Thanks for all the messages of support it really does help.
My flow rate had been decreasing and following a meeting with one on my consultants we decided another dilatation was on the cards. Following a cystoscopy the flow had increased but it was thought best to get in there and see what was happening. The theatre list was quite full and I mentioned we did have medical insurance, this meant I could have the op done on a day the surgeon did not work at the NHS.
So I had the op Friday at 4PM and left the private hospital at 9PM Friday night all was well and no catheter was fitted, it was only a small stretch. Since having my stricture I have frequently measured my flow rate using a boots urine bottle and my watch. On Saturday morning the flow rate was 5mls/sec by midday Saturday it was down to 1mls/sec, a call to and then from the private hospital resulted in me being directed to our local NHS urology ward for help if required. By 4.30 pm Saturday I had gone into retention probably one of the worst experiences in my life there is nothing you can do yourself to resolve the problem. We went to the NHS urology ward, every bump and pothole in the road feels like a massive crater. The first course of action was to try and fit a catheter, I have heard many horror stories of guys having catheters fitted by unqualified staff, it is not much better when attempted by a qualified registrar, the attempt failed but I did leak and pass some urine in between attempts. A measly 5 ml of morphine did nothing for the pain.
The next course of action was to get a flexi scope and get a guide wire in “I will be back in about half an hour” from the registrar did not go down well. They got the flexi so far in but it would not pass into the bladder after a few attempts the got a guide wire in but could not get catheter into the bladder. The next step was to use the cooks s curve dilators, bear in mind these are normally used under general or spinal anaesthetic. They got the first and second size in but it was extremely painful and felt like it was tearing through the flesh. The dilators start at 8 and go up in 2s to a 20, because I was now leaking urine and in considerable pain we had a discussion and bailed out of the dilatation with the thought of fitting the super pubic catheter.
Once all the equipment was out I was again leaking and passing urine. They were not keen to fit the SPC on the ward and I was not keen to have another one either. They took the view less is better and let’s see what happens in the next few hours. Overnight I was passing small amounts of urine at a fairly slow rate. I was seen Sunday morning by another Doctor who was not keen to fit the SPC on the ward and surprised me when he said they only fit SPCs to RP patients as a last resort because the bowel gets moved during RP and they can go into the bowel instead of the bladder.
Sunday morning my flow was 0.55mls,sec (3minutes to do 100ml) in the afternoon I again went into retention, desperate times call for desperate measures and I got one of my catheters out and tried that, although I do not think it got into the bladder it did release the urine, a couple of subsequent visits to the loo have proved slow but successful.
Hopefully I get a catheter fitted tomorrow.
Thanks Chris