I am writing my experience to, I hope, help others who are in my position and are worried about what to do, or what options are available to them.
My story
I have been plagued with urethral strictures for almost 40 years, after an accident, and I have undergone quite a few operations to have the urethral track widened. Recently I have been working with a new consultant, Mr Vaibhav Modgil BM, MSc, FRCS (Urol) to help me to deal with these strictures.
After some tests, he told me that my strictures were now quite bad. He told me truthfully, that he may not be able to stretch them much, if at all. Although I have never dealt with Vaibhav before, from the first day I meet him he has been an inspiration. And, he enabled me to believe that if he could, he would help me with this very personal problem.
Given the extent of the problem, and the length of the current waiting list on the NHS, time was of the essence, and on the 7th July I was admitted to the Alexandra Hospital to have an operation, which I hoped, would be a further dilatation of the urethral track. It went really well and I have been dilated to French 14. I left the hospital with a good flow and a catheter in place.
The aftercare set up by Mr Modgil and his team was excellent; both in hospital and at home. The nurse, Caroline, came to see me within a week. She removed my catheter and taught me how to self-dilatate, which is strange at first, but it is amazing how you as a person can adapt to new things to help yourself.
When I met with Mr Modgil again after the operation, we discussed just how difficult my procedure had been. My urethral track had reduced so much it was difficult for him to open up, and it took real effort on his part to dilate the track to a size, which would allow me freedom to release all of my water. This effort is really appreciated, as it has meant that now I am not up several times in the night to answer the call of nature. Getting a better quality of sleep is also helping me to gain perspective and cope with this issue.
My advice to anyone who is suffering with problems with their waterworks (be it strictures or any other complaint) please DO SEEK ADVICE from a GP or a consultant. If you are lucky enough to deal with Mr Vaibhav Modgil then you are in fantastic hands in every way. I am really grateful to him for all he did for me, and I will be seeing him again to discuss my options for the future.
Until then I will keep dilating ...
Andre, Manchester