Peter, Please don’t let yourself get all worked up. I do it all the time and it gets me nowhere.
Before I had surgery I ran into a guy who had his catheter removed post-op and the inexperienced tech never deflated the bulb inside the bladder in order to remove it. She just said , ‘OK…on three!’ And when she tried to yank it out, well, you can imagine this poor bastard screaming in agony. She tried AGAIN and this time his screams brought the doctor rushing in.
He kicked her out of the room - subsequently fired her - and removed the cath with quite a bit of blood and some pain. The patient had nothing but problems afterward.
I did not sleep a wink for 2 weeks up until cath removal day, utterly terrified that some moron was gonna pull my newly surgerized bladder thru my urethra. I was a freaking mess!
When the tech entered the room I told her not to touch me until I told her my story. She saw how visibly shaken I was and walked me through the whole procedure explaining how the saline filled bulb would be drained and the cath would slip right out with a gentle tug. Also mentioned the hundreds of times she’d done it.
Of course, even after all that I was still squeezing my eyes closed in terror until she showed me the totally removed catheter.
I relate this story NOT to burden you further with anxiety but to let you know that when done properly, catheter removal is not complicated or painful and usually goes without a hitch.
However, I would still say to the tech ‘You’re gonna drain the bulb….right?’ 😂