Hello. I hope someone here can point me in the right direction for my son. He had an accident at work and suffered a burst fracture in his spine at L-1. He had a spinal fusion done, fusing 5 vertebrae together and also had some kind of a "cage" put in for extra stability.
After the injury happened but before the surgery, he was having a sensation as if he had a catheter and couldn't pee. They put in a catheter and left it in until after surgery, but he still wasn't able to empty his bladder when they took it out. He is also having problems with severe constipation and it took 2 suppositories, 2 enemas, a whole gallon of bowel prep and a bottle of magnesium citrate to make him go. His abdomen was very noticeably bloated.
Once all of that finally kicked in and he was able to have a bowel movement, he was able to pee normally too.
Now he is out of the hospital, 10 days post injury and 8 days post surgery and he is having the same problem again - constipated, very bloated and having a hard time peeing. I'm sure the narcotics he is taking for pain are not helping the situation at all, but I was just wondering if anybody here might have some idea what is going on and/or what might be helpful. He is miserable and this is just scary. Thank you for any help you can offer.