Nearly two months ago, my 78-year-old father underwent a TURBT for a bladder mass. Before the surgery, he was in very good health and had no pain at all, only 2–3 days of gross hematuria, which is what led us to the ER. The doctors managed to stop the bleeding, but they couldn’t completely remove the tumor because it was about 5 cm and apparently muscle-invasive.
About three days after discharge, his condition started to worsen. He developed severe burning during urination and persistent pain in the bladder area, lower abdomen, and testicles. The pain fluctuates but never fully goes away. He has been taking standard painkillers as prescribed by uro which help a little, but the symptoms have not improved over time as we initially expected. He also developed significant constipation, with very hard stools that at times required manual removal and osmotic laxatives (which seem to be working). On top of that, he contracted a hospital-acquired infection (Enterococcus faecalis), which has only recently resolved.
Now, two months later, he is still experiencing daily pain in the bladder and abdomen, often worse at night or after urinating. During the day, urination causes mild burning, but at night it becomes more intense. Additionally, he has abdominal bloating, gas and discomfort shortly after eating or drinking.
We performed a follow-up CT scan, which did not show any new issues with the bowel or bladder, aside from the known tumor. It also doesn’t appear that the tumor has significantly grown in this period.
At this point, we’re struggling to understand what’s causing these persistent symptoms. Given how his condition changed after the procedure and hasn’t improved over time, we’re starting to wonder whether there could have been a complication during the TURBT or even a procedural error. We later found out that the operation was performed by a resident under the supervision of a senior urologist, but this was not clearly communicated to us beforehand. In hindsight, this has raised some concerns about whether everything was handled optimally during the surgery. We contacted the senior urologist by email to explain the situation, but we have not received any response. Right now, the only specialists following him are oncologists, but they are focused on the tumor itself and not on managing or explaining these ongoing symptoms.
Has anyone experienced similar long-term symptoms after TURBT or have any insight into what might be going on? We’d really appreciate any insight or suggestions on what to investigate next.
