Not a Single Drop!

I even remember the exact date! Wednesday,16th January 2013! Even the time, 10.30 pm! After a few glasses of dry white wine, imbibed during a festive dinner held for the annual Catholic Diocese Priests Plenary that we hosted at St. Luke's Retreat Centre, I had the urge to urinate, went to the bathroom, stood there and absolutely nothing happened. No matter what muscle I used, not a single drop emerged!

As there was nothing I could do and laughing it off as temporary inconvenience, I headed for bed and fell asleep.The following morning, Thursday, with even more urgency and a little pain, still not a drop! I put it down to some sort of infection, took a pain tablet and went back to bed. My partner, urged me to go to my doctor, however being obstinate, I insisted that everything would settle down and I would be back to normal in no time.

Two days later, Saturday morning, I was in so much pain that I could hardly move and a doctor was called. He was not amused that I had left it so long and pronounced that I was in a life or death situation and needed to be hospitalised immediately. Being a pensioner, no medical aid and with much difficulty, I was loaded into a vehicle and taken to the out patients/casualty section of Livingston Hospital.

Livingston, was my first encounter with public health care at a government hospital in Port Elizabeth. It took at least an hour to register before I was led into a general ward and the sister in charge took another half hour to open a file for me, take all the necessary details, put me on a bed and told to wait for a doctor. Four hours later still no doctor! There were around fifteen other patients waiting as well. I eventually said to one of the sisters that the pain was unbearable and that they better do something as I felt I was about to die!

They wheeled me into a treatment room where I waited a further hour before a male orderly arrived to catheterise me. He was gentle, sympathetic and genuinely concerned that I had waited so long. After careful and thorough explanation of the procedure, he began.The first two litres drained were pure blood! The orderly was shocked, as I was. Although admitting to not being a doctor, he felt that I was on the verge of Kidney failure.Needless to say, at the moment of catheterisation, the pain vanished! What a feeling of relief!

I must spend a little time talking about the orderly who attended to me. I wish I could remember his name. He was the first person at Livingston Hospital that I found empathetic, knowledgeable and shared so much information with me. He spoke about PSA, BPH (Benign prostatic hyperplasia), Prostrate cancer and much more. The next step he advised, was to visit the Urology department at the Port Elizabeth Provincial Hospital.

Needless to say, I never caught sight of a doctor and many hours later I limped out of the hospital totally drained, with a bag in hand that was quarter filled with blood and many people staring at me as though I was a zombie. I did not care! After four days of hell, I was pain free!

Oh! by the way, the reason why I and the other waiting patients did not get to see a doctor, they were all busy treating fellows for gun shot wounds. Being a Saturday afternoon, the gangs in the northern areas were having a go at each other and there were many casualties!

Advice: If you ever have a problem urinating, see your doctor immediately!

(Next post.. my journey through urology and heading towards MSA!)

Keep safe!
Neill

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Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare, degenerative neurological disorder affecting your body's involuntary (autonomic) functions, including blood pressure, breathing, bladder function and muscle control. MSA shares many Parkinson's disease-like symptoms, such as slow movement, rigid muscles and poor balance. Treatment includes medications and lifestyle changes to help manage symptoms, but there is no cure. The condition progresses and eventually leads to death. Read my Journey with MSA @ https://msainsouthafrica.blogspot.com