Convince me not to cancel my doctor's appt (tiny TMI)

In My Humble Opinion
1

After an endless bout of kidney stones and infections, I asked my doctor if I should see a specialist.

She agreed, and I made an appt with a urologist, enjoying the fun and delight that is a fasting IVP first.

The results of my IVP?

Normal. No kidney stones.

I was chagrined, to say the least. How can the repairman fix the repair if he can’t see where it’s broken?

I go see the urologist, who does a preliminary exam and scheduled me for a cytoscopy.

Then, before the cytoscopy, I experience a pain on the right side of my middle back. The last time I shrugged that pain off, I ended up scaring my co-workers half to death and getting an ambulance ride to the hospital with another kidney stone. I go to the doctor and get my now-monthly dose of Cipro. There were some white blood cells in the urine sample.

The evening before the cytoscopy, her office calls to reschedule. My next appointment is later this month.

A few days after that, I get the lab results in the mail from my last Cipro-requesting appointment.

Results, normal.

So, obviously I am just a crazy person who is imagining things. I’m tempted to cancel my doctor’s appointment for the cytoscopy. It will probably be a waste of time.

Ivylad is ordering me to keep the appointment. Imagine, ordering me! Who the hell does he think he is? (Oh, yeah, someone who promised to love and cherish me.)

So, Dopers, am I a crazy hypochondriac wasting everybody’s time, or am I just a mystery yet to be unraveled?

2

Don’t cancel your appointment, ivylass. I’m not sure your situation is identical to mine, but it seems similar enough. My cystoscopy discovered that I have some polyps within the urethra itself causing the same problems for me. In my case, the surface of the urethra is irregular, and was causing little “bits” to get caught, causing pain, blood in my urine and elevated white blood cell counts. The urologist was not able to completely remove the growths (which in and of themselves weren’t anything particularly threatening - it’s just their location that’s troublesome) but he was able to sorta “trim them down” a bit, making the passage a bit less impassable.

3

Oh, gee, LoW, now I get to worry about something else.

I wish something had shown up on the IVP…that why I wouldn’t think I’m nuts.

4

Now, for a heavier dose of TMI…How in the hell did they “trim them down”? Is this something you have to (gasp!) stay awake for???

5

I also understand the cytoscopy is done with a local anestethic (sp) gel for the ladies. Not very far to poke a scope.

For the men, they do it in the hospital. Under a general.

I don’t know that I want a numbing gel spread over my you know what.

6

How can the repairman fix the break without taking a look at the plumbing in general? That’s what the urologist is going to do, and as lifeonwry so ably pointed out, there are other things besides kidney stones which cause symptoms and are treatable.

Keep your appointment. Or the next time you have a problem, you’ll be wishing you had had it checked out!

QtM, MD

7

the numbing gel wears off, Ivylass. In the same was that the dentist’s novocaine wears off. Only faster.

8

oh, and BTW, they use the same numbing gel for the guys, too. They just squirt it all the way up into the penis via the urethra. All generally done under local and sedation anesthesia, not general anesthesia.

9

A few years back I had a cystoscopy done, due to recurring kidney-stone-like indicators (blood in urine, etc) with nothing showing up on IVP. It turns out I had the same problem as LifeOnWry had. I wouldn’t cancel the appointment; better to be safe than sorry, and it might be that the cystoscopy will clear stuff up.

I’m male, and they did put me under general anesthesia, for which I am eternally grateful. They also apparently pumped a bit of air up there, to increase visibility, I suppose. The first time I went to the bathroom after the cyscoscopy was an interesting experience, to say the least :eek: Seriously, though, the procedure really isn’t that horrifying, and at the very least it can rule out several possible causes for your problems.

10

Well, it really wasn’t a big hairy deal. Although this may be TMI for the squeamish, believe me when I say I am a HUGE wimp and I cried for two days prior to the cystoscopy from fear, so I am not going to tell you that it’s no big deal if it was even remotely a big deal, OK?

Now, on to my particular procedure. I was hooked to an IV that had some relaxing medication in it - I think it was your basic tranquilizer, and although I can’t recall the exact name, I do remember thinking “Ah, I know what that is, it’s like Valium.” The IV also contained a drug called a hypnotic, which is supposed to make you completely unaware of what’s going on and cause you to forget whatever you ARE aware of afterward. Hypnotics have NO effect on me what-so-friggin-ever, so I retain to this day a vivid memory of the procedure. This is fairly uncommon, just so’s you know. Most people who have had hypnotics can’t remember diddly afterward.

I had to do the whole stirrup thing, then a catheter was inserted into my urethra. I think either the numbing gel was applied to the catheter, or the doctor was really gentle, as I didn’t feel a thing. My bladder was filled with saline or some other neutral fluid. Tiny scalpel-ish tools were used to do biopsies on what was found (i.e. the polyps, in my case) and the biopsies were taken off the “peaks” of the polyps, thus essentially flattening them somewhat, and reducing their size. During the biopsy part, I could feel a tug, a momentary pinch and then nothing. The doc kept me in the stupid stirrups while he sent the samples out for evaluation (this took about ten minutes.) When the lab results came back as benign, he took another peek, shaved off a bit more of the polyps, and emptied my bladder.

At that point, they sent me off to recovery to wear off the (non) effects of the hypnotic, told me to get dressed and sent me home. I was terrified to pee for a bit afterward, and when I finally did work up the courage, it did sting, but not enough to cause me to yelp or anything. I was tender in general - not in pain, just a little sore - for a day afterward, but back on my feet with no lingering effects the day after that.

Ivylass - if I could be there to hold your hand for this, I would be. But please believe me that a cystoscopy sounds much scarier than it is, and the fact that I have not had a single bladder infection, incident of blood or excess white cells in my urine, or ANY back pain since tells me it was totally worth it.

11

Rumor has it that for the month of April, randomly-selected patients will receive a voucher for an all-day session at the local fashion spa of their choice.

Really. I read it on the Internet, so it must be true.

12

I’m not afraid of the cytoscopy, I just didn’t want to go since I thought I was imagining things.

Seems like I’m a mystery, not a hypochondriac, so I’ll keep the appointment and let you know what (if anything) they find.