Potty Training Revisited

I can remember the times in the past when my wife Cindy and I were potty training our three children. We used various methods and tricks, but the easiest was with our oldest child. Our neighbor would take care or Amanda while Cindy went to work and I would sleep after getting off the eleven to seven AM night shift. Our neighbor was potty training her slightly older daughter, so by mimicking her playmate, Amanda was potty trained. I can’t remember any specific incidents with my other two children, but they are potty trained.

My mom Sybil Miner Beck would share a story when she was potty training me. I believe a very finicky aunt was visiting and I went behind a chair that she was sitting on…literally I went behind her chair. My mom was so embarrassed when a tidal wave of urine emerged at my aunt’s feet.

Ever since the second of December I have had a Foley catheter inserted in me, intermittently. The first was when I had the RESUM procedure done. When the catheter came out, I struggled with voiding and diarrhea. The result was that I was admitted to the hospital Christmas Eve and needed a catheter inserted. The latex hose was missing for a short period until I had the open heart surgery. The doctors took it out the day after surgery and the urologist had to come back to the hospital in the middle of the night to do a cystoscopy and reinsert another catheter. I had stockpiled 2,000 cc’s of urine. That’s like a two liter of fluid in my bladder without the sensation of fullness.

With the next visit to my urologist, he deemed it okay to remove it, but I was back at his office the following day. The bladder scan showed that I had accumulated 1,100 cc’s and the Foley catheter was reinserted. Monday April 3^rd I had the Green Light Laser procedure done and came home with the Foley as a souvenir. Has anyone had a small dog and walked it on a leash. That’s what having a Foley catheter and the “purse” catch all for urine feels like. Sometimes I forgot I was attached and was pulled up short like a dog on a chain.

Well as of Monday, the catheter is out. My urologist said that my prostate gland was enlarged and that the RESUM procedure had done nothing to improve the prostatic hypertrophy. I am retraining myself like the potty training of my younger years. I need to use the restroom frequently until the control valve on my urinary pipeline if fully functional. It’s not like a leaky spigot and can be fixed by replacing a new rubber gasket.