Day 45: Emergency Room - Catheter #3 Just Put In

Dang it!

Hang in there buddy...just hang in there...My prayers are for you tonight.

Tony

So disappointing to read tonight. Thinking of you and looking forward to things getting a little easier for you.

Thanks one and all, sorry I am so bummed out, I am very patient by nature, but even I have a breaking point. The going answer so far, and my dr/surgeon has said this all along, is that there is/was severe scarring at the juncture of the bladder/urethra. The catheter tube can easily fit in, but when its out of there, the urine must cause it to swell shut in the matter of a few hours. I was so afraid this would happen today, never convinced it was open enough to drain fast enough. I wonder if my dr. can look up it with some kind of scope i hear about. I also have heard tell of some "roter rooter" job, but geez, if it's not healed up after 45 days enough to let me pee right, don't see how "drilling" it out would ever heal. Mostly don't know what I am talking about at this point, will have to see what the dr. says when I call tommorow. Very discouraged right now, but I know some of you have it much worse then this, so I will shut up for now.

David in SC

Hang tight. They'll get to the bottom of the problem. We can't do much but wait it out with you. We do have strong shoulders and good ears in here. You can come rant whenever you feel the need.

Swim

David,

Geez, what more can be said. I admit I was worried when you described the flow in your previous post. Nobody deserves to have that much pain, again..maybe what my nurse practioner said last time is relevant: If I were to stop up again and need a 3rd catheter, he would expect it would be because of either a flap of tissue hanging down, or just scar tissue in general closing up the opening. (Also, he gave me prescription strength levels of Motrin were to reduce swelling. ) So if that happened, that a 3rd catheter had to be put in, the next step would be for the doc to go in through the urethra with a fiber optic scope and look at the problem. Then they would schedule another surgery under general anesthesia to go in and cut away the problem. This all would be done carefully and not too hastily. I had the impression that the scope work and the followup operation would be several days apart. So basically, what he told me sounds a lot like what you are expecting.

I was re-reading Walsh last night, and the connection of the bladder to the urethra does look very tricky (figures 8.7 and 8.8, pages 279-280). On page 282 he describes how the bladder neck has to be narrowed down by the surgeon to match the size of the urethra. Here I'll go way out on a limb and hypothesize that if the bladder neck had to be narrowed down, maybe what some men need is to have it widened back up a bit. This is just speculation on my part, but it seems plausible.

As you can tell, we're still all pulling for you. Sorry to be away off and on today, but I'll check in more often tomorrow.

Dear David, Peter and I know what you are going through. Peter had many constrictions, and was in the ER about five times. The last time, we were out of town and had to go to the ER. The ER intern did not want to take the catheter out because he didnt know what a sling was....Pete laid in the hallwlay in excruiating pain until a urologist came. I was on the telephone to Sloan Kettering to try and get the surgeon to talk to this ER doctor.. It was Sunday and the Fellow at MSK was not the same one we knew... He didnt know the history. ..Pete was in agony, and finally was going to pull out the catheter himself......The intern took it out finally and put in a new one in the wrong place and made a fistula.

More surgery to repair the fistula and catheter in for a year....After that, self catheterization, which sounds difficult, but he learned to do it about three times a day to keep the urethra open so he could have the AUS installed. AUS didnt work, and now he is getting ready to have a hip replacement..still wet as can be.... and in horrible pain from the hip..

The good news for you is...You did not have radiation damage or scar tissue from radiation. So you will eventually be OK. You may need to learn to self catherize to help keep the urethra and bladder neck open until the scarring stops. ....Good luck and keep up hope. You are a strong wonderful man... xxDiane.

DJ - I bet they will think along the lines you described, hopefully when I call my dr. office today they can come up with a game plan, I don't want this cath out until there is some concrete action plan in place, if you remember, I went through 6 days of bad blasm pains with cat 2 all through Christmas because they would let me take the med, and then to have the cat out for less then 12 hours and go through all that pain again, it was like this was all for nothing.

Diane - when I read what Pete has been through and what he still is facing, I feel guilty for writing about such petty things. Told my wife last night, wish I never, ever agreed to this surgery at this time, been nothing but trouble and pain. And the burden of my wife, who works so hard as a nurse to start with, having to deal with all my problems, my mother now that she had her stroke the day after Christmas, etc, etc, I feel overburdend with guilt because I am so limited right now in how much I can help her. Just doesnt seem fair sometimes. She's not comlaining, but I know her too well after almost 35 years, and its taking a toll on her well being.

David in SC

Ask your doctor about a Cystogram to help determine if the cath is ready to come out Maybe if won't help in your case but it sure wouldn't hurt to ask.

I agree with Steve, as you might recall, my doc's office calls for a cystogram when the catheter has to be removed more than once.

It is really tough to have had to put up with those spasms, yet have no success yet. Hope your spasms are not so bad now, are you back on the dinitropan? And putting up with the nurse who hadn't checked your chart, that's frustrating. Your wife probably knows a lot of nurses who aren't so great.

I thought more about the "flap of tissue" scenario which is the first thing my nurse practitioner suggested. That is a plausible scenario that seems fairly fixable. The flap would be held open by the catheter, but would shut like a valve when the catheter is removed. I think you've mentioned that your anatomy was more challenging, so I'm not sure this would apply to you.

David, That bites. I am so glad I have never (knock on wood) had to be cathed. I had a test for S.T.D.s in my youth, (negative thank you) and having that swab shoved up Mr. winky was bad enough. I feel for you bro and it makes my stomach hurt. Hang in there we all be praying for you. Todd

David,

I can't much add to what was said...just to let you know I'm following your story and rooting for you. Sorry you're having all this trouble. Don't lose your sense of humor and keep writing. (You write very well.) I hope this all works out for you real soon.

David, I don't know what to think other than the "flap" theory sounds very plausible. If that's the case then ask the uro what to do to treat that problem. So sorry to hear about your mother, and hope her recovery goes well.

Bob