Quick recap:
On October 20, 2009, I had an anterior urethral reconstruction. An incision was made in my perineum. Due to scarring from multiple previous urethrotomies, dilations, and laser treatments, mobilization of the urethra was difficult, but they were able to remove the stricture and do an end to end anastamosis. I went home with a catheter for 2 weeks and slowly healed. After two weeks I had the catheter removed and a VCUG showed a good surgical result. That night I developed fever and shaking chills even though I was on prophylactic antibiotics. I ran the fever for 6 days before the culture confirmed a klebsiella infection resistant to everything but tetracycline. I changed antibiotics and continued to run fever for another 3 days although I was finally starting to feel human again.
On January 20, 3 months after the surgery, due to a slow flow rate, I had a cystoscopy to see what was going on, and he found another stricture. My urologist feels that this will be just a thin band and that even though I've had many urethrotomies before, I should have a urethrotomy to open the stricture ASAP. The earliest they could schedule it was 2/11. After that he wants me to keep the stricture open with self catheterization. I reminded him how that failed previously, but he thinks this will be different.
What choice do I have? If I do nothing now I guarantee that the surgery I just had has failed, and the stricture will have to be opened some time within the year for my cystoscopy for bladder cancer surveillance anyway.
