“A-voiding” Pain: Controlling the Discomfort of Incontinence

The doctor walked in an informed he was not going to perform the block! He cited the following reasons:

• Not enough pain relief.
• "Perceived" complications. (I have some oozing and ran a slight fever. This went on for a week and the nurse requested that I go the emergency room. The attending ER doctor did not think anything was really wrong, but gave me a shot of Rocephin (an antibiotic) just to be on the safe side.)
• Because I have some control over the pain, (if I don't empty) it is not a significant impact on my quality of life!

I agree it was his call to decide this. But, he had almost a month to decide this! He did not have to wait until I was literally on the gurney, waiting to be rolled into the procedure room, to tell me this. To this day, I don't know why this happened.

The good news is that the clinic where I see my current urologist has opened a pain clinic of their own. I have had one visit the pain management specialist there who seems very encouraging. She elected to try a different tactic on medication and has prescribed a muscle relaxant instead of the nerve medication the previous doctor used.

She also scheduled me for some physical rehabilitation with a pelvic floor disorder specialist (more on this later) and, as I seemed to have some relief from the previous caudal block, she is willing to try this again. So, maybe there is more good news on the horizon!