MeNS HeaLTH

Years ago when i was a teenager i went for a piss and when i did the end shake there was blood, i freaked out, you know that feeling when you can actually feel the blood draining from your face, i felt that. I saw the doctor and he sent me off to a hospital and they did cystoscopy. I was put under and eventually woke up every 10 minutes feeling like i needed to pee. I dont remember much expect watching daytime TV while being half asleep.
Years later it happened again, twice, once when i was in a minor car accident and again when my dad died. The doctors back then said its was probably just a stress thing. It hasn't happened since but years later it would haunt me
Today i went to the hospital and visited the urology department. It was depressing but strangely inspiring. A month or so ago i had a urinary tract infection and it was fucking awful. I felt like i had to pee all day and id wake up in the middle of the night and have to go piss, but thankfully no blood. The worst of it only lasted a few days but it haunted me for a few weeks. the antibiotics didn't help much so i just had to ride it out until it stopped. Its a problem that most women will have some time in their life, but men only get it occasionally.
I went to the doctor and they did a piss test and checked my prostate, yep, the old finger up the bum & wiggle test. It was all fine as far as they could tell. The doctor made an appointment with the hospital and it being a public one it took a couple of months to get an appointment.
So today i went in and i thought it was going to be a chat with the doc, like when i have my brain MRIs, but it wasn't. I had to pee into a weird thing i called the piss-o-meter that would make a read out of my stream strength and regularity, it looked like a conical urinal with a read-out printer on top. I'd gone for a pee an hour before and ended up having to drink a heap of water to get any piss. I'd just had lunch so that wouldn't have helped. Eventually i did it but the stream was pretty weak, its a pity they didn't get the next one cos that would've broke the machine. They make you drink a heap of water and then expect you to perform on cue. Its like an experiment that is ruined by the fact that you are there watching it.
I did small talk with a few guys there, most over 50 or 60, with much worse complaints than mine. I think we all bonded over the water cooler, relieving nerves while trying to fill out bladders for the piss test. I read some leaflets and i think my years of retail may have made the recent UTI worse cos of all the years of pissing when you can, not when you need to, cos you never know when the next chance will be. Bastards! More proof work fucks you up, it should be banned.
So after pissing in the piss-o-meter i sat down, i wandered off twice to pee again while waiting to see the doctor, a full bladder will do that. Eventually i saw the doctor. He's set me up for another ultrasound in a couple of weeks and eventually a cystoscopy. I'm dreading the cystocopy cos this time I'm going to be awake. He said they'll be looking for a stricture (a narrowing) mainly and anything else. He said the waiting list is months long, so it'll probably happen some time before xmas, which will annoy my boss, cos no ones allowed time off before xmas cos its so busy. Fuck him, its my health, so he can go get fucked.
I havent had any symptoms for ages, but its better to be safe than sorry.

I wrote his because men's health should be more out in the open. Shit goes wrong, so get it fixed, and don't be afraid to talk about it cos someone you know might be hiding the same thing and is too scared to tell anyone and you might inspire them to get it fixed.

and a big thanks to cyndi darnell's recent posts on twitter & facebook for the mens health inspiration