Friday, July 10, 2009

Yesterday, I took Tommy to Lewes for his appointment with the urologist (actually, the urologist's nurse practitioner), who was recommended by the emergency room doctor who put in Tommy's second catheter last week. I thought this would be a relatively straightforward procedure; i.e., that the nurse practitioner would take out the catheter and give us strategies and exercises to help in getting Tommy back to normal so he can urinate. But, instead, he ordered a total workup of Tommy's urinary system...tests, blood work, CT scan at the hospital of Tommy's one kidney... instead of being removed, he said, the catheter would have to stay in for more than a month longer. That delay is worrisome, because if Tommy's problem is neurological--i.e., if something about the endoscopic procedure such as anesthesia temporarily shut down his brain-to-bladder connection, then it seems possible that the longer the catheter remains in, the more difficult it will be for Tommy to relearn how to control that function. In any case, this morning I found out that there is a urologist right here in Millville, and so I have booked Tommy to see him on July 22 for a second opinion. I've never gotten a second opinion before, and if this doctor agrees that the catheter needs to stay in for another month and that all these other tests must be done, so be it. At least this urologist is only five minutes away rather than almost an hour away (I wish the emergency room in Millville had recommended him in the first place!), so it will be worth the extra effort.