AHA             Prostate problems                                        10 July 2007

AGZ talked about my haemorrhoids.  It was under the same regime that I had my first TURP.  That was in January 1990.  Again it was Mr Jarrett who did the op at the New Victoria Hospital.  I was in the hospital for a week while they monitored my fluid in and fluid out.  At the end of the week my urine had no blood in it and I was discharged.

You may ask: what is a TURP?   It stands for trans-urethral-resection-of-the-prostate.  The urethra is the pipe that leads from the bladder to the outside world.  It is the same name for men and women, although in men it gets a bit complicated in that the tube passes through the prostate.  And as a man gets older, his prostate swells and starts to squeeze the urethra causing a problem passing urine.  In the man there is another pipe that joins the urethra from the scrotum; this pipe, the vas deferens carries the male seed that is flushed through by the semen that comes from the prostate.  The vas deferens is the one that is cut and tied if you have "the snip".

It sounds ghoulish, but a TURP is carried out by passing a tool into the penis.  The tool is used to cut away part of the wall of the urethra where it passes through the prostate.  This removes the restriction that was caused by the swelling of the prostate.  You can then pee again with ease.  When I had my first one done in January 1990, I was unaware that I might need it doing again.  But in August 2006 I needed a second rebore.  It reached the point that I had to have a catheter inserted because I was unable to pass urine.  And that is SERIOUS. A week like that and you are probably ready for your box.

I went NHS initially but the wait was so long I decided to go private.  The hospital fee was about three and a half grand.  The anaesthetist's fee was four hundred, and I have not yet had the bill from the surgeon.  But I reckon that he is worth a lot more than I am, so I won't be chasing him.

If the next TURP is in another fifteen years, I will be 96.  So I may make it!  Will it be a record?