This is a bloody nuisance!

May be out of commission for a few days?

Last December 21st I underwent an outpatient operation for the removal of growth around my prostate. A fairly normal operation for a gent of my age (72).

l was told that it would take about 8 weeks for everything to heal.

Anyway, this morning I noticed a significant amount of blood in my urine and Jean and I went to our local Three Rivers hospital in Grants Pass. I was admitted to ER.

I was sorted out and nothing serious immediately found although the cause of the bleeding was not identified. However a blood test did not find any infection or anything scary. I was recommended to go home.

The blood in urine is called Hematuria and the doctor inserted a Foley catheter to drain the blood & urine from my bladder.

The catheter and the drainage bag will remain attached to me until I have an appointment with the Urologist early next week. I have to keep pretty still until then plus sitting on a normal chair is painful at the moment. I’m laying back on the bed using my tablet to write this.

Sorry, dear people, but that’s how it is just now.

oooo

Update as at 10:30 PST Sunday, 12th

Around 10:30PM last night I awoke with quite a severe pain in my bladder. My body was telling me to hot-foot it back to the Emergency Ward at Three Rivers in Grants Pass. This was where we had gone earlier in the day.

Jean doesn’t drive at night but it was a straightforward journey and I was seen very quickly by the ER staff (Micha, Ann and Trevor: you were all brilliant!) I was told that my decision to drive into ER was spot on. (Trevor at a later point said that listening to our body is so important and that they saw far too many individuals who had let whatever the problem was run on far too long before seeking medical help.)

Micha quickly determined that a blood clot had blocked the catheter hence my inability to pass urine/blood and the rapid build up of pain. Gently syringing the catheter with a saline solution released a huge number of clots; to my obvious relief.

Apparently, the urologist on call was telephoned and he recommended the removal of the existing catheter to then be replaced with a larger catheter (ouch!)  that would handle blood clots more efficiently.

Then for approximately an hour I was irrigated so as to completely flush out the remaining clots.

It was 50:50 as to whether I was to be admitted to a ward but again the advice of the on-call urologist was that so long as my body continued to drain blood/urine into the catheter drainage bag then it was OK for me to return home.

I arrived home at 4:30am!

So here we are approximately six hours later and I am still bleeding but, touch wood, no sign of clots and the draining into the bag is still running.

P.S. I have offered these details just in case someone else finds them helpful!

UPDATE 14:15 Tuesday, 14th.

On the afternoon of the 11th I took an afternoon nap having had practically no sleep the previous night.

Around 2pm I awoke with a pain that told me I probably had another blood clot and again said to Jean that I was going to take myself back into the ER department.

Once admitted to ER they made the decision that my bleeding was such that I should be admitted to the General Ward in the hospital. I ended up on Floor E, room 361.

I was then hooked up to a saline drip and stayed that way until 4am this morning, Tuesday 14th! For it took that long for the blood clots to finally stop surfacing and my urine to start looking a normal yellow colour.

From 4am I was then just draining via the Foley catheter and, thank goodness, I continued draining reliably, with no further bleeding or clotting, right through to 11:30 when Dr. Newcomb, the duty doctor, announced that I was fit to return home!

I will write more as soon as I catch up with stuff.

42 thoughts on “This is a bloody nuisance!”

  4. Warmest wishes to you Paul – take it easy. And thank god (or whoever) for tablets. I am seriously addicted to my iPad.😀

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    1. Thank you, Marg. I’m sitting up in bed having just eaten an evening meal prepared by my darling Jeannie and pondering how the night will be: it’s 7:20pm. Won’t go into details because I am not a pretty sight!

      Yet having you and other dear blogging friends call by means such a lot.

      Big hugs!

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      1. We all just want you to be well. You and Jean are such lovely people and deserve good things in life. You do so much for animals and I’m sure people also.

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  6. Well, my thoughts are for you. Happily, my loved ones and I have no health problem at this very instant. However, to tell the truth, I don’t trust US medicine very much. Went to France toi have my daughter, and I am absolutely persuaded she would not have happened here (long story).

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    1. Well so far, touch wood, our experiences with local doctors and medical facilities have been good. By all reports the good old British NHS is badly underfunded. Yes, heard good things about France. Appreciate your thoughts.

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  7. I have never been good at typing on the tablet so the laptop is always in my lap, even in bed. My son gave me one of those tilt tables that works quite well. And here’s to a speedy recovery. That sounds like a miserable situation to me. Watch something funny for awhile. You’ll heal faster, they say. 🙂

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    1. I had to return to ER at 11:30 pm last night to be fitted with a better catheter! Could have done without that! Looks as though I am in for a surgical fix for the bleeding Monday or Tuesday. It’s a bit tough for Jeannie just now.

      Thank you so much for your thoughts.

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  12. That all sounds very uncomfortable, very inconvenient and very stressful. I do hope you are much improved soon. Sally and Peter.

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  20. Your online family is waiting for news (while waiting to instruct itself… I had a lady friend who nearly died of the same basic story after delivery…)

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  22. Paul you are held within my thoughts and healing thoughts are winging their way across the ocean as I type.. Listening to our bodies so important.. and I am so pleased you did..
    Take care. No need to reply to any of my comments here, as I catch up today..

    Love and Hugs to you both.. I know Jean will be making sure you are well..
    Take care.. Sue 🙂

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