My surgery for “cystoscopy, bladder/diverticula biopsy, stone evacuation, left retrograde pyelogram, possible ureteroscopy/biopsy, possible stent” has been scheduled for Friday, July 12. This gives me three and a half weeks to prepare both my brain and my home for whatever the recovery period.
Mostly, that means shopping for loose clothing, a long-handled litter scoop, and as much easily-prepared food as possible because I don’t know how many spoons I’ll have available, or how many splinesI’ll need to reticulate, and can’t know these things beforehand.
And, honestly, I don’t intend to spend much, if any, time out of the house with the damned catheter.
At some point between now and then, there will be an in-person appointment with a nurse to go over catheter use; I told them in no uncertain terms that my autistic brain is not going to be able to make sense of it if they only take me through this information after surgery when I’m going to be on stimulus overload just from the surgery itself, let alone from waking up catheterized.
One potential wrinkle is whether or not the fact that my primary care physician had referred me to the sleep department to rule out sleep apnea when it comes to my fatigue and muscle and joint aches is a factor they need to consider when it comes to putting me under for the procedure.
We had deferred that referral specifically in order to chase my bladder issues without overwhelming me with too many medical questions at one time, and now that information might be relevant.
I’m not sure how many of these things I can handle having to address all at once. That’s the entire reason I pushed back against following multiple, simultaneous tracks.