still quite
fit!)

http://www.maurice.eurobell.co.uk

(Change "no.spam" to "." in E-mail address.)

No change today. feel perfectly normal, no aches or pains - apart from
slight ache at penis tip (which was probably pulled about a bit by the
catheter).

Sadly, flow is still pathetic. Perhaps I should try drinking much more
water and try to build up a good head of steam...
Will try to have a word with Larner on Monday, as this problem seems
unusual.

ADVICE re ROOMS at the Ashdown Nuffield, Haywards Heath (if overnight
on a Tuesday):
    Try to get a room at the FRONT, as a mobile MRI unit seems to be
scheduled to arrive at the REAR just after midnight on Tuesdays, and
kicks up a hell of a din as the heavy diesel motor unit shunts it
around, after which the unit's generator is started up...
    If you do have a rear room, keep the window shut!

Maurice Batey (Retired in Hampshire, UK)

    http://www.maurice.eurobell.co.uk

(Change "no.spam" to "." in E-mail address.)