My Holep experience in Russia

I’m a 56 years old male that for the most part of my life I’ve enjoyed good health, but that in the last 4-5 years started to see my quality of life impacted negatively with the effects of an enlarged prostate. After more than a year trying to get solved the problem in Canada, I finally gave up, and decided to go to Saint Petersburg and get the Holep procedure done there, paid from my pocket. After only 10 days after the Holep procedure my quality of life has increased dramatically despite that I’m still recovering from the surgery. Yes, I estimate that I am almost recovered, but the let’s say 10% remaining of the post-operational symptoms will be gone in 1 or 2 weeks hopefully, thanks to my clean past medical record (no smoker, not drinker for my first 45 years and only drinking rarely during the last 10 years). I think that the close to CAD 10K total cost ($5K in pre-surgical labs, hospital and doctor fees, plus $5K in air tickets for my partner (Russian) and me plus living expenses for one month) that this Holep procedure cost me was the best investment I’ve made in my life.

Yeah, it is true that Quebec offers a FREE Holep in Canada, but the point is, I didn’t have a defined date for that, instead the last urologist who talked to me over the phone said that it was too early to think in a Holep, that just doubling the medication would do it, but no, no: I tried and I felt like crap which made me decide to rush to Russia which I don’t regret.

I’m writing this journal, thinking that maybe you would like to consider to go to SPB and get a Holep procedure like I did, knowing that perhaps like me, you would like to improve your life, but the Canadian Health system would not you to allow it. Next I will write the next sections:

  • Why I decided to have Holep
  • Planning the Trip/Selecting the Hospital
  • Arriving to Russia and getting prepared for the Holep
  • Having the Holep and what followed
  • What help you can get if you want to get your Holep in Russia

WHY I DECIDED TO HAVE HOLEP

For more than a year I’ve been trying to get an Holep procedure in Canada (I live in Gatineau/Ottawa area), but the Health System here that was not good before the covid19, became a nightmare during the p[l]andemic:

Close to one year ago, I reported to a general physician my problems with sleeping (waking up up to 5-6 times per night to go to pee) and that my Saw Palmetto pills that a couple of years were helping me, were loosing effectiveness, and that for what I’ve read in Internet, standard medication was not something that I wanted to rely on in the long run…

And you guess it, the doctor prescribed Tamsulosin CR 0.4 mg, which helped initially, but after a couple of weeks started to loose its efficacy. By then I asked my doctor to help me to get a Holep done, as I learnt that this was a quite simple procedure, with dramatically improvements …

PLANNING THE TRIP/SELECTING THE HOSPITAL

  • Arriving to Russia and getting prepared for the Holep
  • Having the Holep and what followed
  • What help you can get if you want to get your Holep in Russia