To Go, or Not to Go
I am pretty confused about this one. When Larry first had the stroke he was able to urinate on his own, but not able to manage a bed pan. They had him in diapers pretty quickly, but not a catheter. A few days post-stroke, and suddenly he was needing a catheter - he was retaining urine and couldn't "go" on his own. The worked with the in/out catheter for a while, but eventually that because too unwieldy, and they went with the Foley. While they were deciding about switching over, there were a couple of days where Larry again went on his own, but apparently they did not like how often that was happening (not often enough). He now hs the Foley again, and it causes problems when he gets into the wheelchair. He always seems to be sitting on it or otherwise uncomfortable.
I asked for a urology workup to figure out what is going on. He has BPH and is on Flomax already. Last week they also put him on Proscar, which supposedly helps with urinary retention, but in reading about it online it sounds to me like they do the same thing.
So, I was able to get an appointment for a Kaiser urologist to see him to do a full workup - it's called "urodynamic" testing and is an invasive procedure. The idea is that they'll be able to figure out why he can't pass urine on his own, and what if anything can be done to help. The urology workup is scheduled for - are you ready? - July 23rd, the earliest appointment they could give me. I made a major stink, but it didn't help.
If the Proscar was started a week ago, doesn't it make sense to take the cath out now and see if it's helping? How will they know if it's doing anything otherwise? I will ask the nurse tomorrow and see if anyone will deign to answer me - I don't understand why he as to endure the catheter until 7/23. I hate so much how they do things. It's as though the patient is just monkey chow that they feed into their machine..not a person at all.
Has anyone had experience with this or know what this urodyamic testing is all about? Does it make sense that the test can't be sooner? It's maddening trying to figure it out.
As for me, I'm holding it together but very depressed. It feels as though all the color has gone out of the world, and I feel pretty numb a lot of the time. I should probably go see "someone" and get on anti-depressants for a while, but of course I don't have time. I'd like to have a nervous breakdown, but no time for that, either. Guess I will just have to deal with reality. Fun!!
xxxoo
-Janine
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