Yesterday morning I had my Urology appointment so we can get to the bottom of this Urinary Retention issue I've been having. We went through all the urology stuff, my history, etc, etc, etc. He wants to leave the catheter in place until my next follow-up in a week, at which point they'll pull the cat, do a Cystoscopy, and then a urinary retention test. Doesn't sound like fun, at all....
Yesterday afternoon we met with the in-home nursing care "Intake Nurse", who did all the usual nurse things, talked to me for a while for "Cognitive Ability", did a an evaluation on things like balance and Range-of-Motion, and had us sign a couple of documents. The nurse will stop in once a week to check up on me and do nurse things, and report the readings to The Doctors.
This morning we met with the PT/OT coordinator who did PT/OT evaluations, watched me maneuver around the house, and other PT/OT things. Then it was back to the hospital this afternoon to have a CT scan of my "Regions Down There". That went quite well, and the results came in about 90 minutes after the procedure. The verdict? Well there's bunch of terms I had to look up and grasp, but the gist is NO suspicious masses or cysts in the bladder, prostate, kidneys, and associated plumbing. Pancreas and Adrenals were "Negative", along with Lymph nodes and other structures. SLW, who went through this with her first husband (RIP, sir), knew most of the terms, and was whooping up and down saying "No Cancer!". So I guess I might be "clear", but I'll wait until the next appointment when I can discuss this with a Doctor. I have a Virtual Visit with my Primary Care Provider next week, and I'm sure we'll be cracking jokes back and forth while we discuss all the findings so far.
So, in the mean time I'll keep doing the exercises, taking some new meds, and drinking LOTS of extra water and a 50/50 mix of H2O and Gatorade.
Oh......here's the installed hardware:
Hope y'all have a good weekend, and a Holy Easter Sunday.
I've had the cystoscopy. The small amount of lidocane started to hurt after they hooked it up to a pump connected to a 55 gallon drum of pain. The camera itself? Inserted into the tip of the external organ and then the doc flipped a switch that caused that camera to grow to the size of a good 1998 era news camera, including the camera operator. The nurse in the corner that was nice looking and had nice red nails suddenly morphed into a female demon of pain and suffering while her teeth grew pointed and her nails turned into dripping red talons. The doc himself went from a jovial somewhat large man to an elementary school PE coach with a bad attitude and a streak of psychopathy that would make Jeffrey Dahlmer look meek.
ReplyDeleteThey did hear me outside of the room. They heard me in the lobby. They heard me outside of the building.
Double plus ungood was my beloved wife cracking bad jokes and laughing at my pain.
Other than that, apparently being rooted out by a full tv studio with cast and crew and lights did open things up, so there's that.
Childbirth? Eh, one's body is designed for that. Shoving a teenage steroided meat-head highschool football star up a straw? That's pain.
Hope I haven't scared you. So when I say, I feel your pain, I really feel your pain.
My issue? Things were too dry in the tubes. Easily fixed with meds.
Oh, geez,, Beans....thanks a ton! I know, better to face it head-on than pussy-foot around it.
DeletePraise God for small blessings. I hope they can sort you out, drjim.
ReplyDeleteYou all have a blessed Easter.
Thanks, Linda.
DeleteBe very very diligent about cleanliness while that catheter is in place. The number one cause of infections acquired during healthcare is catheter related. Just the nature of the beast.
ReplyDeleteSecondly a CT that shows nothing serious is good....but not a 100% guarantee that all is well. It's an excellent means of investigation but not a perfect one. No imaging procedure is perfect or 100% accurate. Keep after it till you do get a definitive answer.
I'm keeping things as clean as possible. The CT has some things I have to discuss with my Doctor, but it's a encouraging that I'm not loaded up with Bad Things....
DeleteCatheter no fun, I say from experience. Cystoscopy no fun but tolerable - again from my (annual) experience. Hang in there. It will be OK I'm sure.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's not comfortable, and it restricts my movement. Hope they come up with a treatment plan for the underlaying causes.
DeleteCringeworthy but necessary to get back on an even keel. Altho Bones would say barbaric, maybe technology will eventually afford less invasiveness.
ReplyDeleteGlad you are home and trending well.
Most definitely not looking forward to it. My SWL's "Built In Home Healthcare" is very good. The menu here is superb!
DeleteHaving been through those procedures many times over the past few years, I can relate. They're not as bad as the pain from kidney stones should those develop.
ReplyDeleteOne thing the CT showed was NO kidney or bladder stones.
DeleteI can relate to all of that. Lookin' good. Keep up with the PT. I have a good visiting nurse but I am hoping that she only has to pay one final visit to pull my P.I.C.C. line. I get to see what the doctor says from a CT last Thursday before that happens.
ReplyDeleteI guess we're "Brothers of the Cat", Bill!
DeleteForgot to say that is a lot of hardware you are carrying around. My Dad had a similar injury even down to the same side. He would set off some metal detectors at airports with it.
DeleteP.S. -- I am back to blogging after a long hiatus at "Thoughts from the Last Frontier in Bandera". I know, a shameless plug for me.
Yeah, it's a bit more robust than I thought it would be. I can get a wallet card explaining what I've had done, but I'm not planning on flying anywhere in the future.
DeleteGlad you're coming back 'clear' so to speak! And ouch...
ReplyDeleteThanks, NFO! SLW was quite happy at the results of the CT scan. Her first husband went through it before Mesothelioma got him, so she's pretty good at reading the findings.
DeleteAhh, a compression hip fracture repair, I see. I worked many of those back in the day.
ReplyDeleteYep. No need for a complete hip replacement.
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