Yeah, its the first day of May. Seven months ago to the day, my SP (suprapubic) catheter was surgically installed. At that time, just days before my SRT was to begin, we estimated that it might be in place as much as 3 full months. I have passed that by an additional 4 months. I am on catheter #16, and since my
open Surgery in October, 2008, I have now spent 311 days with catheters.
This is a twist in a PC journey that never was talked about in advance, neve read about on-line or in a book. Stricture issues by themselves, are not uncommon, but when they become chronic, you drop into a small percentile group of difficulties (2-4% by my research), and now, its been further complicated and impacted by my rather adverse reacation to the radiation delivered during my SRT late last fall.
This is the latest thinking. There are other procedures that my uro/surgeon could do. There are more advanced surgical procedures that a specialist surgeon could do, which my uro has no problem arranging. And there is the tiniest chance, that over time, there could be enough natural healing, to get the bladder neck operational enough without pain to work on its own.
But.....and there is always that "but"
My body has to heal sufficiently from the radiation damage before any of the above can happen. There will be no more surgical procedures untl there is proof that this healing has happened. One of the advanced case surgeons already told my uro/surgeon, that there would be too high a risk for further or perm damage if any operation was performed at this point, and that it would ultimately fail.
So for now, and even looking ahead a few months, this is my reality and life. Every 4-5 weeks, my uro will meet with me, will change out the SP cath (this is done only for sanitary reasons, and by DHEC laws in this state, it has to be changed no more than 6 weeks apart). It would be nice to have one changed out that didn't hurt so bad, but that is mostly because of the damaged areas, not because of the cath it self. They do not want me to do any more testing, i.e. blocking off the cath to see how I can pee on my own, as all it does is further aggervate the situation. And he banned me from any Advil, aspirin, or any other med that can cause bleeding, again, as that just causes new damage.
I am set to see him later this month. July, we will take another PSA reading, despite my wonderful .04 mega drop last time, he wants to keep an eye on it every 90 days a few more times.
So, I have adapted this far, will have to continue this pattern. Got a major job interview next Friday, my best suit is light colored. So I will be hiding my cath under boxers, but will wear briefs under them with a Depends Guard in place, in case of any problems or it a lovely spasms occurs at the wrong time. That's how I have to think these days.
David in SC