First, an update on how the week has gone. Not well - just for a change! As I said in my last blog, the nurse came Monday and dressed the op site, she put on a special small ring under the gauze which would help it heal and it was to be left on a week if possible, just changing the gauze on top. Well, 6.15am Tuesday morning Pete woke me and showed me he had removed the whole dressing!! Why? Your guess is as good as mine! Anyway I put another one on (she only left me 2 as that was all she had, they being samples which were very expensive) but by Wednesday Pete wanted it changed again and had taken the gauze off. I explained it had to stay on as long as possible which he then accepted. But he was also doing a lot of moving the actual catheter tube around, so, another lecture from me, telling him to leave it alone! I said that if you put something through a hole and then keep moving it around, then the hole will just get bigger (think sticking a cane in soil and moving it round and round) and more painful. Again, I think he accepted that and indeed, during the morning, went and got a pair of gardening gloves out of a drawer and put the left one on. There was no way I knew what the hell he was trying to tell me - putting on one gardening glove quite randomly!! His next move was to go and lie on the bed and close his eyes as if he was asleep so I guessed he wanted to wear it at night! I can only assume this is to stop himself moving the catheter tube around in his sleep as it is difficult to get hold of with glove on. It would be quite funny if it wasn't so sad. That seems to have done the trick though as he has left it alone since. The wound still seems to give him a lot of pain at times - he can be fine then moves slightly and that sets it off. We try and keep it under control with painkillers.
One big improvement is that Pete has stopped using the wheelchair all the time and is back to walking around with his stick which is a relief as I thought he had decided the wheelchair was going to be his way of getting around for ever.
So ..... the flip-flow!! Today was the day it had to be put in and Pete seemed quite happy with this although I was a bit worried about it. After a false start when I put it in upside down we got it in the right way and all was well. I put it in at 9.30am and said he needed to empty it at about 10.30/11, yep, fine. Now you have to bear in mind that the nurse told me that if it wasn't emptied then the bladder would fill and overflow through the op wound, being the only exit point other than the catheter, but this would not be a major problem as would just need to empty it and wash it around. At 11am Pete went to open the flip-flow and empty his bladder - I went aswell to try and judge how much had gathered and how often it would need to be emptied. All that came out was a tiny dribble, and his trousers were wet. My first thought was that his bladder had filled and overflowed but ... In one and a half hours???
So onto the bed to see what was going on. His boxers and trousers were indeed wet around the crutch area but the op site was dry! So, not from there then, check the connection and that was also dry - what?? The only place it could have come from is the natural exit!!!! But how does that happen?? We decided to attach a new leg bag and see what happened - that was perfectly alright, flowing into the bag continuously as normal. I am now totally puzzled and I know the nurse is going to tell me that what happened is impossible!! How come the catheter is in and the urine flows freely into a leg bag, but shut that off and it flows out of the natural exit???? It makes no sense at all. My mind boggles trying to figure it out!!!
As I said - epic fail!!! Will wait and see what nurse says next week, although I already know - impossible!
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