catheter back in 2 days after taken out-unable to urinate extreme pain

Hi All,

I am writing on behalf of my husband. We are 9 days post RRP. He was doing ok but not great. They took the catheter out and he was fine for one day. The very next day he had quite a bit of blood in the urine. we called the doctor and they confirmed that it was normal. That night (last night) he awoke at 2am....in horrible pain. It was unbelievable. I rushed him to the emergency room. The catheter is back in. They said a blood clot blocked the passage of urine. He is exhausted and sore today with a low fever.

Honestly, I am looking for someone to assure us that this is normal.

It was simply horrific. He was in so much pain he couldn't speak.He has been so stoic through everything, never complaining. I kept telling them in the emergency room it had to be unbearable because it is the first time he truly complained about anything.  Now I am scared to death of them taking out the catheter and experiencing this again.

Your thoughts and help are so appreciated!

Hortonwhos wife

Hortonswho
(Welcome to HW)
What a terrible time this must have been for you both. So well done for coping.
Well done for taking him to ER.
This episode reinforces a general tip at HW to get medical help etc, and not just worry about things.

I think that those of us who have had the operation have ALL had blood and/or blood clots in our urine, you husband's problem would simply appear to have been due to the size of the blood clot.

Bladder infections are common enough anyway. A blocked bladder very quickly results in problems such as fever so that aspect is also "normal" your husband's situation will have of course felt worse for having occured so soon after surgery involving that area.

If you are worried that it will happen again (you might for instance be thinking that there is another big clot in there) then again it is a case of asking the doctors what they can do to help. I have an idea that there is something that can be used to dissolve clots or flush the bladder.

I think the first thing, however is to take things quietly and make sure he gets rid of that fever.

Best wishes
Alfred

Horton's Wife, sorry to read about you and your husband's horrible experience. My husband passed a fair number of clots as well but only for the first couple of days while the catheter was in. One night, while still in the hospital, I had to stay with him and walk him up and down the hallway to get the clot to pass through (it did). He didn't say anything about pain but had a terrible sense of his bladder backing up...he definitely was in a panic mode.

Boy, this is one story that brings back bad memory. I feel so sorry for your husband. It's almost a repeat of what happened to me. I was on the original catheter for 30 days after surgery. It was taken out, almost nothing every came out, it was late in the day. Went to bed, woke up in severe pain, as by then, I had total blockage. As soon as my uro was open, my wife rushed me there, and of course, they installed a new cath. Its hard to explain the pain to someone when you can't urinate at all. Your bladder is full, is backs up to the kidneys, and besided the feeling of wanting to explode in the bladder, the pain travels up your back and through your hips. You will either panic, or keep having feeling of severe panic, you think you are going to die, pain levels can easily hit 9-10 if you are full enough. I found pacing back and forth was remotely less painful than sitting while waiting. It's the one time you are glad to see a catheter being inserted into your penis, you would do anything to relieve the pain. Once it gets to the bladder, and urine starts to rush out, the pain abates almost as quickly as it started. Once emptied, you feel like you will live another day. Dramatic account? Not really, been there done this too many times.

The second time they took it out, on a Friday, Uro closed early. I didnt make 4 hours on my own. By the time wife got home from work, we rushed to local ER, only 2 blocks away. Between waiting and how ineffecient they were at this little hospital, took another 3 1/2 hours of sheer pain and hell. Even they talked by phone to my Uro with specific instructions on what size foley to use and how to thread it since I was so soon from surgery, they did it all wrong which caused me even more pain and agony. This was a week before Christmas.

That catheter stayed in a month, as I was not going to have my entire Christmas ruined by any more catheter attempts, and I was so sore from my surgery.

I will add, that my blockages had nothing to do with passing clots or debris, that is uncommon, but not unheard of. Mine are caused by strictures and closings at my bladder neck.

I can relate to what your husband went through, I hope and pray he doesn't have to repeat that episode. I write this as I am still on my 12th catheter 16 months later, awaiting Tuesday 5th surgery to remove still another stricture or blockage.

Good luck to the both of you.

David in SC

You make me cross my leags just thinking about the pain.

On of the standard instructions from the guys on this side is drink, walk, drink. The more he can drink, the more he will dilute the urine, and dissolve clots.

Hopefully, it was just a big clot, and not a sign of something like David has experienced.

Best of luck !

Goodlife,

I had the same thing, day after one of David's experiences, as I recall comparing notes. I remember my wife driving me to the emergency room, and as the pain increased, it seemed like every little noise was tremendously loud, and every little bump in the road hurt so much that I held myself off the car seat for the whole trip. In my case, it might have been a clot, but might also have been that the tissues were still a bit irritated and had swollen shut. When I had the catheter removed a week later, they had me take ibuprofen to keep the swelling down. I asked if I could self-catheter in case I were to swell shut again. But they said that wasn't a good idea since I'd be poking into healing tissue. Anyway, I was fine the second time, lucky for me.

In retrospect, I realized that since it was around 2 or 3 am, and there was no traffic, it must have been very quiet. Could have been a lot worse, if it had been daytime and lots of stop and go traffic.

The second time, they did xray first. Forgot what this was called, but they inject liquid up the catheter, and you can watch it on the screen to see if the plumbing is OK. Fun to watch, if a bit weird, but it was a little uncomfortable.

DJ

Thanks for the update!
CareBear

Horton, good advice from your doctor. In my experiences with this, the extra cath time, annoying as it is, is much better to give the entire area a chance to heal while keeping you open. Good luck my friend

David in sC

I had a da Vinci prostatectomy performed a little over a week ago and had my catheter removed yesterday. However I was unable urinate and was advised to self-cath to induce a stream. I attempted this with limited success - I couldnt get it to the bladder but the cath seemed to create enough pressure so that some of the urine flowed out. I went to my URO's office this morning and they also couldn't get the cath into the bladder, so they arranged for me to go to the ER today to have a a smaller reinserted. This was thankfully done.

They suspect that swelling is the culprit. As someone mentioned above, the pain of this experience is such that you'll gladly allow someone to insert a tube into your penis or even do it yourself. I thought I was going to explode. I bore the pain of the surgery recovery with a handful of Tylenol only, so I'm not a drama queen.

I'm re-cathed now for another week, but am terrified that it's some bizarre scar and not swelling that is the cause. I'm praying a lot right now.


Steve, aged 48.

Steve in NY, you might want to start a new thread, you attached to a two year old thread and it might get lost in the shuffle.

Welcome here. I know all about catheters, as my original one was in for 63 days. THen for nearly two years, I had constant stricture problems, mostly related to over-scarring. I was on 21 caths altogether, and finally was on a suprapubic catheter for 51 weeks, until I underwent a bladder by-pass surgery, leaving me with a stoma (hole) in my side, which I now urinate into a plastic holding bag, and still have to hook up every night to the large catheter bag. Its no fun.

There is no pain quite like that of being blocked up and not being able to pee. Your doc may need to go up with you with a scope, and look around, to make sure that you are not scarring up or having more serious stricture issues like I did. Often, the blockages are right at the bladder neck. In many cases, they can cut away the scarring, or dialate your urethra and open it up.

Good luck, and let me know how that goes. You are preaching to the choir with me on this subject.

David in SC