CarrollB

I’ve had an enlarged prostate for about 10+ years. Stop going to the urologist in 2008 as each visit was the same, nothing new. I didn’t realize it at the time but I should have started taking meds for the enlarged prostate. Very slowly I started to have issues that were more of an inconvenience than a problem at least that is what I thought. Now these issues developed over 6-7 years and I didn’t realize how bad they had become. The issues were having the sudden urge to pee, getting up 2-4 times a night to pee, having to pee every hour, not being able to ride my bike more than an hour without making a pit stop, etc. I would pee before I left work and if the ride home involved a stop at a store I had to pee before I got home. Fast-forward to January this year. I noticed when I would stand for 2-3 hours I would develop a pain in my groin. One day while taking a shower I noticed what I thought was a hernia. I probably got it when I lifted the tongue of my leave vacuum that weighs about 80 pounds and pushed it up the ramp into the shed. I see my GP and he says yep you have a hernia in your groin. It is not serious you can have it repaired next week, next month or 6 months from now. I elect to get it fixed in February so I will be in good shape when my riding season starts in late March. The surgery was a piece of cake. I ask if I can pee before I leave the outpatient center. I only pee about ¼ cup but think it is normal as I haven’t drank anything for 18 hours. I’m told to drink a lot to flush the anesthesia out of my system that it is the anesthesia that is causing the problem. I go home and can’t pee that day. I call the doc the next morning and am told drink more. By the third day I am in pain, can’t pee, and can’t reach the doc as we have a foot of snow. I call on day four of not peeing and they send me to the ER. I get a catheter and they drain 1100 ml out of my bladder. By the next morning my blood chemistries for my kidney functions have returned to normal. I lie in the bed and I think if I were in some third world country I would have died. For the first time since I am born, 67 years ago, I spend the night in a hospital. I go home the next day with a catheter that I have for 20+ days. The catheter is removed and I can’t pee. After 27 hours I am in the worst pain of my life and get another catheter. I ask what are my options. After a lot of research I choose green light laser surgery to open up my prostate exactly 30 days after the hernia surgery. After more time with a catheter (30 days all total) I can now pee, and in another month I should be able to put a race horse to shame. The prostate surgery was a month ago today. I am told I can ride the bike around the block and if I don’t pee any blood I can ride a little more. With all I have been through I will wait another week before getting on the bike. Once the catheter was removed after the prostate surgery all the symptoms of having the urge to pee, not being able to go for more than an hour without a nature break, getting three times at night, all are gone. Because the symptoms built up slowly over time I didn’t realize how bad they had become. I’m looking forward to getting back in shape again and now when I ride for 90 minutes on a local trail on the weekends that is often crowded I will not be looking at every tree thinking if I should stop and water it. Bottom line is if you are having symptoms don’t ignore them, get them fixed so you can fully enjoy life.

Coal Buster

Glad you're feeling better and rid of the catheter. Ignoring symptoms is so very male and so very wrong.

OldTryGuy

Fantastic reading that things are straightened out and just in time for cycling season.

eja_ bottecchia

Along those same lines. I ignored persistent chest pain, especially while climbing, for more than 3 months. When I finally told my doc about it he sent me straight to a cardiologist. One nuclear stress later I found that my "widow maker" (left anterior descending) artery was over 905 blocked. The doc said that it would have been a matter of time before I dropped dead from a heart attack, especially during a long climb.

Four stents later I feel great and I am back to riding with the same zest and enthusiasm as before.

Moral of the story....DO NOT ignore body symptoms.

Wanderer

Me too! Didn't ignore it vey long - but 4 stents in the left side of my heart took care of my 95% blockages.....

rck

CarrollB-Don't feel bad. It's pretty common to ignore symptoms that creep up on you. I'm not saying that it is right, just common.

donheff

Not sure those symptoms were something you needed to deal with years back. Many of us have them for years with no meds, no surgery. In my case, when I tried meds (Flomax) I started having fainting spells after riding. No thanks. Many years later and things have not gotten much (if any) worse. Was it possible the acute problem was related to your hernia operation -- maybe an infection or something?

Whatever the cause, I hope your operation works. Please post followups as many of us may eventually ride down the same road.

Dudelsack 

Posting stories complimentary of medical professionals is way out of character for this forum. Somebody just wants to get you hooked on mind numbing drugs.

/s

MinnMan

Interesting story, and it seems to have both a moral and a happy ending. Thanks for sharing - really.

CrankyFranky

Thanks for reminding us - and I hope you have many more seasons to ride.

Cougrrcj

Three years ago this June I was diagnosed with a very early stage of an aggressive form of Prostate Cancer at age 53. My PSA was still in the 'normal' range, but had doubled in only one year. Retest the PSA a month later, and was even higher. Biopsy confirmed the cancer. I had a total prostatectomy two months later. Do I regret my decision? Nope. 'Cancer free' are the words you want to hear, trust me!! Yeah, I'm past the stage where I think that I can impress the PYTs. So what if I can't 'shoot'? So BFD, and get over it! I'm still on the right side of the dirt, and that's what matters in my book!

Afterward, the damn catheter hurt like a mofo until I relieved the pain at the - ahem - insertion point with some neosporin ointment. Thankfully, the catheter was only there for ten days post-op while the urethra healed.

No incontinence, no dribble, no drips and no leakage. I'm a happy guy!

Looigi

You also have an enlarged paragraph.

Gnosis