anybody had bladder stones removed or prostate reduction?
 

I'd love some advice about how to proceed. PM me if you like.

I have three stones varying from a half inch or so to nearly an inch. My prostate is enlarged (of course) and the surgeon wants to do the stones and reduce the prostate at the same time. With the possible problems on the prostate reduction I am tempted to ask him to just remove the stones and try using Flomax to reduce the prostate for now.

I just did some research on the prostate reduction options and none sound very good to me.

Can they ultrasound the stones into bits?

Don't go under the knife unless you have to, definitely try whatever else you can first. Post-OP BS for any procedure is reason enough to try other stuff

Wish I could help, Tom. I'll send my positive vibes your way and wish you the best of luck, though!

I've heard of that but don't know if that's what they plan or not. They are planning to do it through the elephant's trunk though.

Thanks Bill! I feel better already!

Tom, I'd get a second or third opinion. I beleive the stones could be removed by a combination of ultrasound pulverization and then a mechanical means of removing what doesn't pass out on its own. Regarding the proatate thing, I would look at the flomax option rather than surgery unless you are way beyond that point. Shop around....Been to any docs at IU yet?

Yeah I am leaning toward getting the stones removed and going with the Flomax and its cousins.

sounds good, no knife....:cool: I had some great urinary tract work done in Indy about a decade or so ago. They were way ahead of the curve with modern processes.

Does anybody know how much a recovery period is for just removing the stones?

Answer;
Looks like outpatient and wearing a catheter for a couple of days.

I have just spent a couple of hours researching different methods of reducing the size of an oversized prostate.

Apparently the growth is attributed to a weakness of certain valves which are supposed to direct Testosterone into the proper place. this weakness allows T to back up into the prostate which causes it to grow.

Treatment comes in two major catagories:
1. Cut, dice, burn or laser away tissue to relieve the pressure on the uretha. The first drawback of this is it is difficult to avoid cutting away things that are innocent, causing side effects such as incontenance or impotence. The second drawback is that the prostate continues to grow, and soon you have to have it done again, (if you live long enough.);)
2. Attack the source of the problem. This is called the Gat Goren method. It was developed in Israel by two docs named Gat and Goren. It involves going in through the femoral artery and going up in the blood vessels which supply blood to critical areas and cutting them off. The result is that over time the prostate will grow smaller, over a period of as much as 2 years, with immediate results taking several months. It impacts none of the areas which control continence or potency.

The GG method is pretty new and I am not sure if it can be covered by Medicare or not. It is also not offered in the US (I don't think).

I am advised that Urologists will poo pooh it because it is done by a vascular surgeon instead of a Urologist.

Wish you well Tom. Now I understand why after examinations they ask me to void and ultrasound the bladder . They check for retention of urine. I fortunately always empty well. Sometimes the person doing this test will mention that I am the only patient so far that day that did so.

I have been told I have the prostate of a young man. Does that mean some young fellow is running around with my old prostate? I never have the want to use this as a pick up line as I am happily married. Still at my age it might be effective if I were not.

What I find odd as there must be many cases yet nobody has mentioned they had bladder stones before to me. Kidney stones are a fairly frequent mention.

Actually no time for medical humor. I think the majority of us have some apprehensions before proceedures and that is normal. Or at least I have them rational or not. I cannot displace them or become totally fatalistic unfortunately. Some of us just do not really want our body invaded. Anyways I will leave this post with a story.

The doctor said to the patient after surgery that he had good and bad news. The bad news is we amputated the wrong leg. The good news is the bad one is getting better.

Hope my post is not totally inapropiate. Anything that can give you a smile is worthwhile though when facing these type of things. I consider the fact of aging means on average more exposure to the medical profession. The bright side is you are not dealing with cancer of a type that has a high rate of reoccurance. . That is to be really thankful for.

apparently you have excellent valves for your testosterone, but most people our age don't.

Yes, it is not thought there is any cancer, but I have not really been checked for it as a part of this incident. I have had a physical every year for at least the last 20 years though and always get the finger from the doc.;)

They would have mentioned you had high psa readings if they suspected cancer of the prostate. Enlarged prostate is called the older mans disease as you know.

It could have been avoided if only the wife had sent you out for neutering years ago. We have an adversion to even the word. I noticed when the vet told me we should neuter the dog now it caused a slight unintentional pucker of the lips by me at the time.

A friend of mine complained aout the discomfort of having his prostate digitally checked by a surgeon. I explained to him that in general the family doctor is just checking for surface smoothness I suspect. Where the surgeon may be more aggressive trying to find palatable lumps.

Anyways we are good friends so I thought I would get him. You should have seen his face for a fleeting instant when I said. On the other hand perhaps the surgeon was gay.

Well goodnight for now as it is well past my bedtime and the first preliminary signs of spring are here.

I haven't had this particular issue yet, but my dad had benign prostate hypertrophy when he was in his late 60's. He had it reamed out by mechanical means, but it scared up and prevented him from peeing. He went in again and had it lasered out. Since then he has had no problems in that area. He is 82. Hope this helps.

Thanks Skippy! Those are two of the options on reducing the size of it.

I am hoping to get somehow the method which attacks the root cause of the enlargement as that is the only known method of permanently shrinking it.