My prostate experience.

I was watching the world snooker championship on the television in April and felt that I needed to urinate. I found that I wasn't able to urinate so I just went back into my living room and continued watching the snooker. That was around four in the afternoon on a Sunday. I tried to urinate a number of times without success and by 10pm I was feeling really bad. I decided to phone a helpline and was advised to go to hospital immediately. I tried contacting various taxi companies but the only response I got was to book online. I thought I had a good idea where the hospital was located so at 11.30pm after being unable to urinate for over seven hours I decided to walk to the hospital. I had a feeling it would be a half hour walk but after two hours of walking around and needing to urinate I decided to go back home. I .arrived back home just after two in the morning. I needed to urinate and was also dehydrated as I had not had any liquid intake in over ten hours. My mobile phone rang just before 3am from the helpline asking why I didn't attend the hospital. I replied that after looking at an old street map I now had a good idea how to get to the hospital and that I should arrive around 3.30am. When I arrived at the hospital I couldn't find the accident and emergency department. After walking around for nearly half an hour I saw an old guy sitting down with outside and he was able to tell me. I arrived at the reception desk in A and E just before 4am on Monday morning,twelve hours since my problem began. I explained my situation to the receptionist and was told to take a seat as there was a two hour waiting time. I was surprised how many people were in attendance at 4am on a Monday morning. Around 4.45am I was seen by a doctor so the wait wasn't as long as expected. A scan was done on my bladder and I was told to see if I could urinate. I spent at least ten minutes trying to urinate but it was impossible so I returned to reception. A nurse spoke to me and it was decided to get immediate relief a catheter would be inserted. A catheter is a tube that is pushed into the tip of your penis until it reaches your bladder and a small balloon is inflated to keep the catheter in place. I was then left lying on a bed while the urine dripped from the catheter into a bag. That was around 5.15am and I remained in that situation until I was taken to the urology department around 1.30pm A porter took me in a wheelchair although I would have been happy to walk unaided. Around 3pm I was seen and told it was probably an enlarged prostate. I declined the offer of the finger test even though the doctor had already put on a pair of gloves. She said the alternative was a blood test and I said they gave me a blood test in A and E earlier but it appears it had to be another sample taken. Instead of a bag I decided to have a valve on the end of the catheter so I could open and close it when I need to urinate. I was advised to take medication to reduce the prostate but I'm not keen on drugs so didn't bother. That proved to be a stupid decision by me.