Ugh!
I got an uncommon, but apparently well-known, side effect from my prostate artery embolization. It was something they warned me about during the (very nicely done) informed consent process. Apparently, the beads they use to clog up the arteries sometimes go a little astray. So in addition to blocking blood to my prostate, they also cut off a little blood to some tissues in my digestive tract. It’s not serious in the long-term, but in the mean time I’m having some marked cramps and spasming of some GI muscles. It’s pretty painful and is affecting my mood and ability to concentrate. High doses of ibuprofen would probably help, but I have a weird little kidney illness and NSAIDs are bad for it. So I get to suffer. It’s not supposed to last more than 48 hours or so.
We’ll see.
—2p
addendum 2026-06-13T13:05-07:00
I woke up with much, much less pain today (post-op day #2) though I still have occasional GI and urinary bladder spasms, so a daren’t get too far from the bathroom. My body was screaming for movement, so I took an early morning (though still quite warm) walk in the Phoenix sun. I only made it around the block before I started getting a little nauseated.
The nurse had suggested that I keep up my food intake, though I haven’t had any appetite the past few days. When I got home, I fixed some scrambled eggs on spinach. It looked really good; I was getting my appetite back. But after 2-3 bites I became nauseated, couldn’t eat any more, and had to lie down to keep from barfing.
So the pain is still diminished, but nausea… ugh.