Ouch!

Yesterday, I got report from the OR for a patient I was to recover. Apparently, prior to surgery someone inserted a Foley catheter and without checking to see if it's in the bladder, blew up the Foley bulb in the urethra at the prostate. OUCH OUCH OUCH OUCH. They noticed that the Foley wasn't draining, so they flushed it with saline water and it returned bloody. At this point, an urologist was called and they discovered that the Foley was at the prostate rather than in the bladder.

First of all, number one rule is to check for urine return after insertion. Second of all, there must have been an incredible amount of resistance when the Foley bulb was inflated. When I got him, the Foley was draining bloody urine and his penis was wrapped in towels with moderate amount of blood. When I left it was still bleeding out from his penis, alongside of the Foley tube.

I was the unfortunate soul that had to explain to him what had happened. His eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets, but I managed to calm him down and take his mind off of some of the ordeal, although he had a constant sharp pain to his groin area that served as a reminder of the event. A pair of urologists finally came some time during the end of my shift to reassure him that "everything will work as it should". I found a little humor in the fact that the first question the patient asked was will it "work" as it should.

But poor guy... a definite "OUCH".