bright red blood in catheter/dr says ok...anyone else?

Help!

Had catheter put in this weekend. Have been doing what I was told to do. Saw dr/surgeon today. Brought my little log 'o pee. Determined there was no fistula, although he noted pain on left side was worse (as I did too...). Had gone back to work last week and then had catheter put in this weekend because of bladder pain and leaking from vagina. Stayed home on Monday so this is first day went back to work, then went to castle and dr saw bright red bag. Told him it had never been that way before and that the pain in my left side was worse. He said that's normal catheter iritation. I repeated that it had not been this way until this afternoon. IT'S BRIGHT RED. Still peeing red. Not rust, not dark yellow, RED. He is well respected and he saw it himself.

Has anyone else had this problem? I would call my doctor, but I did one better and got that answer. If this is normal, just want to hear it from someone else.

Thank you so much. Thought I was done bleeding...

Lee

JenTyl1,

If i was you i would get a second opinon!! Although i didnt have that happend to me. I did have a catheter in for 5 weeks i only bled alittle when i took it out. i'am not a dr. but this don't sound normal..

I do have a fistula and waiting for the repair Feb, 20.. if you dont mind me asking? what kind of test have you had done to rule out fistula??

Best of luck to you hun.. please keep us posted on how you're doing and how the second opinon goes.. you're in my ers .... s
Christy

OK Lee..I've already 'PM'd' you but I really gotta tell you after reading this that I agree with azhoney..it's concerning & if this dr/surgeon isn't a uro..I think you may want to consider finding a urologist or even a uro/gyno who specialize in these things.

And again, I'm wondering if you've had a cystoscopy yet? That's the thing they did to me to determine the location of the fistula in my bladder. Has he said if he thinks the leakage may be from your ureter?

I know, I know..I already asked you this stuff in my PM..

I did have blood from irritation from the catheter also. One drop of blood can make the urine quite red. But if it doesn't become less bright red within the next 12-24 hours, I would call your DR again and/or get a second opinion from a URO.

thank you both. god i'm scared. this guy is well respected gyno/onc/surgeon, i was freakin out tonight to my ?db? (another time) saying this isn't "normal". not pink, not rusty , it's red. what would happen if he had 100cc's every 2hrs coming out of his....?! my ?db? who is vietnam vet and has seen blood was saying, "i agree, it would freak anyone out. but you have to give it a least 24 hours from the time he saw it before you call his office again." I think i will call his office before then.I will also be looking for a uro{my last uro was a woman, the one who diagnosed my "three ureters/extra large kidney" and then said i couldn't have kids because of kidney which was way before my bleeding from uterus...and she mysteriously "went out of busines" and i couldn't get my records tho i tried}

to answer both your !'s: when surgeon found out i had leaking he did exam in office, then culture, then drained my bladder (there was a lot in there) and filled it with water. then he sent me for cat scan with contrast. the next am he called db to get me and bring me to castle because of distended bladder. put catheter in to let it rest. he saw liquid in my v. today but said it wans't urine, just normal stuff after surgery. i said, but the surgery was 12/22...so those are the tests. wouldn't the cat scan with contrast show a fistula? what is a cystoscopy? he's leaving the catheter in until fri. to get my bladder down to 50 cc's each time. then will switch me to self-catheter. i said i could lose my job if there needs to be "repairs" and it's two months down the line (meaning we do it now if need be) He said at this point he didn't think there needed to be any.

please let me know what a cystoscopy is. i'll look up uro's in st. louis and also let you know what happened. (i can't pay for more bills plus take off work plus go to hell (castle) plus have more surgery and lose my job and i can't bleed. sorry, freaking out more than ever.)

this too shall pass, like a kidney stone...

JenTyl1

A cystoscopy is a visualization of the inside of the bladder using a scope. It is inserted through the urethra and goes up into the bladder. Very much like having a laporoscopy, but it shows the bladder instead.

I'm not sure if you can see a fistula via a CT scan. It may be possible....they get better all the time.

Again, to ease your mind, it only takes a drop or two of blood to make the urine red. If you were losing a lot of blood, your urine would be almost black.

