I have been worried all week about Farmer H. You may recall that his surgery was on August 13th. On Monday, August 24th, he declared upon arising that he couldn't take it anymore, and he was calling his urologist as soon as the office opened. He says he can't pee, and that his belly hurts, and he thinks he has an infection, or something is wrong.
"I really hope I have an infection. Because they can just give me pills for that."
The office told him the urologist was in surgery all day (this is not the guy who did Farmer H's surgery), but that the nurse practitioner could work him in at 1:30. He drove himself up there, even though I volunteered The Pony. Who did not know until later that Farmer H was having problems.
Anyhoo... here's the story I got from the Farmer's mouth:
"I peed before I left here, and as soon as I got there. They called me right in at 1:15. The NP said she wanted to test my bladder to see how completely it empties. She said there was four ounces in there. I told her there shouldn't be! Because I just peed. But she said four ounces isn't that big a deal. I'm still getting rid of the urine. But they don't want it to keep sitting there and get stagnant, so I need to drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. Which I've been doing, I think.
"Told her it burns when I pee, and I cain't hardly go at all if I'm sitting down. She wouldn't give me an antibiotic. She said the rapid test didn't show any infection. And they send the other one off, and it will take 3-4 days for the results. The doctor wouldn't want to have to change treatment, depending on the results. She said to get some over-the-counter cranberry pills. And she gave me three more days of them pills that make my pee orange, to take away the pain when I pee.
She didn't seem worried that it was anything wrong."
All week Farmer H continued to pee often but not a lot each time. At least it was coming out. I think he's trying to rush his recovery. When he looks it up on Dr. Google, it describes his symptoms. And says most people return to normal withing 3-6 MONTHS. While others may take 12-18 MONTHS!!!
I feel bad for Farmer H. I guess he's just going to have to learn to be more patient about his recovery. One of his buddies had this surgery, and said it's the best thing that every happened to him. That his wife used to complain about him getting up so many times in the night. But now she complains that he pees too loud when he gets up.
I'm afraid this surgery has not been the miracle cure that Farmer H was expecting...
I agree he is probably trying to rush his recovery, wishing it was all over and done with already and I know how that feels having had major surgery myself back in 1990 and later with a torn rotator cuff and a cracked rib that seemed to hurt forever, but it was only six weeks. I'm guessing Farmer H doesn't have a lot of patience. Measure out his daily 64 ounces and make sure he drinks them.
ReplyDeleteRiver,
DeleteI believe he thought of this as a miracle cure, and that he'd be back to normal within a week. I told him to look at each day as one day closer to being healed, even if there was not obvious progress.
I have been using his empty Mtn Dew bottles as water bottles, filling them with our deliciously tasteless well water. They sit in FRIG II, next to his soda. There are three bottles that I rotate. By drinking those three bottles of water, along with his soda, he should be getting enough fluids. He has cut back to ONE Diet Mtn Dew per day, and a Diet Sprite.