Posted 2/28/2007 4:22 PM (GMT -6)
Hi Courtney,
I sure wish I could help you with the CT interpretation, but I don't know what it means. But I can tell Kurt, don't sweat the cath. I did before the surgery, because I didn't know anything about it, and the unknown was worse than the reality. It might have been different if I'd had to have it put in while I was awake, but since I woke up with it, it was just an irritation, both physically and situationally. I took mile-long walks with it, discreetly hidden under a big beach towel that I had hanging over my shoulder (This was in August in Texas, so it didn't look that weird).
You or he have GOT TO do two basic things with it, besides not letting the bag get too full,and cleaning it. The tube going into the penis has to stay greased with Neosporin or another triple antibiotic ointment, not cream. The ointment is the clear greasy stuff that won't dry out like the white cream. I think you want to get the plain kind and not the PLUS, the one with the anesthetic in it, because I don't know if it is a good idea for that stuff to be absorbed into the penis's mucous membrane. The other thing is to make sure the hospital or the nurses give you, and that you use, the velcro strap that goes around his thigh and provides strain relief for the tube. If they don't give you one, it is well worth trying to find one at a medical-surgical supply store. Taping it is too messy, because the adhesive comes off and becomes gummy and dirty. The velcro is like nylon, and dries quickly so that it can be left on in the shower. I found that the changing of the small leg bag to the larger night bag was an unnecessary inconvenience, and so I always used the night bag. The first time I tried to change from the large to the small, I accidentally pulled on the tube, and the pain was intense. But, this was only three or four days after the surgery, at home. I mean, they can put a man on the moon, but they can't develop a quick disconnect fitting to change from the night bag to the leg bag.
The removal of the catheter was done while I was awake, in preparation for a cystoscopy (lights, camera, action!) to see about a pinhole leak inside the pelvis that was at the junction of the bladder and the urethra. This was done a month after the surgery, because they were trying to see if the hole would close and so they left the catheter in three weeks longer than usual. A nurse removed it, and as she did, she told me to cough hard, and then it was out - - not with pain, but with a strange jolt that was gone in a flash. I don't mind saying I am a pain wuss, and so I took a Darvocet that they had given me to go home with, just before the cystoscope visit, and there was no problem. They didn't put the catheter back in, because the doctor thought the hole would just close up by itself. I guess it did, because I haven't filled up like a water balloon.
Keep us posted,
dj