A week ago I had the biggest surgery of my life. 6 hours under anaesthetic having a urethroplasty surgery. Surgery was a late night marathon with not even leaving the ward until after 6:30pm.
When I returned to the ward it was 1:30am Saturday and I was in a lot of hip pain, courtesy of being in stirrups for so long. Thankfully that pain was gone by next morning and I have had no pain relief since. Now just resting in bed until Monday week, and even then will be doing very light duties.
Currently am carrying a catheter with me and that will not come out until at least the 13th April at 1pm. That depends on if the urethroplasty graft has clearly taken hold. I hope it has by that time.
Tomorrow is the day of the biggest surgery of my life, that is urethraplasty. Essentially my urethra will be relined using a skin graft taken from my cheek. This skin will then be placed over the top of my urethra and that should mean my regular urine blockages will be cured forever. This is a long procedure (4 hours) and has an equally long recovery time. I will be on none to very light physical activity for a month and relying solely on nutrition to shed some kilograms. In the end though all worth it.
Check-in at Strathfield tomorrow at 2:45pm, so a late afternoon/early evening surgery.
Anyone interested in seeing the gory details check out this YouTube clip.
I have suffered from urethral strictures for most of my life. A urethral stricture is a blockage of the urethra. The impact of which is a gradual slowing of urine flow with eventual complete blockage. Once blocked a need for intervention sees a catheter installed of either the sub-pubic variety or the traditional variety. The sub-pubic catheter involves an incision and pipework installed directly into the bladder. The traditional is where they slide a plastic pipe up the natural channel. Over the past 3 years I have had both.
On these occasions surgical intervention is required and I have had 2 surgeries performed to unblock my waterworks. I have also endured several in office procedures to keep the pipes clear. Basically the doctor inserts every increasing objects to expand the urethra to ensure water can pass.
After my last surgery my urologist suggested that perhaps some more radical treatment could be in order given the “gently bentley” approach was not working as was hoped. Basically my visits for maintenance works were becoming too regular for his liking. He then referred me to another urologist who performs the more radical procedure known as urethroplasty.
Urethroplasty is a surgical procedure that removes the damage urethral tissue. This is performed by one of two methods. Method 1 involves the removal of the damaged tissue and the remaining tissue stitched together. Alternatively it involves the removal of the damaged tissue and grafting of non-hair bearing skin tissue from other parts of the body, such as the inside of the mouth or bladder. The method depends on the length of the impacted tissue. The idea being that with the impacted tissue being removed that the condition will be at best eliminated or at worst more manageable (i.e. longer between maintenance).
Today I met the new urologist, and he was very impressive. He had clearly read up on my Anhydrotic Ectodernal Dysplasia condition (I may write about this in a later blog), the first doctor to have done so. The outcome of today is that I am heading back to surgery at the end of October. This time though the doctor will be taking a good look to formulate options for further treatment.
I have new hope that this is one condition I can put behind me. If you are so inclined there is a YouTube video on Urethroplasty below, play at your own discretion.
Whilst cruising through a pile of crap on YouTube I stumbled across a hidden gem of a series called How It Should Have Ended (HISHE). One of them was a suggested ending for Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
