Over the last few weeks I've been a bit of a roller coaster on the health front. I was admitted to hospital last Wednesday and was discharged yesterday (Saturday), hence my disappearance from blogland. Rather than writing one long blog post, I'm going to split it into two shorter blog posts.
To my youngest grandson, I've always pretended to be Batman. Cheekily and amusingly, he always replies that I'm not Batman but Fatman! Over the last couple of years, I increasingly thought my grandson had a fair point. My belly was getting bigger. I put it down to my diet and a lack of exercise. I even thought that I may have the wine drinker's equivalent of a beer belly. I wasn't overly concerned because I kept telling myself I'm going to eat more healthily and buy a bike to ride around. Giving up fine dry white wine wasn't an option!
Things came to a head a few months ago, which I guess is when the roller coaster started.
In March, I attended a screening appointment for an abdominal aortic aneurysm, a weakness in the aorta, the body's main artery flowing from the heart. This was a routine screening - all men over the age of 65 are invited to be screened as a preventative health programme. The nurse was unable to find my aorta via ultrasound at the appointment. She mentioned that my bladder seemed to be very large. I was invited to a second screening appointment a month later. Yet again, the nurse couldn't find my bladder. I was then referred to hospital for a third appointment to be carried out by a specialist doctor. At this appointment in May, the doctor thankfully found my aorta and declared that everything was okay. Towards the end of this appointment, I mentioned to the doctor about my belly and asked whether I should see a doctor about it. He wasn't able to advise me as it was outside his specialism.
Relieved that my aorta's good, I still wasn't unduly concerned. But a month ago as I was lying in bed about to get up, I noticed that I couldn't see my feet because of my belly. I then decided to go to my doctor. This is when I started to get concerned.
At my first appointment with the doctor, the doctor had a good fell of my belly and asked me lots of questions. He wanted to know my family history of cancer - this is when I started getting worried as my Dad died of bowel cancer. The doctor decided that I should undergo some blood tests, take a faecal immunochemical test (a poo test), and have my belly scanned at hospital. It seemed that I was made a priority case which was reassuring in one sense but not reassuring in another sense. Reassuring that I'm going to be seen quickly, but not reassuring because it means that there may be something something seriously wrong!
The day after my doctor's appointment, I was called in to have my blood tested. And the day after I had a sample of blood taken from me, my doctor called me in urgently. I now was very worried. Thoughts of bowel cancer flooded my mind. After seeing the doctor, she told me that my blood test results were fine. Relief. She then examined my belly and mentioned the possibility that I may have a hernia. I was happy to bag a hernia over bowel cancer, a hernia just requires surgery. However, she referred to hospital to see a gastroenterologist for a more specialised examination of my belly and to have a computed tomography (CT) scan of my abdomen.
On seeing the gastroenterologist, she found no obvious evidence of a hernia - her observation was confirmed by a colleague. Now I was thinking I've just got lucky, no bowel cancer and no hernia. But that all changed after having my CT scan last Wednesday.
After having the high tech (and painless) scan, I assumed that I would go home and wait for my doctor to call me if anything untoward showed up in the scan. But no, soon after the scan, I was called in by the radiographer to say that my scan results were sent to the hospital's urology department and that I was to report there immediately. I thought this isn't good.
After waiting for a short time, a doctor saw me in the triage room. He stuck his finger up my bum for a digital examination of my prostate gland. He was happy that all seemed well with my prostate.
A nurse then inserted a catheter into my urethra and attached a urine bag to the catheter. (Though the insertion of a catheter didn't take long, it was not a pleasant experience. (How any man can get off on urethral sounding beggars belief!) Over four litres, yes over four litres, of urine soon drained into the bag, or rather two bags. My belly just subsided. I had lost half a stone (over 3 kilograms) in less than an hour! The nurse commented that she's never seen someone retain so much urine in their bladder before and that she found it incredible that I had experienced no pain or even discomfort with such urine retention. I replied that I must be a freak!
The doctor came back, and clearly impressed with my urine output he decided that I should be admitted to hospital for observation. After what I hoped was going to be a routine scan, ended up with me urgently admitted to hospital. (Luckily I had submitted my Half Nekkid Wednesday (HNW) post beforehand!)
I can assure you being gowned up, wearing a catheter and holding a large urine bag isn't a sexy look. Bang went my hopes of getting off with a sexy nurse!
Tomorrow, I'll blog about my experiences in hospital which were weird to say the least. and it wasn't me who was weird, and it wasn't me who was weird!
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24 comments
Hi S!
It seems this summer hasn't been the best of your life, but at least you're taking it with a sense of humor. When you start going through the medical process for any "minor problem" after a certain age, things always get complicated: I know from experience; it's like picking cherries from a basket... they never come out alone, they always get tangled up together with others. I'm glad to hear you're feeling better and that nothing serious has happened to you.
Take care! Aura
I always use humour to get me through things. I'm now catheter man, and my mission is to make catheters sexy!
YIKES!! Best wishes and I hope it all works out for you.
So are all those scare stories we hear about the health care rationing that comes with socialized medicine are just that - STORIES? You seem to have been seen exceedingly quickly. Was that due to the dire nature of your situation, or are you somehow not on the national plan?
As I child I had some kidney issues and underwent a procedure where they inserted a scope up my urethra. NOT FUN. Like you I grimace when I see/read the stories here about sounds. 😮
I believe the stories you hear, or at lease those pumped out by the American right-wing, are fictional stories.
