Hello all. I have benefited from some of the great advice and comments made by others on this journey. As such, I felt I should share this for anyone who may be facing a prostate biopsy. This was my experience, and obviously will not be the same for others. Still, there may be some benefit.
My stats: 68, Caucasian, American living in Japan. I had been healthy for years without issue. My PSA rate had fluctuated between 4 and 5 for a year. My urologist did not seem concerned.
After a rough bike ride, I felt tingling in my groin area, went to a different urologist (part of my challenge here is finding English-speaking doctors). He ordered an MRI; long story short: something "suspicious" was seen.
This led to my biopsy. I had read a fair amount about what would be a transperineal biopsy. In Japan, it was not a simple in-office procedure, clean-up and then back home. It required a night in the hospital.
The urologist I dealt with told me I could return to work the day after I had the biopsy. He also said I could return to riding my bike after two weeks. Both of these turned out to be incorrect.
I was given an anesthetic, injected in my back. The surgeon (I guess that's who he was) was unsuccessful in doing this and had to call an anesthesiologist, who was much better at applying the anesthesia. This, however, did not give me much hope in my surgeon. (I also thought he was too young, but at that point, nothing mattered.)
I was placed in the position, which, as you can imagine, does not show one at one's best. There were two nurses present, who I must say were sympathetic and caring. The surgeon also did his best to explain to me in English what was going to happen.
As some may know, tiny pieces of tissue from the prostate are taken so it can be determined if there is any cancer. I cannot say I distinctly remember the surgeon saying "22 samples," but that's how many he took.
Despite this being 2022, when a sample is taken, a loud CLICK was clearly heard. It was extremely disconcerting, but I did my best to blot out the sound. I was awake, but did not feel anything.
The next thing I remember was being taken to a hospital room. Although I paid for a private room (and I must say the room itself was beautiful), it didn't really make that much difference. I was on my back for about 16 hours. I had a catheter in, which I became aware of after the anesthesia wore off. I was not in strong pain, but I was certainly uncomfortable. It was almost impossible to sleep and it just never crossed my mind to ask them to give me a sedative.
I passed out for a few hours and then a nurse came in to remove my catheter. She YANKED it out and I screamed. It was singularly the worst experience of my life. I cannot imagine that this is how one removes a catheter. She MAY have pulled it out, but it felt like she YANKED it out. It was horrible.
About an hour later I was able to eat breakfast after that, which I was grateful for.
Urination that day, and for the next 5 days, was painful and the color was a very unpleasant wine-to-rose. With my partner's help I somehow managed to get home. From that point forward, for at least 5 days, I could not leave the house. The desire to urinate was immediate and I finally bought a urinal, which I used, and which made life a bit easier.
I did my best to drink 2L of water daily, as the nurse suggested, not realizing how much water that really was.
The color of my urine finally returned to normal about 10-12 days after the biopsy. The main problem I had was not being able to leave the house for 5 days, and so, to think I could have gone to work the next day was insane. I couldn't go anywhere. (Thank God for Amazon and deliveries.) When I finally ventured out, I made sure to wear padded underwear and I mapped out where all the public restrooms were on my route, and used every single one of them.
I finally returned to "normal," although I more often than not sit to urinate.
I don't know if there was any way to get out of doing this and I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy (well, there are a few world leaders I might wish it on).
I feel fine now, despite knowing that the biopsy did in fact give an indication of cancer. The next step for me is deciding what to do, which I have posted elsewhere.
For overall advice, I'd say, based on my experience: be crystal clear about when you can realistically return to work, ride a bike, and return to a normal schedule of urinating. I wish I had known these things in advance, hence the desire to share this.
Be well, all.
