The doctor made (I believe) twenty injections, about one Botox unit each, into the back wall of my bladder. She does not have to remove the scope to do this. The doctor passes a small catheter with a needle on the end through the scope. The other end of the catheter, which is outside the scope, is connected to a small syringe containing the Botox. She positions the scope to the next location to be injected, pushes the scope close to the bladder wall, and pushes on the catheter so the needle punctures my bladder wall. An assistant pushes the plunger on the syringe to inject the Botox. She repeats this procedure until she completes all injections.

With the spinal anesthesia, while I feel some pressure, I don't feel the actually injection. My doctor has to distend my bladder with saline so she can see to perform the procedure. While the procedure is not painful, there is some discomfort during the distention. Fortunately she is very sensitive to this and will occasionally drain some fluid out to make me more comfortable.

I respond so well the Botox that I usually have to go home with a Foley catheter.  Because I'm difficult to catheterize (my doctor once tried 45 minutes and was not successful!) she usually uses the scope and guide wire to put the catheter in place. Once this was done, and I was cleaned up I was taken to the recovery room.

I usually spend a two to three hours in recovery. I have to show that I can wiggle my feet, lift my knees, and be able to lift my bottom of the bed before they will take me to step-down recovery. Once again, nothing to do but wait! I got lucky this time, because I was the only patient my nurse to attend to. She was more than willing to bring me coffee, something to eat and something to read, and to chat with me. All of this really helped me to pass the time.

Once I'm able to do all of the "tests" above I am moved to step down recovery, where they keep me until they are sure I can at least stand without falling!

Foley stayed with me for two weeks. At my follow-up the nurse practitioner drained my bladder, filled me up with about 500 milliliters of saline, pulled Foley and had me see how much I could void. While I'm always glad to see Foley go, I hate having him removed because the little balloon never deflates completely! This makes the removal very uncomfortable.

As in the past I was unable to void much. What I did void was due to bladder spasms triggered by the removal of Foley. Fortunately (should I say unfortunately) I am able to catheterize myself, and so will be doing that for some weeks yet.

Although this is difficult and some painful, it is a small price to pay for 5 or 6 months of being dry!