BuddyPish

Can you tell me where you obtained this? I'd like to take it with me when I go back to immigration next month to resubmit my application and use it as the basis for a written appeal should I be declined on the same grounds (of course, I'll make sure the funds don't go below the required amount but you never know with immigration).

You don't know what you're talking about so you should remain silent. This is NOT a non-immigrant "O" extension based on marriage. It's based on being a parent to a Thai child. There are NO seasoning requirements for a non-immigrant "O" extension on this basis.

I had my application for an extension of stay based on being the parent of a Thai child declined today at Chaeng Wattana because the balance in my account dipped marginally below 400,000 THB less than a month before my application. My balance was over 750,000 today but it didn't matter a jot. To my knowledge, this is a new rule. I've been getting this same extension for 6 or 7 years from CW and as far as I knew, there was no need for seasoning or requirements for time-sensitive minimum balances. I got my extensions in previous years even if the balance had dropped to 200k 2 weeks before my application. SI was sent away with a 2 month extension and asked to come back no sooner than 17th November to re-submit my application (provided, of course, the balance in my account doesn't dip below 400,000 again before then). I'm going to have to pull my child out of class again for this annual hoop-jumping nonsense. Not a happy camper

OK I'm coming up to the 4 week mark since my Rezum procedure and I thought I'd share an update. I saw Dr. Suntchai and did the obligatory uroflow test and ultrasound. Flow was strong straight away and the doctor said the chart was textbook for what they want to see. The ultrasound showed a PVR of just 40cc which is excellent especially compared to the 560cc I had before I started self-cathing nearly 6 months ago. I'm pleased. Aside from that, urinary frequency seems to be settling down so, instead of having to relieve myself every hour or so during the 7-10 days after the much-hated Foley catheter was binned, I'm now going 2-3 hours between visits during the day. There is still blood and clots/tissue in my urine but it's not as bloody as it was two weeks ago. Night time is even better. A couple of times in the last 5 days, I went 4-6 hours without having to wake up. Urgency can be an issue when it comes because the burning sensation is quite intense and painful when I have to hold it but it's not as bad as it was after the catheter was removed. So far, my quality of life has been much enhanced by this procedure. I can go out without having to pay mind to where the facilities are and everything in the carnal department is just fine. I used a great patient forum (www.patient.info) to get people's experiences with Rezum before choosing it but they are mostly from the USA and UK so I couldn't find any from patients in Thailand. There are patient experiences for all the BPH procedures including TURP, HoLEP, Acquablation, PAE etc I believe reading up on patient cases provided me with realistic expectations for the procedure so I went in eyes wide open. There were several people who had prostate sizes and median lobe obstructions similar to mine and their experiences had been overwhelmingly positive so I made a reasonable assumption that I might be ok. Key thing to remember is that this procedure is NOT going to be suitable for everyone. There are guys on the forum who had this procedure with massive prostates over 100-150cc and who ended up feeling much worse and determined to rubbish the procedure when, to be honest, they shouldn't have had it in the first place. I think I got lucky but I had a good feeling about Dr. Suntchai. He seemed keen to reward faith and trust in his capabilities but he also insisted on making sure pre-operative qualifying tests indicated good candidacy. He laid out all the potential side effects and complications that could result from the procedure. BNH Hospital is not the plushest when compared to Bumrungrad or Samitivej but having seen the inside of two of their operating theaters, it's clear it spends money on the stuff that really matters like brand new equipment.

I used Finasteride, tamsulosin, Urief, Saw Palmetto, Pygeum extract etc - none of them had any discernible effect on men with median lobe obstruction of the bladder. All (except Saw Palmetto and Pygeum extract) they did was lower my blood pressure and bring on retrograde ejaculation.

I read his posts avidly.

He was most pleased. He showed me the ultrasound after my first voiding; the median lobe protrusion was dramatically reduced but I could still see what remained of it. He said that would continue to shrink as the inflammation dies down and consequently, flow will improve significantly. He said that indications are that a small percentage of men will need another procedure in 3-5 years but he said my prostate isn't too large. If my median lobe doesn't regrow, it could be a lot longer before I need another intervention.

