Stent in prosteter . . .

I just got the results back from a recent CAT scan . . . Not too good. My prostate has swollen to wear it is putting pressure on the prosteters and urination is frequent as well as painful. My MO made me an appt with an urologist and mentioned that I might be looking at either stents or surgery . . . Does anyone have any input on these procedures? . . . . Q

Hi Quincy,
I ave no useful info on your specifics, just wanted to say "sorry to hear it" and maybe someone else will have info for you soon.

Hi Quincy17,
I am making an assumption here that you actual mean "Ureter"? The ureters are the tubes that bring the urine from your kidneys to your bladder - so there are 2 of them, one for each kidney.
I will explain my procedure, which may be different from your issue.
I recently had a stent put in my right ureter. It was decided I required a stent for my right side because my right kidney was seen to be swollen - defined in the ultrasound report as "hydronephrosis of the right kidney". The left kidney was normal. The problem for me was that my cancer had grown inside my bladder (still prostate cancer, not bladder cancer) and the cancer growth had closed up the hole from the ureter to my kidney. So, urine could not flow out of my right kidney to the bladder. This is a problem, since eventually if left untreated, the kidney will shut down, and infections could begin. I was sedated for this surgery, and when they saw it was cancer growth causing the blockage, they had to scrape the cancer growth away to gain access to the ureter hole in order to put the stent in place. This was a complication that resulted in me having to stay overnight for observation and I needed to have a catheter for 8 days while the bladder wall healed from the scraping. Putting the stent in place resolved my kidney problem and it is draining fine through the stent. My stent must be replaced every 3 months - this is forever.
Normally, if there are no complications like I had, installing a stent is a simple day surgery process, no catheter is required. I will have my stent replaced in 2 weeks, and I expect it will be a simple process to remove the old stent and put in the new stent. Day surgery, in and out the same day.
If you require a similar procedure as mine, hopefully your ureter hole is not plugged and they do not have to cut away any growth. Then your procedure should be simple.
The only other issue with stents is that during the first few weeks, I had bladder spasms that were very painful. They do not last long - 5-15 seconds, but they hurt a lot. I was provided medication to take to reduce the amount of bladder spasms that helped, but did not completely take them away. After about a month, I did not have many spasms at all, so I can enjoy life as normal.
I hope this information was of some help. Your doctor will be able to explain this much better and specific to your issue. I am not very medically smart, just another guy cursed with this disease.
Best wishes with your treatments!

Hey Quincy,
Yes I have considered Xofigo. I will undergo some scans next week, and when they replace my stent, they will also look at the cancer growth in my bladder. I will be going on Abiraterone (Zytiga) or getting Xofigo. In Ontario, Canada, if you have any visceral metastases, you cannot have Xofigo. They are going to try to determine if the cancer in my bladder is growing or not, and if it falls into the category of visceral. I am hoping I can have Xofigo, as I hear good results from being treated with it. If I cannot have it, I am looking into the clinical study that is using Abiraterone + Xofigo. Perhaps I can enter that study if I am restricted to Abiraterone by my Onc.
Thank you for your advice.

Thank you for the added information. I read about the risk of Anemia. I am hoping since I had no problems with Anemia when I had my 6 treatments of Taxotere that I will be good during Xofigo too....but we shall see - just hoping I get the chance to try Xofigo.
Wow the price is very expensive! My Dr already told me that the cost for the treatment will be paid through the government for me, since my benefit plan has a maximum of $10,000 per year, and I use that up with the Eligard, Xgeva and other drugs throughout the year. Some people complain about the Canadian healthcare and taxes, but I feel fortunate that I will not have to pay for treatment, since I could not afford this myself, and my benefit plan is very low.
Good luck and I am glad we were able to help each other with information.
Take care, and best wishes to you!