A Blogger calls in and Look no Catheter

A face we haven`t seen for some time was that of Ross the Gnome a fellow boater/blogger. Ross had trouble with his previous blog and has had to start again HERE.  So if you followed `Gnome Afloat` in the past please change your settings. Fellow bloggers can you add Nb Willow Moon to your lists so we can absorb Ross into the boating world.
Anyway we had a lovely few hours of catch up and I even let Ross have the last piece of  Jaq`s home made pumpkin pie. That my friend is what`s called a friendly welcome.
Happy travels Ross and let`s hope that it will not be so long till we meet again.


On the medical front things are moving along very nicely. Monday we spent just over 3 hours in the Urology clinic at Watford with flow tests and examination by doctors called in by the very professional Urology specialist Margaret Ng.
The flow test was very poor, in fact both Margaret and the doctor said it was in fact not just poor but worrying.
After some time the official verdict was the Prostate gland was enlarged and putting pressure on the Urethra and causing poor flow. This is a common thing in old boaters my age, also affects non boaters and there`s me thinking boaters were a special breed.
The solution is surgery to enlarge the Urethra and just like a carpenter you just use a slightly bigger drill bit and the hole is enlarged, glad I`ll be asleep.

So by now the decision was to put in a fresh Catheter until the surgery in case things stop flowing. By this time I am feeling very down having arrived at the clinic hoping the Catheter would be removed. Having drunk some 4 pints of water for the test and with some still in my system I told Margaret I would use the toilet before she changed the Catheter, just in case. On my return she decided she would measure what was still in my bladder after my emptying it by the normal process we all use, the Urethra.

Now to make things clear I must point out that the amount left in the bladder after a normal pee is very important and over 100ml is not considered good. Also I had been asked to keep figures before the appointment relating to this which was easy as the catheter had a drain tap so getting measurements using a jug and large syringe was simple.

So now Margaret has drained the Catheter and is shocked at how little came out. Previously it had been 114ml now it was 30ml. I pointed out to Margaret that the list showed as low and lower figures than the 114 over the whole time I had kept records.  The excessive 114 was because of the 4 pints I had drunk in a very short space of time for the test.. After studying the list the doctors were called back and decided the Catheter could be removed but they would prescribe some medication to help things. Jaq has dived straight into research and I will let her explain another day why I won`t be taking the pills. I was shocked just reading the accompanying leaflet that listed side effects without Jaq`s research.

Now I`m walking on air, I feel like doing cartwheels, ok not quite that good but you get my drift. The catheter is out and my surgery wound is healed at least externally and all that remains is the stoma bag. Last night I slept without the night bag attached to my catheter and woke to the normal calls of nature during the night. All exactly as before the surgery so tonight Jaq and I will once again be in our King size bed with no worry of my getting hurt if one of us gets out of bed in the night.

The last thing discussed at the clinic was the surgery would be marked as urgent and I was warned of the usual risks involved with general anaesthetic and would I be happy to go on the surgical list.
Now you remember my telling you of the mystery phone call re a pre op appointment a week or so ago.
Today not 24 hrs after the Monday appointment I had a call to book me in for a pre op next week. Of course this time I knew what was going on. I`m now thinking this surgery might happen this side of Christmas as long as they find a decent carpenter to do the drilling.

So here you have the latest update on things medical. The amount of detail I put in some might regard as excessive. I justify this by saying  I regard myself as just an equal to my fellow man and publish my experiences in the hope it might help someone if they find themselves in a similar position. I must say though I would not wish any of this on anyone friend or foe.