Surgery status is a big Not Over Yet. On Monday the 15 I finally had my Prostate surgery done and what I thought would be a one and out has turned out to be anything but.

I was out cold but am told that the HoLep procedure was going very well when suddenly the laser decided to quit working. That was about half way through so there was no going back so they switched to the Turp procedure. Now, in HoLep as they laser out the swollen tissue any blood vessels they have to cut or nicked by accident is pretty much automatically cauterized. With Turp this is not the case and until those vessels heal on there own there can be anywhere from moderate to significant bleeding. This means no home the same day but at least an additional day in hospital.

For me it was a total of a three day stay at which point it was determined that I could manage without a catheter and I was sent home on Wednesday the 17th.

Everything went well until that evening when a large blood clot decided to block everything that was normally supposed to happen. Imagine having to pee so bad that you felt you might actually explode at any moment. A real "pull over and let me out on the side of the road NOW!!!" need to pee. And as part of that need your entire groin, your penis feels like they are filled with ground glass and the very tip of you penis feels like it is on fire. What do you do?

Get you sweet ass to the ER fast, as soon as they hear blood in the urine, the get you in with no waiting. The doctor and a nurse come in and then step out of your room and talk a bit and the doctor walks away. The nurse is now in charge. First you are given an injection of Fentanyl which only lessens the pain but does not make it go away.

Next she begins to insert a Foley catheter in your penis to relieve the urine pressure that is really causing all the pain. Of course this is never really a comfortable procedure but when the nurse is having to punch right through a clot that is causing the blockage it is even less so. But finally the catheter is inserted all the way to your bladder and the flood gates are opened and you finally have some relief. For me that was a voiding of just over a Liter of mixed blood and urine. Just think about that the next time you are buying a Liter sized bottle of your favorite soft drink at the 7-11.

But now you are sent home with a Foley catheter in you and a bag strapped to your leg. You have to dig out those baggy pants you were always intending to toss in the trash but never did. And you have to allow things a little more time to heal.

So, this coming Wednesday I go to the Urologist office to have the catheter's need evaluated and hopefully removed, the bag on your leg retired and no more lifting your leg up to the toilet to drain like some dog at a fire hydrant but instead start the process of having to learn to pee like a normal person all over.

Now, since it is not Wednesday yet I can not predict my future in the peeing universe or the possible return to normal of all the functions of that part of my body but I can promise to continue the tale of Jon's desire to be a normally functioning man and the saga of how he might finally get there.