Yes, you should travel for the best doctor. There are usually only three visits at most (preliminary work up; actual surgical date; & maybe a follow up).
For example: I live on the east coast of Florida and I found it well worth it to travel to see Dr Miller @ Vanderbilt University in Nashville. They are all set up for people who come from away.
If you come up with names that you are unsure of, then post them on this forum page, or the other similar page on this web site ("Experiences With Holmium Laser Enucleation Of The Prostate, HoLEP, Laser Surgery") and ask for opinions as to peoples experiences with them. The HoLEP patient crowd is a very informed group that is full of valuable information.
For example: Personally I wanted to go to a recommended doctor at a university teaching hospital; & I wanted one that was trained by one of the original HoLEP surgeons, since they had top notch reputations; & I wanted a doctor that had a personable relationship with his/her patients. I did almost all my research on these two extensive forum pages and I found exactly what I was looking for.
Take you time and do your research and you will not be disappointed.
"Experiences With Holmium Laser Enucleation Of The Prostate, HoLEP, Laser Surgery"
"Best Doctors For HoLEP Surgery"
I searched doctors around my area, the closest one is Dr. Das, used to be in Philadelphia, but seems he has moved to California. Dr. Bandi in Whashington DC, Seems ho do the surgery one Wednesday every month. Then more further distance, they are Dr. Miller, Krambeck, Dr. Lingeman, and Arizonna.
Anyone has recent experience of those doctors? Do they still do surgery them self instead letting the trainee to do it, (in near by locations, I do find some doctors are doing it but apparently they are either new trained or not doing regularly). If those famous doctors do, normally how soon they can arrange me the procedure. Since I have to travel to other states, and try to do once and get the best result for any reason, get a right doctor is most important. Please share the recent experience and updated doctor list, if there are any other name you can recommended.
I am keep searching for doctors and all related information, will make decision very soon, any comments will help.
I believe that all the doctors that you mentioned are still in business, because I have seen comments about them occassionally on the two HoLEP pages on this web site.
I think that any doctor associated with a teaching institution (ie: university hospital) would be a good choice because they are well vetted and are in an educational environment with lots of support. Also any doctor that was trained by one of the original doctors (ie: Dr Lingeman) should be a good choice.
I personally can only speak for Dr Miller @ Vanderbilt. She was excellent and she & her appointment system scheduled me in a very efficient manner. They even arranged the hotel to stay at with a discount (Holiday Inn near the clinic with free shuttle service). Communicated by email Appt made my recent test results sent pre-op visit operation & overnight stay in hospital follow up visit (which probably is not necessary if you are having no problems). It was all done within 2 or 3 months.
To be clear: HoLEP is only a one time surgery unless something develops years down the road.
By the way, after surgery, how long I can come back to normal daily activities, such as some heavy physical work, long distance driving, etc.
Glad to hear that you had positve results with Dr Miller. Her quick responses to my emails is one of the many positive attributes that sold me on her.
Very interesting that they are now doing some cases at their outpatient care surgery center. I had heard of that happening at other places.
I believe I had to wait about 1.5 - 2 months for the surgery (not sure). The surgery itself only took and hour or two.
You are pretty much back to normal immediately as long as you do not overdue it. No heavy physical work for a month or so. I drove home from Tennessee to Florida the day after I was discharged from the hospital --- that said, I stopped at every rest area and got out and walked around.
Be sure to also read the other HoLEP page on this website --- It is full of good information about experiences and what to do or not do for best outcomes.
Also -- start Kegel exercises Now and do them several times every day. One easy way to incorporate them into your daily routine is the periodically stop and hold your stream for short periods when you urinate.
Best of luck to you. Update everyone of your experiences so that others can benefit.
Also I noticed that you had some post surgery issue months after your procedure, did it get taken care of finally?
Thanks
I don't recall any major post surgery issues. That said I find that my bladder tends to be rather sensitive which gets me up at night more than I would like but I found that the cure for that is two Tylenol before bed.
Also, I find that I generally void much better standing up, which caused me to adapt my traditional way of sitting when peeing (I find men who sprinkle when they stand to pee disgusting). But at night I always stand and use a urinal (which I saved from my hospital time) in order to guarantee total emptying and therefore less times to the bathroom during the night.
Hope these "tips" help.