Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago.
I'm Jane Monzures.
Now when it comes to our health,
it could be all too easy to push those symptoms aside
and just deal with them,
but if you notice something different,
it's important to talk to your doctor.
So let's find out how this man worked
with his healthcare team to get help
for an enlarged prostate
and get back to his favorite activities.
(soft guitar music)
Greg Prosser enjoys being active.
- I try to exercise probably about five days a week.
I've been an avid bike rider, a tennis player.
I like to golf even though I'm horrible.
- [Jane] He says getting in a good workout
leaves him feeling great.
- When I'm done with a strenuous exercise,
I feel that floating feeling
and endorphins or whatever you call it.
Exercise is good for your mental health,
it's good for your physical health.
- [Jane] But about 30 years ago,
Greg began to struggle with some health changes
that slowly began impacting his workout routine.
- It happened so gradually, you find yourself
every time you wanna go place, you use the bathroom.
Every time you get someplace, you use it
and you just start to notice that this is becoming,
you know, something that's part of your routine,
part of your day.
It hampers one of some of the things you wanna do.
Like going on a bike ride and saying
well I have to use the bathroom before the bike ride's over.
- [Jane] Greg eventually shared his concerns with the doctor
and learned that he had an enlarged prostate.
- Hey, how are you doing? - How are you doing?
How's the recovery?
- Around mid-20s, early 30s,
a man's prostate begins to grow.
It's a very small organ.
In fact, the urine passing from the bladder
has to go right through the middle of the prostate.
So as the prostate gets bigger and bigger,
that expanded gland starts to compress the urine channel
and the bladder gets affected because it begins
to have to push more frequently harder and results
in things like getting up in the middle of the night,
a dribbling stream than a forceful stream.
The most bothersome is the getting up
in the middle of the night.
It really starts to impact sleep and kind of alertness
during the day and you know, other part is their health.
- You know, it got to a point
where I was going multiple times at night.
- If the symptoms are that severe, yes we will intervene.
- [Jane] The first step was medicine followed by surgery.
But the results didn't give Greg
the improvement he was hoping for.
(soft music)
- I was a little bit better, but not what I expected.
- And so that led us to look for interventions
that would be effective, but also have protective effects
in other parts of his life.
- [Jane] Greg and his medical team decided
to try a steam-based procedure
to bring him relief from his symptoms.
- The patient is sedated.then you pass a scope.
The needle is injected in a predetermined length
into the prostate and then delivers
a small amount of water which has been heated
into steam vapor which is injected
in a limited area of the prostate.
As soon as that steam hits prostate cells,
in nine seconds, they're dead.
Those cells which have been killed by steam
are reabsorbed by the body and the urinary tract
begins to open up.
Two weeks, the men can also appreciate
substantial improvement in their life.
- I kind of noticed an improvement with you know,
the stream and the ability to go.
Then it got gradually better week by week by week
and then I got to the point where I said wow,
this is like where I was 30 years ago.
(upbeat music)
- He really did as well as one could possibly hope for
so I'm very happy for the response
that he, that he related to me.
- Go on a bike ride, and we go the whole bike ride.
I went wow, I didn't have to go.
It feels really really good
'cause it made those things more enjoyable, obviously.
- [Jane] Greg hopes his story inspires other men
to speak up to their doctors and get help if they need it.
- Get it done.
It's easy.
It's gonna increase your quality of life
'cause you can do things you couldn't normally do.
- If you have urination complaints
and they're impacting your life, don't ignore it.
Bring it up with your doctor.
There's medications.
If they're not working, there's interventions.
- It really was kind of like I was put in a time machine.
Just do it.
Don't put up with all the aggravation.