Day 3- Post- op Meta- August 20th, 2010

Day 3 had it's ups and downs. I woke up feeling great.
Got breakfast, was emailing and feeling good. Due to the pain medicine I was in and out of sleep. I was draining well all day. My replacement business cell arrived at the front desk and I went and got it. All was going well.

I checked in with Robin and Got my appointment for what time I should see Dr. Bowers on Monday, August 23rd, 2010.

I emptied the bag for my suprapubic catheter and saw a giant clot but i expected that since I am a clotter and that had been happening since I had surgery. I went back to doing what I was doing. I then really started getting the sensation that I had to pee. I walked around and nothing. My bag was bone dry. I wasn't worried. Walked around some more then the pressure in my abdomen increased. I also had the sensation that I wanted to make a bowel movement which I hadn't done since the morning of surgery.

I sat on the toilet thinking that maybe the need to have a bowel movement was what was causing the pressure. I pushed a little and I began to pee but not through the suprapubic catheter... through my penis! It burned but I got excited then I worried because that wasn't supposed to be happening until monday. I called Robin and let her know what was going on. She assured me not to worry and said she would let Dr. Bowers know what was going on. My penis was working but it was also really swollen and tender so it bothered me to pee. I also didn't want to push too hard and mess things up.
Robin called back and told me some things I could try. One of which was trying to flush the clot out of my suprapubic catheter with the sterile saline I had from the hospital. I did 2 5 cc flushes (10 cc total) and nothing. The clot didn't move. Robin called me again and I told her about the pressure and the clot not moving. She said Dr. Bowers would call me shortly but if she didn't get through to call her since my phone has horrible reception in the Room.
Dr. Bowers called me and suggested 2 other things for me to try to get the urine flowing but nothing. She offered for me to either go to the ER and have them flush it for me or she could come but the ER would be faster and my insurance would cover it so I wasn't worried about the cost. I opted to go to the ER. She also told me based on what I was describing I might have a mild bladder infection so she would prescribe me something for that. She told me she would have Janet or Robin come pick me up and take me to the Hospital.
5 minutes later Robin called and said Janet would be there soon. 10 minutes later Janet knocked on the door. Janet dropped me off at the ER and told me that she would go get my prescription from safeway for the other antibiotic for my bladder.
I went to the ER window and got registered. Luckily I kept on my band so it was easy for them to find me in the system. I gave them a copy of my insurance card and ID. The woman walked me right into a room. A nurse came in and I explained what was going on. Shortly after the ER Attending came in. He said that they would try and flush my suprapubic catheter and see if that helps. The nurse came back and flushed the catheter. She pushed about 10 cc of sterile saline and then tried to pull it back out to get the outward flow restarted but nothing happened. All it did was add pressure. I still was not in pain at this point just a bad pressure like I was holding my urine too long. The nurse told the Doctor what was going on and he called Dr. Bowers. Though Dr. Bowers didnt want to stress my new urethra she decided that it would be best for them to just give me a standard foley so I could pee. The nurse came back with a standard foley. She sterilized my penis which tickled, hurt and felt nice (she was stimulating my penis!) all at once. She then lubed up the foley and stuck it in. It went in easy which I was told was a good thing that means my new urethra isn't blocked.
It burned like hell though. The urine started rushing out. Some splashed on the nurse. Also the sudden flow of pressure caused me to pass some gas as well which was NOT sexy. The nurse collected some of the urine which was cloudy so the chances of me having that bladder infection/ UTI was real. The nurse let the catheter bag fill up and left the room. The nurse and Doctor came back to see how I was doing. I was feeling better. They said that I could go and just follow up with the bladder meds and keep my appointment for monday. They didn't remove the suprapubic catheter. they just disconnected the tubing and the bag and put a stopper. The didn't want me to have a fresh would in my bladder so monday that will be addressed.
I went to the front to call Janet and she was there in 5 minutes. The whole ER trip took about an hour total so it wasn't too long or too bad. When Janet picked me up she had my new antibiotics in the car ready for me. She dropped me off at my room and I took some pain meds because the catheter was hurting a little. That was day 3!