Hallelujah! I must admit that I had little hope that the procedure would actually work for dh, but, 6 weeks after procedure the doc removed his catheter last Tuesday and dh actually did pee on his own just a little (I still didn't think the procedure had worked). This whole past week I tried to get him to pee in a urinal so I could monitor how much he was actually expelling and it didn't seem like much to me. Today the doctor did a ultra sound and said that he had no urine in his bladder and all was good.
I just wanted to let you all hear a success story for a change. This does remove one BIG task from my to do list each day with my dh
jang - my husband's prostate was so enlarged that it cut off his urethra making him unable to urinate; therefore, the urine backed up in the bladder and when the bladder was too full it backed up into the kidneys - this put him into renal failure. A person must be able to pee. He had a catheter for about 6 weeks while he recovered from the renal failure and then they went in and did the procedure which took about 90 minutes. In the interest of full disclosure, my dh was a manic mess after the surgery from the drugs used to sedate him. They used a spinal block because of his AD and a "twilight" drug to relax him, kind of like sodium pentathol. It took 2 full days for the drugs to wear off and for him to return to normal - he also hallucinated during the time we were waiting for the drugs to wear off. If your friend's husband has this procedure she needs to have at least one helper when she brings him home because she will not be able to take her eyes off him for one second (assuming he is ambulatory).
Here is a website that will tell you about the procedure: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/turp/MY00633
My hb had a successful TURP procedure some years back. It was successful, and he had no reaction to anesthesia. Prior to procedure the anesthesiologist told me because of his dementia, he would be doing a local and light anesthesia.
Zibby - PTL your dh didn't have any anesthesia reactions. The doctor didn't give mine anesthesia because of his dementia, but the others had a profound effect on him for 48 hours. I came home from the store the day he was released from the hospital, dd was there with dh. I found both of them sitting outside in the car with dd on the cell phone, dh next to her talking to non-existent other passengers. It was totally bizarre. DD said it was just like the imaginations of toddlers and she just ran with it and I took her lead. Sure was glad when that was over. And most grateful that dd had chosen to come up to help with her dad that day as I would have been totally lost as how to deal with those hallucinations.
Thanks mothert. I haven't been here for a few days. I will send her the link. Her husband is in a facility but she has to be constantly vigilant about his care. The workers there do not sound really great.