Day 83 - Pee Bottle

Addenbrooke's Hospital 14:57

I've not been very verbose in my blips recently, typing is awkward, hence the lack of commenting etc. But today I've got my secretary, so I'll tell you a little story that goes along with this picture.

When your legs don't work and you're stuck in bed, pee bottles are a necessary evil. But these days I think that they're wonderful. Back on 27th May when I had my major spinal op, part of the procedure was having a catheter fitted. Ideally this should have been removed within a couple of days, but due to various setbacks it wasn't removed until 13th June. There then followed three miserable days where I had no control over my bladder and a long-term catheter was fitted on 16th June. Definitely a negative development. But I thought, if I have to wear a catheter for the rest of my life it's not the worst thing in the world. As leg movement decreased over the next couple of months it seemed apparent to me and the doctors that the catheter was there for life. These catheters are supposed to be replaced every two to three months, so when it started to play up on 7th August it seemed a sensible move just to replace it with another one. This was done at around six o'clock in the evening, but almost immediately I was in spasmodic pain. It seemed obvious to me that the new catheter was either faulty or misinserted, but it took four hours of misery for me for the decision to be made to remove it and replace it with another. Once removed the relief was immediate. Half an hour later, with no sign of a doctor to fit the new one, I took the decision to attempt to go through the night without a catheter. My cryptic blip of 8th August entitled "New Horizons" is not actually about the horizon and the view from my window, but the two pee bottles on my bedside table. I had successfully gone through the night with complete bladder control. And to date, with various checks from the doctors, everything has been deemed to be in full working order. A fortunate chain of events that may never have happened if it wasn't for the failure of that second catheter.

Hence, pee bottles are wonderful!