Post 65 - A Message From Fran

For those who don't know me, I'm Fran, Steve's wife..   I told Steve I would help him type his messages if he dictated.  I didn't think I would be writing my own message for his blog.

A lot has happened since his supra pubic catheter was inserted on May 10, which by the way is a lot easier to deal with than constant self catherization.

Two days after he was home from the hospital he developed a severe fecal impaction.  I won't go into details.  He may in the future.  That wiped him out, literally and physically.  Now,  a week later he developed a fever and UTI.  The high fever has rendered him incapable of picking himself up from the bed or chair, even with my help.  He cannot keep himself upright and tilts to the side making it dangerous to be in a chair. 

 I think we are at a crossroads.  I can hope that when his fever subsides his strength will return, but I have my doubts.  

A nurse and an aide  are coming today.  I'm hoping they will evaluate the situation and give this information to our doctor.  I will be speaking with him next week to see what our next step is.  

I have realized that I no longer have the strength or ability to help Steve properly and I don't want to see him fall on my account.  Whether this means a hospital bed and more home health care I don't know. We will see.  

Meanwhile we will be celebrating our 48th anniversary on June 12th.  If we can't go out to a nice restaurant, I will just bring something in and enjoy our day together.

Post 64 - Part One and Part Two

This is Part One of what is intended to be a two-part post describing the lead-up (part one) and part two – the actual procedure , which will result in the placement of a supra pubic catheter in the abdominal area of yours truly. 

The decision to go ahead with this placement was really an easy one after trying and failing to get the hoped – for relief from self-catheterization. My urologist, who will perform the procedure, agrees that a supra pubic catheter is the only related procedure that we haven’t yet tried. 

My biggest concern isn’t the procedure itself, which simply involves a small hole in the abdominal wall and bladder into which a long-term catheter is placed.  My biggest concern is the anesthesia which may have lasting effects on someone with MSA.  Fortunately, Fran and I were able to speak with the anesthesiologist a few days beforehand and were able to tell him of our concern.

 

We are confident that everyone is “on the same page” for tomorrow’s surgery.  Now if I could only get them to change the start time of tomorrow’s surgery – 5:30AM – isn’t that a terrible hour?  I’ll report back to you either later Friday or Saturday.

Part Two
It’s about 4PM on the day of the procedure and yours truly has just awakened from a several hour nap.  The nap was necessary because I was awake at 4AM this morning to prepare for the placement of a supra pubic catheter. 

This procedure, which was to be performed by my urologist at Fawcett Memorial Hospital in Port Charlotte, FL, required that I use a special liquid soap to get ready for the 7AM operation.  At the hospital I had another discussion with the anesthesiologist that only a minimum of anesthesia would be used.  A few minutes later, the urologist was in and made sure I had talked with everyone involved in this procedure. 

It must have been a fairly simple procedure - I was back in the Recovery room in 1 hour and reunited with Fran in about 1hr 30mins.  I was on my way home  by about 10:30AM.  All in all – not a bad day!

Note: It's 8AM "the morning after", Sat, May 11th,and for the first time in months, I've slept the night thru. This morning, Fran changed the night bag for the smaller, day-version .  Right now the supra pubic catheter seems like the best available option for someone in my situation.