On the Prostate Front
December 9th 2008 22:48
After the biopsy last Thursday, things came right pretty quickly. Friday was good: I felt like a box of birds. Sat and Sun were okay, though things weren’t completely up to the mark body-wise, but were still able to be coped with. Nothing serious.
On Sunday morning I’d got up out of bed and done 20 minutes on the treadmill at home, and felt fine. On Monday morning I did the same, had breakfast and then suddenly had
absolutely no energy whatsoever. Furthermore my body, particularly my legs, felt as though I’d just run a marathon, rather than walked a couple of ks on the treadmill. Treadmills don’t usually cause me that much pain!
Dragged myself off to work, but only lasted till lunchtime, when I was so weary that I could hardly keep awake. Came home and went straight to bed and fell into a deep sleep. Went to the doctor the next morning and she thought I might have a urinary tract infection, something that’s not uncommon after a prostate biopsy. (I’d had antibiotics for this but the course had finished.) She put me on another course of antibiotics and sent me home to bed. Ached and slept. And then about two found I was having trouble peeing again. By three I was wanting to go regularly – like every few minutes – but finding it harder and harder. Shades of the post-biopsy problem.
My wife came and picked me up and took me back to the doctors about five. The doctor said there was nothing for it but to send me down to the Emergency Dept to have another in and out catheter. Oh, the joy.
And of course, the Emergency Dept isn’t geared up to having someone arrive with a relatively minor ailment - like not being able to pee - and getting on and sorting it out straight away. Even though I probably didn’t have to wait for more than an hour and a half (which was bad enough), I was still in considerable discomfort. Trying to go, which my body wanted to do, was impossible, and caused major seize-ups all round. I was sweating and tensed up.
Eventually I was sorted out, but this time the doctor recommended leaving the catheter in for a few days, in case the same problem occurred. More joy. Fortunately my wife has previously worked in an old people’s home and knows all about dealing with catheters. On my own I would have been a mess in more ways than one. (As it was I managed to empty the bag over my foot this morning!)
So, after a night of sleeping with the day bag running into the night bag (in case there of an overflow), and this morning feeling quite uncomfortable every time I took a step – it looks a bit drastic holding yourself together, which is one reason why I’m not keen to go out in public just yet! – I’m still alive and things are functioning, and the achiness seems to be getting less. I can still put my head down however and go straight to sleep, so I’m obviously needing rest.
I was in the middle of just such a sleep about ten am when my wife rang. She works for my doctor, so has access to reports as part of her job. And she rang to say my biopsy results had come through. No sign of cancer. I was so groggy from sleep that I didn’t really take it in and had to ring her back to confirm that she’d actually said this!
So, whatever’s going on in the body with the prostate, it’s not the famous big C. Presumably something will still have to be sorted, but that’s one negative factor eliminated. That’s real joy.
Photo of the dog on a treadmill is by normanack, on flickr.com
On Sunday morning I’d got up out of bed and done 20 minutes on the treadmill at home, and felt fine. On Monday morning I did the same, had breakfast and then suddenly had
How I felt after being on the treadmill
Dragged myself off to work, but only lasted till lunchtime, when I was so weary that I could hardly keep awake. Came home and went straight to bed and fell into a deep sleep. Went to the doctor the next morning and she thought I might have a urinary tract infection, something that’s not uncommon after a prostate biopsy. (I’d had antibiotics for this but the course had finished.) She put me on another course of antibiotics and sent me home to bed. Ached and slept. And then about two found I was having trouble peeing again. By three I was wanting to go regularly – like every few minutes – but finding it harder and harder. Shades of the post-biopsy problem.
My wife came and picked me up and took me back to the doctors about five. The doctor said there was nothing for it but to send me down to the Emergency Dept to have another in and out catheter. Oh, the joy.
And of course, the Emergency Dept isn’t geared up to having someone arrive with a relatively minor ailment - like not being able to pee - and getting on and sorting it out straight away. Even though I probably didn’t have to wait for more than an hour and a half (which was bad enough), I was still in considerable discomfort. Trying to go, which my body wanted to do, was impossible, and caused major seize-ups all round. I was sweating and tensed up.
Eventually I was sorted out, but this time the doctor recommended leaving the catheter in for a few days, in case the same problem occurred. More joy. Fortunately my wife has previously worked in an old people’s home and knows all about dealing with catheters. On my own I would have been a mess in more ways than one. (As it was I managed to empty the bag over my foot this morning!)
So, after a night of sleeping with the day bag running into the night bag (in case there of an overflow), and this morning feeling quite uncomfortable every time I took a step – it looks a bit drastic holding yourself together, which is one reason why I’m not keen to go out in public just yet! – I’m still alive and things are functioning, and the achiness seems to be getting less. I can still put my head down however and go straight to sleep, so I’m obviously needing rest.
I was in the middle of just such a sleep about ten am when my wife rang. She works for my doctor, so has access to reports as part of her job. And she rang to say my biopsy results had come through. No sign of cancer. I was so groggy from sleep that I didn’t really take it in and had to ring her back to confirm that she’d actually said this!
So, whatever’s going on in the body with the prostate, it’s not the famous big C. Presumably something will still have to be sorted, but that’s one negative factor eliminated. That’s real joy.
Photo of the dog on a treadmill is by normanack, on flickr.com
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