The National Health Service (NHS) is funded by general taxation and is free at the point of need. Because of this there are waiting lists, and those most in need are treated first. The NHS also treats non-British people free of charge if they're involved in any accidents or emergences when in the country.
The NHS is one of Britain's success stories; everyone is covered regardless of their income. Waiting lists are just the price we pay for a socialised health care system. Obviously the very rich go private so they don't have to wait. But everyone else has a stake in the NHS. It's a very popular institution, arguably more popular than the monarchy here.
Any politician wanting to privatise health care here gets short shrift. But there's constant lobbying, mainly from big private health care companies, particularly from American companies, to dismantle the NHS and privatise it. Private health care companies only want to provide profitable and routine health care treatments. They're not interested in, for example, accidents and emergencies.
These companies also want access to NHS-held data - the NHS is one of the world's biggest employers and has a lot of personal data on the British population. The British government so far is refusing these companies access to this data.
Another plus of the NHS, which often doesn't get recognised, is that because the NHS is a big buyer of drugs, it's in a strong position to negotiate a lower price for drugs provided by Big Pharma.
I've researched and taught health care systems across the world. France arguably has the best health care system in the world. Studies have consistently found that Americans pay twice as much for their health care than the British with worse health outcomes. Sometimes public is better than private.
I know you probably weren't expecting an essay as a reply to your comment. But I suspect you maybe were expecting an essay from me!
Glad youāre ok.
Thanks. It's much better now back at home.
That's a lot of tests my friend and that's a LOT of urine you were retaining. I am so glad all is well and there isn't anything more seriously wrong. But what an incredible scare you had. I hope they can figure out why you were retaining so much urine and how to fix this issue once and for all.
I hope your Monday continues to be a marvelous start to your new week. ?
It seems I have an enlarged prostate gland - benign not malignant - making it difficult for to pee fully. In six months time I'm in for surgery to reduce the size of my prostate.
Wow. This outcome seems better than the alternatives. I was told I have a large bladder, but at the most, I retained several hundred ml. After a simple, in office procedure, it stays less than 100ml now.
The outcome wasn't my worst case scenario thankfully.
Since you got discharged , i assume was a false alarm or minor issue solved ?
Today's blog post details what's wrong with me, nether a false alarm nor a minor issue. I have a benign cancer on my prostate gland which will require surgery in six months time. Thankfully it's benign and not malignant.
@spunkycumfun Hey good luck. lol, reminds me to have a PSA test. Only test outstanding from my full medical checkiup, had all the blood tests done , only that one forgot
@taurean62dbn Many thanks.
Holy shit. Health scares are really something else. ANd for fucks sake, 4 litres?!
Hope you're feeling better!
I feel much better now having been discharged from hospital.
Holy moly Spunky!! 4 liters is a LOT of fluid!!! You needed smaller pants in less than 5 minutes.
It's good you are getting help.
Hugs!!
I couldn't believe four litres was in my bladder. I'm surprised it didn't explode!
This is how it all starts. Every recent health issue for me started with my routine gyn exam!
BPH (benign prostate hypertrophy aka enlarged prostate) is very common in men of a 'certain' age but whoever did the prostate exam needs to get a refresher course.
Why does the doctor who examined by prostate gland need a refresher course?
@spunkycumfun if your prostate is enlarged to the point of retaining 4L of urine, their physical exam would not have been "fine"
@superbjversion2 I see what you mean. After the doctor stuck his finger up my bum, he said to the nurse, "I'm happy". I took that to mean that my prostate gland was okay. But perhaps he meant something else. Doctors aren't always the best communicators to patients.
@spunkycumfun Happy that he was right.
@superbjversion2 That makes sense.
Glad to hear you're better now!
At least I'm out of hospital. I'll have to wait a few months before I know I'm totally better.
@spunkycumfun hopefully that all goes well sir!
@stonnerking Thanks.
Going through my own health scare several years back, I know how unsettling the waiting and uncertainty can be. Iām glad they found what was going on and acted quickly...wishing you reassuring answers and a smooth recovery.
Many thanks. Though I've waited a while, my wait hasn't been long at least by NHS standards!
Glad you didn't explode.
Eons ago, when I was just starting to work at a factory, I remember the doctor saying "Always pee before you drive. You don't want an accident and a ruptured bladder".
I thought it was silly, but followed his advice. Despite several acccidents in my life, no ruptured bladder.
On a positive note, you will be a good companion for long car drives.
The problem with a catheter is that it doesn't, so far for me, eliminate the urge to go for a pee. Though I know I don't have to worry about peeing, I still have urges to go to the toilet for a pee.
But you're right I would be a good companion for a long drive, perhaps I should book my next holiday as road trip across America without stopping!
@spunkycumfun Maybe if you don't drink, but I think 3 days without drinking kills you or something like that. According to gemini, the "rule of 3 is applied" 3 minutes w/o oxygen, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.
I know the 3 weeks without food isn't quite true. I fasted for that long back in college. And the 3 days without water makes me wonder about those tales of sailors lost as sea.
It's 2500 to 3100 miles from coast to coast. 4 days if you drive all day and sleep at night (or vice versa is probably better avoids a lot of traffic) and 7 to 10 days if you take a leisurely pace and actually look at stuff.
Can you go that long without needing to pee? I know I can't.
@mwants269 I think that road trip would be too long for me without regular stops.