Day 9. Saw my surgeon today for my first follow up appointment. He said I’m healing very well and made an appointment for me to have the catheter removed and do a voiding cystourethrogram 6 days from now. That’s about a week sooner than I was expecting! I’m hopeful that all will continue to go well and that I’ll be catheter free in a week. The last few days I’m feeling more energetic but also noticing skin soreness at the incision site as it heals. Still very little bleeding from my stitches and no weird discharge.
Fun fact: my doctor said that many people don’t realize that the urethra makes its own mucus, which normally goes unnoticed because it gets washed out when we pee. But with a catheter in, the mucus comes out a little bit and makes a few sticky little boogers a day — not to be mistaken for pus and nothing to worry about.
Final note from today: the doctor and his resident were impressed with my clean jock strap — they said people often come in for appointments with messy ones. Really, guys? That’s gross. Pro tip: before your surgery, buy a couple jock straps at the sporting goods store so you don’t need to wallow in the filth of the one that comes home from the hospital with you.