I hope things settle down overnight for you. If not, call your DR in the morning. Take care and God bless.

Thank you all. Today was the worst day I have ever had. I am bleeding again, the pain from the catheter up to my kidney is worse than the abdominal pain, and I was up all night because even the pain pills didn't help. Has anyone had this much pain from catheter? If it's irritated so much how am I supposed to learn how to self-cath? I almost pulled it out last night but from the way the doctor talked (or didn't) we have to resolve this problem before figuring out what the next one is. This was the true definition of miserable. I sat in my car before work and just groaned and cried (I was in the gargage so no one heard-never done that one before-think it's an end of rope action .

I'm still not down to the 50 cc's I'm supposed to be at to self cath but I'll be ****ed if they keep this thing in me one more day. They will have to thoroughly sedate me or I'll do it myself. (Sorry, not the nice girl I used to be, genuinly cranky now . I promise to be "me" again soon. You could say I'm just a little ____off...

I am going to say to the onc if there isn't repair jobs from surgery he is concerned about than to recommend a good urologist (looking through insurance book didn't help and the help line can only give names, not necessarily recommend.)

*Can anyone tell me if self cath is hard to do? Did anyone have such irratation problems? Thank you Westie for easing my mind about the blood. It's so strange to see so much come out all the time.

Thank you all for being soooo helpful!!!!!!

Jen Tyl1,
I have read through your posts and I do truly feel for you and hope your problems get resolved soon. I can offer some input on the self-cath issue. I came home from the castle last Friday and had not passed the post-op "pee test". My choices were to wear a FOley (as you are) or learn to self-cath. I opted for the self-cath. I have to tell you that it really isn't that bad. The discomfort you will feel is nothing compared to the pain of having a Foley cath with an over full bladder. The biggest challenge of self-cathing is finding your urethra, and not missing it...you have to start all over again for obvious reasons of contamination. You may have to strategically place a mirror on the floor for the first few times, but I know for myself, I can do it by feel now. Hope ths helps! I do wish you luck, and I have you in my thoughts.
Rachel

JenTyl1

They put me on a medication to help with the bladder spasms and pain associated with the foley catheter. It kind of numbs the bladder. It is called Pyridium. Ask your DR to prescribe it for you, if he hasn't already, as it will make you much more comfortable. (It won't take away all the pain, but you will be less uncomfortable.) If he does put you on it, it will make your urine a bright orange red. This is normal and will go away in 24 hours after stopping the medicine. I hope you feel better soon!

Take care and God bless!

To all,

Your suggestions and caring mean more to me than I can describe. I think because of the breakup, work worries, and some other issues along with catheter, I can honestly say this has been the worst four days of my life. I have been thru much harder circumstances (sp?) but I think it's the last straw issue. I wonder how much this is worth it. I'm keeping on and trying to do all I can for my attitude. I was at work yesterday and a friend/collegue came in and I had my 'game face' on. Professional image, blah blah blah and she asked how I was and out of the blue I broke down. I mean hand over my mouth sobbing. I am not like that. I have felt like I'm just in shock; I can't think at all about my situation. I am fine when I think about something/anything else, football, politics, technical stuff. Anything. I stood in the shower last night holding onto the towel rack and cried harder than I ever had. And I feel so silly because compared to everything else and how you all have gone through this so strongly, I mean it's just a catheter. But I think it's something else and this is just not helping.
For an update: they took the catheter out, it was encrusted (sorry) and soaked with blood. A lot of the pain is coming from somethng called the fascia (sp?) on my left side. The one good thing (Melinda, you'll love this), I was still dripping/leaking and all on my own (I'm really proud of this even though a fourth grader could have figured it out I figured that with the amount and dark red of the blood in the bad constently and since the leaking wasn't red that I DON'T have a fistula. YEAH. Rach; thank you so much. I am in the beginning stages of self-cath, and believe it or not my bladder got so distended and I just couldn't find it I had to call my ex-db to help. Just the image I want him to leave me with, splayed open and peeing :! Shame and pride are a thing of the past for me. I'm writing too much now so I'll close.
Thank you so much everyone.
Love,
Lee