Cystoscopy
I could have added this to my previous post, but it was a separate incident. Even after the surgery, I still get the occasional urinary infection - apparently my bladder hadn't emptied properly for over 20 years and is now much bigger than it should be, which means it still doesn't empty properly even though the surgery has corrected the flow. They reckon my bladder will shrink over time, and there's nothing else they can do.

To find this out, I've had numerous tests. The first thing they go for is invariably the prostate, but while it's uncomfortable and embarassing, it's not exactly painful.

Nope, the real fun is a cystoscopy. This is where they shove a camera right the way up your urethra and into your bladder. In order to make it painless, they squeeze a local anaesthetic up there first, but somewhat ironically, the anaesthetic burns like hell.

What's more, the procedure invariably leaves you 'pissing broken glass' for at least the next 24 hours. It's tempting to stop drinking anything to reduce the frequency, but that just increases the acidity and makes it burn even more. Drinking lots of water means you go a lot more often but it hurts a lot less when you do.

As an added bonus, the last one I had done left me incontinent for the next 48 hours. I did get to see my own prostate gland on TV though, so maybe that made it all worthwhile.
( Horatio P Lemming, Thu 20 Jul 2006, 10:25, Reply)