When I decided to help a friend take his new boat to Cabo I thought it would be an adventure, little did I know! We flew in to San Diego on Dec 30. Took the train to Dana Pt., boarded the boat, and headed to sea. I was urinating a lot and running a little fever. We arrived in Ensenada the next morning and found out we couldn't go thru customs until Tuesday because of New Years. I began taking medication for what we thought was a bladder infection. Tuesday afternoon we headed south ahead of a coming storm after clearing customs. We planned on laying over in Turtle bay on Thursday to let the storm pass. On Wed morning I felt good and quit taking meds even though I was still urinating a lot. We even caught a small yellowtail on the troll. By midnight I had complete urinary blockage, distended stomach, and severe pain. We considered Coast Guard airlift but decided to find the doctor in Turtle Bay. Thursday morning we anchored up, broke out the dingy, and headed for the dock. The wife and I climbed the dock, found a guide, and headed the five excruciating blocks up the hill to the doctor. The doctor said I had prostatitis, inflammation of the prostate that had swollen around the urine tube and shut it down. He inserted a catheter, very painful, and relieved the pressure. After draining about 2 quarts I felt great and thought I might actually live. Now the choice was a 2 day bus ride back to San Diego and fly home to a doctor or take the boat on to Cabo and fly home. We chose the boat ride because at least we had communications if something went wrong. Friday morning we awoke to 40 to 60 kt. wind blowing a dust storm out of the mountains across the bay. You couldn't even see the town! We and the other 9 boats that had sought refuge in the bay were now trapped. It blew all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Boats off shore were telling us it was nice offshore so a sailboat finally got their anchor up about noon Sunday. They headed out and reported back that it was nice once you cleared the bay. We fought the anchor up about 2 o'clock in 45 kt. winds and headed offshore. It was great once we cleared the bay, 8 ft seas with a long period. About midnight a storm hit us with 14 ft. seas and 30 kt. winds. We were taking 25 degree rolls even with the stabilizers working full bore. My wife had never been to sea before and she thought the boat was going to roll over. Actually the boat is very sturdy and we were at no risk, but getting beat up pretty good. About 6 in the morning the seas subsided and we had smooth sailing the rest of the way to Cabo. Monday we rested from the storm and Tuesday we put a couple of trolls out, catching 3 Dolphin and a Wahoo. Wed morning we entered Cabo, made plane reservations and flew out Thursday morning. I got home to Port A today and am going to get the catheter out Monday morning. I feel great and will probably be fine. The trip turned out to be a bigger adventure than we planned but alls well that ends well!
Etan, sounds like quite an adventure.. Glad you were able to get some medical attention in baja.. Sometimes its tough in remote areas.. Thanks for the report..
Eatn that is brutal glad it all worked out, next time you plan to come to San Diego shoot me a message. I plan to be in Port A sometime in March. Jim
Being sick or getting hurt in Mexico is not fun. You're lucky you found a decent doctor to install the catheter. I understand that is very painful. Just wait until they pull it out. That is supposed to make tears come rolling down your cheeks. That grease they used in Mexico is probably dried up by now. I was visiting a friend last year in the hospital. He got out of bed to walk to the window on the other side of the room. He forgot that he had a catheter installed that morning. Before he got to the window, the chord went tight. He grabbed his hoot and fell to the ground. The urine bottle carrier that was next to the bed came flying over like a boomerang. It was very painful for me just to watch him laying there with both hands on his crotch. I went to help pick him up, but didn't want to move for about thirty minutes. After the pain stopped I helped him back into the bed and told him he was lucky that they don't make those tubes out of sprecta. I don't want to steal your thread, so I'll save some great injury stories from foreign countries for another time. Glad you made it back home in one piece and good luck on the removal of the tube. I'll be praying for you.
Glad you made it back ok Etan! I wondered if you all got caught in the storm. Will you be coming over to the boat show next weekend? If so, let's meet up. Tom - DeepBlueGulf
Tom, we are supposed to go on a western Carribean cruise starting Sunday. Leaving Friday morning to go to Dallas and fly Saturday.
Hey Nate, Glad to see that you made it back safe. Sounds like one heck of a situation that you went through. Good health to you.
Glad you made it back in one piece. Guess you know how a worm feels when it's threaded on a hook now .
Etan, Are you a member of the Corpus Christi breakfast club? They seem to speak highly of you. I hope Gunsmoke didn't upset you with his above post. I know him very well, and it's just his nature to ruffle feathers. If you met him, you would understand that he just messing with you.
i get over and have breakfast with them when I'm in town. Gunsmoke's post didn't bother me, I'm looking fprward to getting the catheter out and get on with a normal life. I kind of enjoyed it when they put it in because of the relief it gave me.
Glad to see you have a sense of humor Etan. Sometimes pain is a good thing. One time in high school, this one guy was messing with a girl I liked. We were both on the football team and he was always late getting to the field house to get his uniform on for practice. So, I filled his jock strap up with a hand full of analgesic gold bond. It's like a magnum Ben Gay creme. It didn't hit him until he ran onto the practice field. The coach didn't allow any complaining. His face turned red and after about 20 minutes of severe pain, he passed out. He ended up with blisters on his scrotum. He got me back later at a party. I wasn't very experienced with drinking and found myself passed out in a shower. At some point when I was sleeping in the shower, he squeezed a whole tube of Crest toothpaste up my brown eye. I was in pain for about two weeks. Toothpaste is meant for your mouth. To this day, I will not use Crest.
Glad you made it back safe Etan! I'm sure your buddy was very appreciative of you sticking it out to finish moving the boat. Good luck on the catheter and have fun on your cruise.
Glad you made it back in one piece. That sounds like quite an ordeal. Sorry you guys didn't have great weather and wish you could have fished more. I bet you were thinking, "man I hope this goes well" when you finally headed south again. Glad it did.
I believe he is referring to the old poop shoot. Ouch!!! CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least Etan's pain on Monday will be brief. By the way Etan. If you wouldn't mind, please post on this thread for all of us that have never had a catheter in them if the removal was a piece of cake or not. Thanks.
CORRECT!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least Etan's pain on Monday will be brief. By the way Etan. If you wouldn't mind, please post on this thread for all of us that have never had a catheter in them if the removal was a piece of cake or not. Thanks. there are 100s of things I'd rather do instead but it isn't that bad coming out. Its uncomfortable to say the least for a couple minutes but its well worth it for it to be gone.
I'll post a followup when its done. Thanks Mitch for your response. I didn't care if it hurt, I just want it out!
The catheter is out, it was a piece of cake. I felt like I wanted to urinate for a second and it was done. Gunsmoke, I think the difference between my experience and your friend's was they let the air out of the balloon in mine before trying to take it out. It won't come out otherwise but it would hurt like hell trying!
