Today I had a new experience, my first day of chemo. As the process was explained to me by the doctor, painless and takes only minutes. Doctors are big liars, maybe he meant it wouldn't hurt him. If I knew what was coming, I don't think I would have showed up for the appointment.
My wife drove me to the appointment, so I made sure that I had a double dose of painkillers in me, oh did I mention my wife could hear the screams in the waiting room?
While there is no area of the human anatomy that a catheter feels good as it snakes its way into the humane body, when it rams the prostate, be prepared to scrape the patient off the ceiling.
But there is a remedy for this, go into the closet and get a coat hanger, all right, it was a surgical stainless steel wire, but a wire nonetheless. I felt like I was a young girl at a back alley abortion clinic.
Five more weeks of this torture, how will I ever make it, maybe 4 Percasets next time? Oh, a little Jack Daniel's to wash it down with.
Yikes Epson:
Why would a doctor say something like that? Doesn't he realize you are going to know differently in a minute? I swear your doctors are all on some kind of funny juice.
Genko
Epson, Don't ya know that your doc has never had a catheter in him in his life. If he had he wouldn't have made that remark. Tell the person putting the darn catheter in to be more gentle. There are some medical people that have not got a clue!!!! Good thing it is only for 5 weeks!!! Take care, will be thinking of you. Just rest and heal. Irish ;D
Hang in there Epson, you'll make it. As for that doctor, next time tell him "You first". Then if he doesn't scream, you know he's telling the truth.
Pooh
Epson :(
so sorry to read this, cant they give you a shot of valium ?? like they do in the plaster room or endoscopy suite ?? gas and air ?? must be something to temporarily help or knock you out.
Now way i was taught, we have
anaesthetic lubricant here , i was taught at a course, that urethra is a potential space, it collapes on itself once urine has padded to keep infection out. Now if you take the numbing get which comes in a syringe with no needle, actually inject that into urethra best you can to open and numb, leave patient around 90 seconds till it takes effect , then insert catheter , with even more lubricant on it, women and men, thats way i do it and have little problems, have seen patients eyes water and yup scream out, when the young harrased doc saves time, dobs a little lub and goes,invariably as it goes into urethra the lub has wiped off at point of entry and your inserting dry , make sure they give you the gel wait for it to hit ,then do it, might help some.
and talk to them about an injection of valium , to knock you out of it
T x
Owwww!
I"m sure your "cheerleaders" were the furthest thought from your mind, but know that we're all rooting for you.
Oh-ask the good doctor if he likes "hot rods" cause that's what it feels like when you're being prodded. My heart aches for what you (and your lovely wife) are going thru.
Good grief, Epson!
Certainly there is a better way! I'm with Wednesday and the others on this.
Janna
Epson
I'm so sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't imagine what you are going through. Are you going to talk with your doctor about how this can be made bearable for you? I hope so.
Thinking and praying for you.
Anna
Soooo sorry Epson.... you could have had the nurse I had that pushed
phenobarbital ( don't know how to spell) into my hip, she said.." This is going to hurt,
it is going to feel like I'm shoving a large nail through your vein, your going to get
hot and nauseous, and you will probably throw up, now roll over on your left side."
I said.. "No and still NO".....she won.....arrgghhh...she lied about me throwing up
because I planned that if I was going to do that I would do it on her...such lier's they are.
JJ
PS...spell check helped with that word...lol
Oh, I had the numbing gel and painkillers before everything started, it seems that Epson has some anatomical oddity, like some extreme curvature of the inner plumbing, it's all part of my curse, extra bones in the back, a guy with Sjogren's and an ovarian cyst :o
The fact that my prostate is swollen is another problem, now I have two meds for that and more cipro for infection and the promise that it wont be that bad next time, to which I said, ya, famous last words :'(
Epson-
There are some pains that we absolutely DO NOT NEED TO FEEL with today's modern medicine. Whether you have unusual plumbing or not, I'd tell the doctor that you're not doing this again unless, a. he goes first and you get to watch, or B. You get sedation just like you would for a gastroscopy or colonoscopy. And if that doesn't work, tell them you want general anesthetic (which is what they have to do for me - since I've taken so many painkillers over my lifetime (all prescribed) the sedatives are no longer working. The last two procedures they tried to do with sedation ended up with general anesthetic).
I don't understand why the medical community seems to feel that we who are sick need more atrocious pain in our lives to "make us better".
My heart goes out to you Epson.
Tracy
isn't it swell being "interesting?". I can't tell you many times I've heard "that's unusual".
Taking Cipro...now that's one I'll leave alone for fear of violently retching ...shudder....
Oh shoot - I've got my legs crossed so tight I'm getting cramp in one foot! (((((( Epson ))))))
Scottie,
I wanted to cross my legs tightly yesterday :'( Maybe I and and that's why they had so much trouble :D
Oh my.... I can feel for you and your wife.... my hubby and I have been through something like you have just been through... He has an enlarge prostate but also he has scar tissue and it is so bad that he could not pee...... so to the ER we went... one of the male nurses tried to put in a cath...but no luck... he said he hit a brick wall in there and was not going to do any more pushing.... WELL THEN this female nurse came in.... and of course she was so good at putting caths in and that male nurse wasn't as good as she was.....She even stated she always gets the cath in.... talking about hitting the ceiling ...that is where my hubby stayed for an hour as she kept trying.... finally she said she was not seeing any fluid coming out of the cath so she was just not sure if it made it or not.... he laid there for 4 or 5 hours with a cath in that didn't even make it into the bladder....all that female nurse did was bunch up the tubing of the cath so that it looked like it was in there..... He was not a happy camper...so finally they called a specialist to come in (one that deals with this every day in his office)... and it still took him over an hour to get through all that scarring ..... he started with a very thin wire then used 5 caths of different sizes to be able to get the open big enough for a good stream of pee to flow..... so my hubby ended up with the cath in for a week.... and now after having it removed he needs to have surgery to remove that scar tissue.... I was in the room when they did all this to my hubby and let me tell you I was about to get that female nurse by the hair on her head!!! I just wish she had to go through all this and she would been just like the male nurse and stopped..... In fact I told my husband next time (hopefully never will he go through this again) he needs to ask for a male nurse and if there isn't one just tell them to call the specialist!!!!!! My hubby said it is H*** to grow old....
