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Old 03-22-2017, 04:08 PM
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MelodyL MelodyL is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,292
15 yr Member
MelodyL MelodyL is offline
Wise Elder
MelodyL's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,292
15 yr Member
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Hi there.

Just wanted to update (aside from my getting hit by a car in late December, and having a metal rod and pin implanted and then going into a nursing home for a month (this is ME I'm talking about), right now I have a question about Alan's visit to the urologist next week.

Alan urinates just fine. But....at the last urologist visit (6 or so months ago) he had a bit of urine retention and the doctor wanted to put him on one of those prostate pills. I looked him in the face and said "you know he can't take any of those pills, he takes one step and he faints because it drops his blood pressure" He said "okay, we'll check it again in 3 months"

Well, it's been over six months because I got hit by a car, was in a nursing home and Alan was all alone in the house, caught some kind of virus that left him in distress and I couldn't reach him from the nursing home so I sent my friends up to my place to check on him (his own family refused to do this) and my friends found him so bad off they called 911 and rode with him to the hospital. He was severely dehydrated but was stabilized and the next day, he was released. ???????

Because this happened again one week later (as I was being released from the hospital) (this is mentioned on another thread but I don't know if any of you know this). At the exact moment I was released from the nursing home, Alan could not get off the couch in the lobby and they had to send an ambulance for him. Same problem. Dehydration. They (this time) kept him over night. Sent him home the next day, filthy, dirty and never cleaned his underwear. He took a cab home. When I saw how he came in the door I almost died. I put him to bed (me with a broken hip yet, and nursed him for 2 weeks, giving him Spirutein shakes three times a day. He had no protein in his body. Took a while but he passed that episode.

Now we come to why I'm writing. His urologist called and said "I see that Alan postponed his appointment till June". I said that we are going to all these appointments and we can't afford the co-pay and besides we spent yesterday with Dr. Fred (our primary) who is also a dear friend. I explained it to Dr. Fred about why the urologist wants him to come in. It's to do a urine retention test and if needed, TO PUT HIM BACK ON ONE OF THOSE PROSTATE PILLS. Dr. Fred knows why Alan doesn't want to go back on those meds. He doesn't want the risk of falling to happen again. I mean three times, three ambulance visits, a TURP. Give me a break.

As I'm explaining all this to the urologist he says 'I understand but we need to see if he's the same or retaining any MORE urine than he was the last time. When I asked him what would happen if he WAS, he just said 'Well talk about that when he comes in". THEY NEVER TELL YOU ANYTHING.

And he said "we care more about Alan's health than his copay so come in anyway.

So Alan is going in next Wednesday and they'll do their ultrasound wand thing when they measure urine retention.

What I'm asking here is WHAT ARE OUR OPTIONS if (even though he has a good stream), he is retaining urine?

He absolutely refuses to be catherized again (he got a UTI last time and got ecoli and pneumonia). Can't say I blame the guy one bit. And if he takes the meds, he could fall.

So are there any other options? Need some advice here. I have explained to him the importance of doing Kegel exercises to maintain good muscle control. I think he heard me this time.

Thanks to anyone who can help me.

Melody
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