Ron awakened when the alarm went off and he lay in bed for a few more minutes thinking about the day ahead. He finally decided to get up and moved the covers aside. He looked down and saw a slight bulge in his abdomen. He moved his hand down and it felt on the firm side. He felt nothing though as he was a paraplegic and had no feeling from his chest down. He pulled himself up with the trapeze bar over his head and moved his hips towards the side of the bed. His wheelchair was still in place from last night. With one hand on the trapeze and the other on the wheel of the chair he moved his rear over on to the seat. He pulled his limp, very atrophied left leg over and put the foot on the foot rest. The short stump of the right leg had already followed him into the chair.
Ron was a war vet and his leg had been blown off and back broken in Iraq in the first war. His spinal cord had been severed at T-11 along with other internal damage. He did not mind the paralysis or no leg; it was the lack of feeling below the injury that bugged him sometimes. He rolled himself into the bathroom and got a urine catheter kit out. He had to cath himself several times a day as the sphincter that closed his bladder was in the closed position which was actually a good thing as he did not have urine running out of him all the time or need a Foley all the time. He washed the head of his penis and used the steri wipe to clean it. He put a glove on and removed the catheter and bag and dipped the end into some lubricant. He inserted it into his urethra and gently pushed it into him. He felt nothing but soon the catheter would not go any further. He pushed a little harder and nothing happened, some type of obstruction.
He knew not to do anything further, removed the catheter and rolled into the shower. He washed and dried and got back into the bedroom. He called his urologist's office and explained why he needed to see someone right away. The receptionist asked him how soon he could be there and he said in about 45 minutes. She said that was perfect and someone would see him then. He got dressed and into his van and headed to the doctor's office.
He unloaded from the van, got inside, on the elevator and into the office. Seemed like everyone had a big smile for him which he always returned. The receptionist welcomed him by name and showed him back to an exam room saying someone would be right in. A very short time later there was a knock on the door and Ron said come in and a tall, slightly thin woman came in. She stuck her hand out and said hi my name is Trish and I am one of the nurse practitioners here to get things started. They both laughed at the dual meaning. They had seen each other in the hall a couple of times but had never talked. He had noticed she just stared at him and he thought he might have done the same thing. She asked lots of questions, taking notes, and then asked him if he was able to get on to the examination table if she put it down for him.
Ron said no problem and when it was down to the height of his wheelchair seat he moved himself over. Trish asked if she could move his leg up for him and he said yes, thanks. She did and seemed to hold on to it a bit longer than she might have. She asked if she could slide his pants down and he rocked from side to side so she could. He had not put underwear pants on. Grinning at him she said she hoped her hands were not too cold knowing he could not feel anything. She palpated his abdomen and said yep, full bladder for sure. She said she was going to see if she could get a catheter in him and got a box out of the closet.
She got things ready and put on a pair of gloves and washed his penis head off again. After getting some lub on the catheter she looked at him and said this will not hurt again grinning. Grinning back Ron said her hand sure felt good. She did a double take and said you can't feel that can you? Ron just continued to grin at her. Just as she got the tip of the catheter in he said ouch and really had Trish going. She continued to gently push the catheter up his penis all the time watching his face. She finally ran into the same obstruction and looked at what she was doing. She estimated she was at the bladder but not into it. After pushing harder a few times she taped the catheter in place and said she was going to get an x-ray while injecting some die to show where it was.
As Trish was taking her gloves off, Ron took hold of her arm and said sadly I could not feel your hand or anything else. They were quiet for a bit then Trish put her hand over his and said quietly I'm so sorry. Ron said yea, me too.
The x-ray tech came in with her machine and Trish was back with a syringe with a clear fluid in it. They got the film cassette in the right place and the girls put led aprons on. Trish said she would say now when she wanted the tech to take the picture and started pushing the plunger in. When about half of it was gone she said now and pushed harder getting all of it in. The tech took the film to be developed and Trish said she had talked to one of the Doctors and she would be in when the film was ready. The doctor that Ron had seen before came in with the x-ray and they said hello. She stuck it up on a view box right by Ron and pointed at the problem. Right at the entrance to the urethra from the bladder was a kidney stone that was stuck blocking everything.
They could also see several other stones in the bladder. The doctor told Ron that he should be admitted to the hospital and she would take him to surgery right after lunch to remove the stones. She hopped she could do it with a scope up the urethra and not have to cut him open. Ron said so do I. The doctor told him he could get dressed and she would call and make arrangements. The doctor left and Trish removed the catheter and cleaned him up. She asked if she could help him get dressed and Ron said please. They had removed his pants and she picked up his leg and started it into the pants. She worked her way up to his stump and she picked it up and got it in also. With nothing to lift himself with, again he rocked from side to side as she got his pants up. Ron could see her face was flushed and she seemed to be excited at touching his leg and stump. He was about to ask her for her number when she asked if she could come and see him tonight. Ron said he would enjoy that very much.