Tuesday was the appointment with urologist for her opinion on these nephrostomy tubes.
According to the cultures PMH took of blood, urine and pus:
THERE IS NO SIGN OF INFECTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Can you feel my frustration? However, a decision needs to be made with regards to the tubes. He has an open wound and when you have chemo and an open wound, the chance of infection will be greater. This is the opinion of both oncology at Princess Margaret Hospital and the urologist.
The options are:
1. Keep the tubes in but take out the external part to heal the wound on his skin. If there's a possible infection, they may be closing it up in his body, creating more problems.
2. Take the tubes completely out. But, inside of him they are set up as a by-pass. So, is he passing urine on his own or are the tubes working. Are the lymph nodes interfering somehow with his normal bodily functions?
3. Take one tube out completely and the other one keep in but take the external part out. Therefore, both outside wounds would heal and no open wound.
Not sure about Tony, but we just kept asking the same question: "We don't understand". I suggested a diagram to give us a visual of how these tubes work and I'm understanding a bit better, but still scratching my head. These tubes went in his back, through the kidney, down to his bladder. How do they know it's the tubes working and not the natural way? Science proved no infection, so why the concern? Urologist thinks that it's just skin irritation from the tape and handling.
The other thing that really had me scratching my head was she said she really didn't know the right answer. I suggested she consult with the other team of urologists in her very busy office and basically discuss the pros and cons of this decision. Meanwhile, we delayed chemo treatment (3 weeks) for this!
The other thing is, that to book this procedure with radiology could take 7 plus days. She recommended he get admitted to hospital to speed things up. Chemo IS scheduled for October 21. Time is very important right now. Her secretary called the hospital and he has taken the last bed. Off we go to the hospital. Get there at 4:00pm. They said bed isn't yet ready. So we told him we would be going home to pack a bag for him. Not recommended, but ok. We were warned to be quick! HA!
So we went home. Packed a bag. Ate dinner. Back at hospital by 7:00pm. HA!
Guess what? Room still not ready! At 11:15pm, FINALLY, we were escorted to his room.
A very long day of waiting.
Throughout this evening of waiting in emergency for a bed, Tony had sensations of passing urine very frequently, but very little coming out.....oh oh. Here we go again. Over night the nurses recorded his every drop and it was a substantial amount. He is feeling better in that department this morning.
Let's see how today goes. Fingers crossed that they squeeze him in this afternoon.
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