February 2013

 

Domestos and Melanie my new virtual friend
Cutting a long, dull story short..3 years,  25, I think, General Anaesthetics( or have I lost count) and loss of various body parts  . Along with various other things, I now have to self catheterise 4 hourly. As we all know catheters in-dwelling and self, seem to have been invented 300 years ago and go hand in hand with horrible UTI’s with increasingly resistant bug(ger)s treated with increasingly neuking  peuking antibiotics. Lovely DD, urologist assures me research and development into the catheter thing is underfunded  but ongoing – oh yes? Catheters just are not the ‘sexy’ charity inspirational thing are they? One day I’m going to change that.
My earth shattering discovery from lovely DD is that a ‘domestos’ wash-out via catheter to bladder of the hospital grade antibiotic ‘ Gentamicin’ for an hour a week, can possibly kill the bugs, no side effects, avoids oral Antibiotics, is cheap, easily administered ( via self same catheter) and oh …. It works, so far. What’s the hitch – does anyone out there know?
No idea why we haven’t done it before. Lovely DD is trying it with myself and an ‘indweller’ fellow patient, results so far are brilliant for us  both. I’m doing it weekly – indweller is doing his at the first sign of infection. Whats the hitch? Have we discovered a whole  new protocol ?

So Dear Melanie,

My email is merely an attempt to share with you a tiny breakthrough on the catheter front. Your Saturday articles have kept me smiling and allowed me some crying.  They are inspirational not least to honestly explain the depths of despair when the  body and its functions just don’t quite work. Imagine being one of our doctors delving into our innards …where no man has delved before! – ugh what a job,  they do actually  know us inside out. Goodness what a thought.