Urethral Blockage -- just in time . . .

[Guest guest]

Please forgive this " venting " -- but you're an understanding group of

fellow-sufferers.

I had PCa surgery on 31 October. My bladder control was pretty good

-- I'd " graduated " from the local bladder clinic physiotherapy program.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my urine stream was getting weaker,

and mentioned that to my urologist. Over the past two weeks, it has

continued getting weaker.

I figured that I'd better do something about it -- everyone who's told

me about " blocked bladder " has talked about excruciating pain from

urine pressure. I wanted to avoid a trip to the ER for

catheterization. So I made a " rush " appointment with my uro.

My urologist, yesterday afternoon, couldn't get his cyctoscope in very

far, before I had excruciating pain. " You need sedation for this " , he

said, and arranged for an immediate ER visit.

After 5 hours in the ER, I was finally sedated. The urology resident

tried a cystocope, but couldn't get very far. He then ran a

guide-wire into my bladder. Then he ran in two (three?) flexible

tubes of increasing diameter. Then he inserted a Foley catheter,

which I'm going to wear for the next 4 days.

The nurse said I wouldn't remember much of the procedure. He was

wrong. Even with drugs, it hurt -- but the pain was bearable.

So here I am, at 4 AM, dragging around a catheter and 2-liter bag,

feeling like I've regressed back several months. And bitching about

it, and wondering if this will happen again, and again . . .

After surgery last fall, I had very painful bladder spasms until the

catheter was removed. I'm having spasms again, but they're not very

painful. I may be able to get by without opium/belladonna

suppositories this time.

I _did_ catch the situation before it reached _real_ emergency status,

and it's been dealt with as well as possible. I don't think I could

have done anything better.

OK -- now I can go back to sleep. Thanks for listening.