First Chemo Today, OMMG!!!!

[Epson]

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.

[genko_b]

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

[irish]

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

[Pooh]

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

[wednesday mc haggis]

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

[BonusMom]

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.

[JannaLee]

Good grief, Epson!

Certainly there is a better way!  I'm with Wednesday and the others on this. 

Janna

[ohiolady]

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

[JJ]

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

[Epson]

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

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

[ktfabian]

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

[BonusMom]

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....

[Scottietottie]

Oh shoot - I've got my legs crossed so tight I'm getting cramp in one foot!  (((((( Epson ))))))

[Epson]

Scottie,

I wanted to cross my legs tightly yesterday   Maybe I and and that's why they had so much trouble

[Carrottop50]

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