[DaughterInNeed]

Hello everyone!

My dad underwent treatment for his BPH several months ago and has been having issues urinating ever since. He refuses to use a foley catheter again and isn't crazy about going the medication route.

His urologist suggested a new product called the Spanner that he thinks will work for my dad...has anyone tried this? Or does anyone have any thoughts on it? I have researched quite a bit (my parents aren't great with computers) and although it seems like prostatic stents have gotten quite a bad reputation, this one seems different and might do the trick.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated...thanks!!!!

A Very Concerned Daughter

[mrcoyote]

You said your dad underwent "treatment" for his BPH, but you didn't say what that was. I don't know anything about a "spanner" but I do know a lot about BPH from my own experience. Although not a doctor, I would say this much. If your dad is having trouble urinating, then it's up to the urologist to give him something to help. I'm not sure why he doesn't want to try medication, because there are some pretty good ones out there now. Unless you tried them, and they didn't help him. The problem with letting it go without treatment is that without urinating properly, you open yourself up to frequent and sometimes nasty urinary tract infections and possibly, if bad enough, a kidney infection which is much harder to get rid of. I understand why he doesn't care for the catheter, but normally BPH is treated without a catheter and with other means. I took Flomax for years and it helped me a lot. In some extreme cases, a transurethral resection is the answer, either conventional or laser. I would be leery of anybody who suggests "something new" for BPH. You can always get another opinion from another urologist and I would. Make sure he is BOARD CERTIFIED and see what he says about this. There is help out there, don't give up. But, I think that's the right thing to do at this point. Hope this helps you out some way.