My Foley Is Out !!!

August 10, 2022

MY FOLEY CATHETER IS FINALLY OUT !!!

After more than three months and often severe pain, around 9 a.m. today, a physician's assistant at my urologist's office quickly and painfully removed my catheter. The plan was for me to return home, drink a hell of a lot of water, and then try to urinate normally. I did, thanks to God and to a weeklong daily regimen of the prescription medication Flomax, both of which helped immensely.

If I couldn't, I would have had to return to my urologist's office this early afternoon to get another catheter installed. I called my urologist's office around 1 p.m. today to let them know that I am good to go.

Why did I have a Foley catheter?

Initially, I had quadruple coronary artery bypass surgery on March 9, 2022, but little did I know that my medical "fun" was actually just beginning. I required two reconstructive surgeries within and on my chest just about two months later.

For my surgery on May 19, 2022, my reconstructive surgeon removed metal sternal plates from within my chest due to a staph infection. These plates were installed during my initial open-heart surgery and were not replaced due to my chest infection.

For my surgery on May 25, 2022, my reconstructive surgeon cleaned out the remaining infection from within my chest. He then partially closed my chest by first clipping off the tips of my ribs and then by reattaching my chest muscle flaps to my body.

My surgeon used seven spaced-out sutures to close the eight-inch-long, vertical incision in my chest initiated by my open-heart surgery and made worse by my two subsequent surgeries, leaving me with eight deep holes in my chest to heal. He attached an electric wound vacuum to suck discharge and any remaining infected blood from within my chest and from my wounds. The suction also served to hold the wounds tighter together to expedite healing. My sutures and my wound vacuum were removed on June 20, 2022.

I was discharged from care by my reconstructive surgeon's office on July 11, 2022, meaning bandages on my chest were no longer required from that day on. My wounds have since healed on the outside, but I require many more months of healing internally. My chest is still swollen, numb, and sore.

July 1, 2022, was my last day of receiving intravenous-antibiotic infusions every day for six weeks for a staph infection within my chest, a blood infection, and the lingering osteomyelitis (bone infection) within my left foot. My PICC line was removed on July 8, 2022.

I was in the hospital and a physical-rehabilitation facility for a total of 70 days. I arrived at the hospital emergency room with severe chest pains on May 13, 2022, had the two reconstructive surgeries, was transferred to the rehab facility on June 3, 2022, and returned home on July 21, 2022, just in time for my wife's birthday the next day.

I am now better than I was, but I still have many more months to heal. I am continuing to regain my strength with physical therapy and occupational therapy at home, as I did at my rehabilitation facility. Now that my Foley catheter has been removed, I can definitely feel an immediate, renewed strength.

PHOTO: The composite photo below that I made this afternoon shows how well my wounds have healed.

UPDATE (August 11, 2022): My wife reminded me that I actually had the Foley catheter stuck in me down there for closer to four months.