Too bad you can't keep the cath in for the 5 weeks.
Hope you remember to take a bit of Jack (maybe the whole bottle) before the next visit....that would of been what the cowboys did in the west but gosh to watch a western from the 50 or 60's they all passed out before they felt all the pain.
Hope it doesn't seen so bad the next time.
Carrottop
I guess you should just flat out tell them they will make this a whole lot less
painful or you'll be performing it on them...my youngest daughter would
go in for her monthly blood work for thyroid...and if they didn't have a butterfly
in hand she tell them your not sticking that thing in my arm..get the butterfly..
one nurse got to know her pretty well and would take over when she saw
someone else was going to do her draw...she would tell them she was saving their life.
She just knew Miss Jess was going to tear their head off...I really hope that
they get it right and make it less painful..my heart goes out to you and uplifted
by your strength...Hugs
PS. As far as cheerleading...I'm not good at that...but will see if I can Hire
Nancy Pelosi...she seems to have a spring board attached to her feet.. ;D
JJ
Oh Epson, with that wacky sense of humor you have , and with what you have been through, you will get through it..
I bet all those nurses just love it when you crawl in there!! Best of luck, and chin up if nothing else!!
Ha Ha, Dolly.
Oh Epson, this is just too awful. It's beyond belief that they can land on Mars but they can't work out a way of putting in a catheter without causing someone agony.
As everyone else has been saying: THIS ISN'T RIGHT!
Nobody should have to go through this, but particularly not someone having chemo. And specially not our Epson. Did you tell them how special you are? How big your fan club is? Or how scary your cheerleaders are?!
Thinking of you
Yeah Epson,
Did you tell them? Cause they should know who they are dealing with.
Oh Epson, my heart goes out to you. I hope they are being honest when they say it will be better next time. You must be one strong dude to endure what you have. It sure seems like there has to be a better way.
You have tons of support here and we'll all be thinking of you during the next chemo visits. Let us know how it goes. I liked Pooh's idea of having the doc go first but we know that would never happen. He would be in an OR with all kinds of drugs.
Good luck to you.
quig
(((((((Epson)))))))
I will keep everything crossed for you that the next visit will go MUCH better than this one did.
I'm so sorry for all that you went through and I also think that they must be able to do something for the pain...for crying out loud.....that's ridiculous to put someone through that!
Keeping you in my thoughts....
I have everything puckered reading this...and i bet you did too. :o Poor thing! I was with my husband once when he was scoped but it wasnt anything as bad as you have described however he was none too happy. But i sure hope they find a better way for you!
Thank you for all your kind word, I am happy to say that I feel pretty good today, only mild discomfort. I am very tiered, but is that due to low blood count, Sjogren's, chemo or all the above?
I would like to think that most people don't have as many complications as I have had, I'm just lucky that way ;D
Every joint in my body hurts for the last couple of days, I'm going to blame that on Sjogren's and nothing else, well maybe the rain is a co-conspirator.
I couldn't have made it through all of this without everyones encouragement, Thanks to all.
Epson..what is the chemo for. I think I missed something in the posts. Do you have another problem seperate from the Sjogrens or is this somehow related.
Steve
Epson,
I don't know what to say as so much has already been said.
I will pray for your strength. And specifically for the next person who administrates your treatment. I wonder if they could give you that stuff they give in the colonscopy procedures. Like semi consious-sleep-state-care-free-feeling-happy IV injection.
kimbo
Epson,
I'm with Scottie . . keeping those legs crossed.
Do you have any kids? I was going to have you ask your wife how she prepared for childbirth . . they do hee, hee who sounds for the contractions . . wonder if it would work for your situation??? I'm sure you would have three different words other than hee, hee who!!! :D
Here's my little cheer for you: Epson, Epson he's our man, if he can't do it . . NO ONE CAN!!! (jumping and waving my PAPER pom-poms)
Hang in there . . . .
Bucky
ohhhhhhh Epson...... not a good feeling, I'm sure. good luck with the next treatments.
Dave
Glad to hear you feeling better, not surprised you ache all over, youve been through so much in a short space of time im surprised you aint sought out your nearest colony of lemming to hang out with.
Your doing so well, without buttering you up, scottish say what they think i assure you , i am proud to know you even if its virtually, now i am glad i know many ppl, but few i am beaming with pride in knowing, youve taken so many blows, and yet you still encourage others, your personality is a tonic, your so hard on yourself at times, man im glad your shows aint been mines recently, you have the spirit of a rolling wave epson my friend, your one of the ppl in life i can truly say i admire.
you keep ya chin up and walk tall( if you aint too sore to)
T x
Hi Billydude:
Epson has bladder cancer and is in his second round of treatment for it.
I know what you mean by missing posts - if I am out of here for a week, I feel like I've completely lost track.
Genko
Oh thats tough news. Sorry to hear that Epson.