Treatment
Now that we knew that Jim had been nicked during surgery through his bladder and colon, we had a direction to go to getting him fixed. The next thing we had to do is to have a procedure done where they put a kind of dye into his bladder then Xray the dye as it goes into the colon. Now, Jim had already had his catheter taken out, but to put the dye in, he had to be cathed again. This was not a pleasant thing for Jim to go through but had to be done. They filled his bladder with the dye and then took the catheter out. The PA told him to urinate, which Jim thought he was doing, but what was happening was the urine was going through the hole and into his colon. Xrays were taken to show where the hole was. We then had to meet the colorectal surgeon to set up the surgery to fix the hole.
We met with that surgeon that week. Jim was anxious to get the surgery over with because his daughter was getting married Sept. 18th and he wanted to walk her down the aisle. We met with the doctor Sept. 13th, thinking that the surgery would be done quickly to fix the problem. The doctor came in and explained what they would do to fix the hole. Then he told us that he wouldn't do this surgery for about three months post-op from his prostatectomy. As the doctor said this, I could see Jim kind of slump over and sigh. This was going to be a longer road than we thought. So we had to go back to see the original surgeon who did the prostatectomy to have another catheter put back in.
When we went to see the original surgeon, you could see that he was a bit nervous because we had not seen him since finding the hole. He had no explanation for it, other than it can happen. Most people that we have explained the problem to think that we should sue the doctor for letting this happen. What I tell them is that medicine is not perfect and things can happen. Also, my husband needs these doctors for the rest of his life to keep him alive, why would we want to sue him? We are not money hungry people that look for a way to benefit for the accident. But I knew that the doctor felt much better once he spoke to us and seen how we felt about it. Things can happen, it's just that we weren't expecting it. We just needed Jim to get fixed! So another waiting period until we would meet with the colorectal doctor again.
We met with that surgeon that week. Jim was anxious to get the surgery over with because his daughter was getting married Sept. 18th and he wanted to walk her down the aisle. We met with the doctor Sept. 13th, thinking that the surgery would be done quickly to fix the problem. The doctor came in and explained what they would do to fix the hole. Then he told us that he wouldn't do this surgery for about three months post-op from his prostatectomy. As the doctor said this, I could see Jim kind of slump over and sigh. This was going to be a longer road than we thought. So we had to go back to see the original surgeon who did the prostatectomy to have another catheter put back in.
When we went to see the original surgeon, you could see that he was a bit nervous because we had not seen him since finding the hole. He had no explanation for it, other than it can happen. Most people that we have explained the problem to think that we should sue the doctor for letting this happen. What I tell them is that medicine is not perfect and things can happen. Also, my husband needs these doctors for the rest of his life to keep him alive, why would we want to sue him? We are not money hungry people that look for a way to benefit for the accident. But I knew that the doctor felt much better once he spoke to us and seen how we felt about it. Things can happen, it's just that we weren't expecting it. We just needed Jim to get fixed! So another waiting period until we would meet with the colorectal doctor again.