Rezum is treated as an outpatient procedure. I was out in 4 hours

I don't know how painful inserting the catheter was because I was asleep when he did that. Removal was fine - a little discomfort but couldn't describe it as pain. The cystoscopy didn't hurt at all since the urethra was numbed although, to be fair, I'd been self-catheterizing for 4 months before so maybe I was used to it. The price was 200k but my insurer covered that and the cost of the cystoscopy which is 40k

I had the Rezum vapor therapy at BNH Hospital on 27th September and I thought I'd share my experience in case someone needs insight into the experience in Thailand. I'd been having issues with urination for years but things got serious around December last year. I was waking up 6 times a night to urinate and clearly, the situation was unsustainable over the long term. I went to see Dr. Viroj at Bumrungrad. I was diagnosed with urinary retention caused by bladder outlet obstruction, namely an enlarged median lobe. I asked the doctor about surgical options and he ruled out Rezum and pretty much everything else because of my urinary retention of around 600ml and said that needed to be brought under control first. He didn't suggest a cystoscopy or urodynamics even though the ultrasound clearly showed the median lobe protruding into my bladder. To my horror he prescribed CIC (Clean Intermittent Catheterization). I was gutted. I lived with that for 4 months doing it 4-7 times a day and having to wake up at night to do it too as my kidneys were producing too much urine (I'd already been diagnosed with hydronephrosis and diabetes insipidus after undergoing a water deprivation test at Samitivej. Eventually, it got to be too much to bear with my entire life being arranged around my proximity to my bathroom so I arranged to get a 2nd opinion. I contacted Dr Suntchai at BNH hospital and went to see him. I brought all my records from Bumrungrad and Samitivej and he said that Dr. Viroj is a very experienced urologist and there had to be a reason for his refusal to sanction any surgical procedure. He checked to make sure that 4 months of self catheterization had resolved my moderate hydronephrosis in both kidneys which it had. I wanted to book the Rezum procedure right there and then but he told me to slow down. He wanted to do a cystoscopy to see if there was a reason besides the median lobe obstruction as to why I couldn't urinate. Sure enough, the cystoscopy revealed the full extent to which the median lobe blocked the bladder. Really cool to see it on the big screen. He also showed me the mild to moderate thickening of the bladder wall but said it wasn't anywhere near bad enough to compromise my ability to urinate if/when the obstruction was removed. He also did a TRUS (trans-rectal ultrasound) which showed that my prostate wasn't that large - 54 cc We discussed options - including TURP - which I flat out refused. I reasoned that minimally-invasive was the route to go since, if it didn't work or last, I could always go for more invasive surgery. To be honest, I don't think I'd ever go for a TURP - if I need another operation, it'll almost certainly be acquablation. Anyway, I had the Rezum done under IV sedation so I was asleep and I woke up with a catheter installed. Dr. Suntchai said I needed to keep it in for 2 weeks because the median lobe was the focal point of the treatment and it would bleed like crazy and potentially take longer to heal. He ruled out CIC because the prostate tissue would be inflamed and it would be easy to create a false passage with the catheter if I had to do it 4-7 times a day as before. He said I'd been given 7 injections, 5 of which were in the median lobe and 2 in the lateral lobes since there wasn't much enlargement in those. Frankly, the catheter was the worst aspect of the entire journey - very uncomfortable and downright painful if you moved the wrong way . . . or got an erection in the middle of the night which I did on several occasions. Anyway, I had the catheter removed 3 days ago. After drinking a liter of water, I was expecting having to make a considerable effort to void but to my delight, when the urge hit, urine (and a fair bit of blood) came gushing out of me with considerable force. I went back in to see the doctor after urinating and he did the ultrasound. There was very little retention - less than 100ml - and I was delighted. I had been worried about retrograde ejaculation and wanted to find out if I would have to live with it forever since, from what I remember of the doctor's pre-operative briefing, the median lobe is where the ejaculatory ducts are. My lady came round and I needn't have worried. All good there. ???? All in all, I'm very pleased so far but frequency and urgency are dogging me. I'm peeing every hour and it's playing havoc with sleep. The doctor said I should expect that to resolve over time and suggested I take Harnal (tamsulosin) if flow gets a little worse in the coming days. Hope this helps anyone looking for personal insight into this procedure in Thailand.

I've gone through quite a few threads but haven't found much besides GarryP's experiences which were highly informative. Has anyone else here had this treatment? If so, how satisfactory was/is your outcome in terms of urine flow? Also, has anyone had the treatment at BNH hospital? I'm considering going through with it there (it's slightly cheaper than Bumrungrad) but I know that the practitioner doing the procedure is as important (if not more so) as the technology itself. I'm loathe to be part of anyone's learning curve so I'd appreciate any feedback. Thanks gents

Thank you very much, Sheryl

Good day A couple of pharmacies have told me that this is available without prescription but I can't find it anywhere, even in the Southeast pharmacy on Sukhumvit. It's a nasal spray used for treatment of diabetes insipidus. It's also available in pill form. Would appreciate any leads. Thank you

Let's hope you're equally smug and judgmental when you see supposedly squeaky clean white men being pulled out of taxis by the police on "Suky". That's racial profiling too . . . the police know that whitey is the African dealers' number one customer.