It’s been 20 days since I’ve been taking it easy and waiting for the next hospital appointment which was today.
Time has been spent building strength and following my routine of the 6 hourly bladder flushes, and of course taking it easy.
Back in Charing Cross hospital today for another “cyst” something, this time a Cystogram to X-ray the Neobladder with contrast dye to look for leaks.
I was wondering why all my procedures are “cyst” something, so googled and the origin is Latin and denotes a bladder, sac or cyst…. so now we know. And for the record I’ve had:
1 x Flexible Cystoscopy
2 x Rigid Cystoscopy
1 x Radical Cystectomy
1 x Cystogram.
The radiologist used my catheter to inject some dye and I could watch on a monitor as my new bladder sprang to life and grew as more and more dye was added.
He ended up putting 200ml in and I’m happy to report no leaks. It looked like a bloody fine bladder to me. He didn’t want to overstretch it as that needs to be a gradual process over a few weeks.
Yesterday my urology nurse gave me the option to stay overnight and begin bladder training (assuming no leaks), or come back tomorrow as an outpatient.
That one didn’t take long to answer, so I’m going back tomorrow to have the catheter removed and will spend a day learning how to train the bladder. But no overnight stay – hurrah.
Very pleased with today’s outcome and finally saying goodbye to the catheter tomorrow.
