Wellness

[golding76]

Has anyone had experience with male urinary problems? No blockage (thank God) but poorly functioning kidneys.

A nephrostomy has been suggested but is definitely not wanted. I just read about a "subcutaneous stent" that is used in some cases.

Present and former medical personnel -- or loved ones of someone who has had this problem and challenge -- do you know of alternatives to a nephrostomy?

Thank you in advance for any responses, which will be sincerely appreciated and considered. Of course the immediate medical team handling this situation will be followed first, but someone out there might know something we don't know about.

This request to the QVC community is a worth a shot.

[hckynut]

I can only share with you my urinary problems but I know nothing about the topic you are asking about.I went through a complete test called Euro Dynamics and also had A cystoscopy all done by a urologist. well that showed no blockages, it did show a reduced bladder capacity. There is a nadule in my right kidney and that one time I was having an ultrasound done on that every 3 months to keep and eye on its growth or lack of it. I am now having this done annually and so far the growth has been minimal. the doctor does not want to do a biopsy because it is in a part of the kidney that would make this and more difficult procedure. he only wants to do this if this nodule appears to be gaining size. I wish I could help you further with this but that is pretty much the limit of my knowledge and I gain this through personal experience with what they call overactive bladder. I did try medications but they proved not to be useful enough to continue to take them. Now I pretty much stay as close as possible to the facilities.

[golding76]

Thank you so much, John. I appreciate that you shared your experience with this problem (although it is different from that of my loved one). It took guts to do that, my fellow forum contributor. No one likes to talk of "unpleasant things," but as we age, we hit these unpleasant things head-on. It happens to us or our loved ones.

Best of luck to you as you manage your condition.

[PINKdogWOOD]

My husband has a stent for just the same reason, slow flow in the right kidney. He has it because of what we (surgeon along with us) believe to be due to scare tissue from removal of rectal cancer, 16 lymph nodes, and enough surrounding tissue of course in order to make certain of all removal. Surgery was July 3, 2013, first stent was put in a couple of months later.

He has it changed out every 3-4 months, you need to do this. It's out patient, takes about 15-20 minutes under a twilight sleep. We have a fabulous Urologist and surgical staff who do this (same team every time).

Funny that you should ask about this. We're to the point now where my husband just had this week in fact a nuclear MRI to check the function of this kidney to see if having a stent is even a necessity anymore. We'll find this out on Monday when we meet with his Dr for the results. We've talked this over extensively with our Dr whereby he indicates that if there is now only 10-15% functionality, he feels the stent is not doing any good to continue using. His other kidney is operation 100%. So we're excited to hear about our findings.

My hisband and I were talking about this last evening in fact. I told him that while I certainly hope that his kidney may not be functioning as it should be, I'm kind of hoping we can eliminate a stent change out every 3-4 months for the rest of his life. We also however do realize that if anything happens to the left kidney he will be then in need of a transplant. I told him that I refuse to go to the 'dark' side of living by even entertaining thoughts of bad health problems. I just refuse to 'go there'. We've had our fair share of bad health with my husband since Jan 2013 - 22 months worth to be exact.

So again, I must emphasize working with an excellent physician about your concerns to make the very best decision that you, your spouse/family and doctor can live with. Best to you.

[golding76]

Thank you so much, pink dogwood, for sharing your family's experience with this condition and the stent treatment. I did not know that the stent must be changed out every several months.

The problem is that my loved one ignored this situation for a very long time, never went to the urologist as directed and ended up in the hospital. He feels that the urologist, whom he has seen only one time, is "railroading" him into the nephrostomy tube. He knew of another procedure that he had read online, and after speaking with him this morning, I went online and found what must be the alternative: the stent.

Best of luck to your husband and you. I honor that you refuse to entertain "dark" thoughts. Worrying does not achieve anything, but I do it all the time.

[PINKdogWOOD]

You (and your loved ones) must advocate for yourselves in all medical conditions. Don't be railroaded into anything. Seek another opinion if at all possible. It's so important for you and your team (of drs) to be on the same page, come to the same conclusions and treatments. While my husband was doing his follow up 'maintenance' chemotherapy our lead oncologist was the one who chose the drugs to use, a cocktail of 2 or 3. My husband was having some really bad side effects and on one of his monthly routine checkups, we shared our concerns with our doctor who was truly on our side in changing the protocol. Things went much better for my husband after the routine was changed. Of course it took a good month to work out what was really making symptoms difficult.

I say all of this to say again, find a doctor who listens and hears you, and one who knows his field and will suggest the best choices for you to make.

[goldensrbest]

My husband had this done, lived with it for about 9 years, he had to go in every 3 months,to have it redone, it is not the easiest thing to live with, infections, but his kidneys failed,becausr of prostate cancer, and had to do this.

[golding76]

On 3/14/2015 goldensrbest said:

My husband had this done, lived with it for about 9 years, he had to go in every 3 months,to have it redone, it is not the easiest thing to live with, infections, but his kidneys failed,becausr of prostate cancer, and had to do this.

goldens, did your husband have the nephrostomy tube or the subcutaneous stent?

Best of luck to your husband and you. Thank you for responding.

[goldensrbest]

Hi goldie,he had the nephrostomy tube, he passed away in 2013,from the cancer.

[goldensrbest]

I wanted to add this, there are actually holes into the side,that the tubes go into, they have to be kept clean, and each time they are replaced, they become more inflamed ,and can get crusty, they do hurt some times, it really was not pleasant to my husband,but had to be done.