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My first catheter

Catheter. The word should lead to a shudder of dread. Be grateful if you have not needed one! Thanks to being infertile and doing ivf I got the opportunity to 'lose my catheter virginity'.

It's been a while since my last post so here's a little update. I've been seeing a new doctor, new clinic, new lab, new medication regime. The clinic is interesting, they seem to pride themselves on an approach that some might say is casual, others might say is.... Rather unprofessional. It comes from the top down, the director (my Dr) is a bit of a larrican who seems to never be serious and opts for terminology like 'shagging' and 'vag' .

Well I went in to do my egg pick up and this time opted to do it in the chair under local anaesthesia rather than getting general. It really wasn't so bad. Took hardly any time. The only slightly disturbing thing was the nurses were chatting away about drinking a cheap coconut liquor called 'wipe out' . I was momentarily transported to my silly drunken times in more youthful days. Or maybe that was the drugs.

Anyway the procedure was in the morning, I was sent home to chill out, tragically watching gossip girl... quite content... and I realised around 3pm that I had not peed since the procedure. So I went off to the loo and despite needing to go, I couldn't get anything out. Couldn't get on to nurses at the clinic, called a health line, and they encouraged to get to hospital if i wasn't peeing in an hour or two. My partner took me up to hospital about 5pm. Fortunately I had the foresight to take a tablet with me to continue watching good old gossip girl.. . Haha. Well yes... because there was a lot of waiting and I wasn't seen until around 9... and the catheter didn't get put in until 1030. I can tell you the whole experience was mighty uncomfortable.

I find out later that it's a thing that can happen. The local anaesthetic can mess with nerves in the bladder for a day or so.
So I guess I had mixed feelings about the catheter. I at least experienced a level of relief. But the feeling of it being there is not nice.

The woeful thing was I got sent home around midnight wearing the bloody thing and had to work out a plan the next day to get it removed. Fortunately I have a great GP who saw me the next day. And I have been peeing again, hooray! Although, it hurts and I feel a UTI is imminent.

I also experienced another issue with voiding along with this... but I will save you the details of my prune juice adventures.

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