Last Thursday we had a visit from a “stoma nurse”. If you’re wondering what on earth a “stoma” is, it’s also known as a “urinary diversion”. When your bladder is removed they use a section of the small bowel to form an alternative way for urine to leave your body. They connect the tubes from your kidneys to one end of it and bring the other end to the surface of your stomach near your navel where it sits proud and a bag can be placed over it to collect the urine.
Exciting stuff!
I’m going to have to learn to manage one of those bags, to change it, to empty it and so on before they’ll let me out of hospital and then when I get home I’ll be on my own except, of course, for Ann.
The nurse was actually very good. I already knew quite a bit of what she told us from Stephen but Ann found it interesting and she is now much less worried about how we will cope.
We discussed the unpleasant inevitability that I will make mistakes and the damned thing will leak in bed or into my clothes in the early days because there’s no doubt it will happen until I really become expert but that will happen.
The most important thing seems to be to gain confidence as the very prospect of having a leak in a public place is so embarrassing many people simply go into virtual seclusion so worried are they.
Enough of that for now though no doubt there will be more later.
On Friday I went for another MRI scan and now we just await the results and hopefully a date for the surgery.
I now want it as soon as possible. If it’s going to happen then let’s just get it over with.
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