u/Sensitive_Point_6583

Over the years I had two friends die of esophagus/throat cancer at a relatively young age. The common thread was they were both what I would describe as functional alcoholics, and whisky drinkers. This always makes me wonder if I'm drinking rum in more reasonable quantities than they did, but still 5 days a week or so, am I exposing myself to a serious health risk?

I know the medical profession will say yes, alcohol consumption is bad in general, but I'm curious about anecdotal evidence from those of us here and our friends who drink. Also, I don't drink cocktails, only sip neat, so the burn I get from overproof rums is my main concern.

I have read several posts here where people have mentioned having a Foley catheter inserted for extended periods of time. I'm curious how their doctors made the decision to keep the catheter in for so long.

The reason for my interest is I had been doing self-catheterization for the last 2-3 years, and only needed it on rare occasions where my bladder got overfilled and apparently pinched off my urethra, causing urinary retention. As soon as I self-catheterized and emptied my bladder, the blockage went away and I had normal (for BPH) flow again.

The first couple times this happened, before I learned to self-catheterize, I went to urgent care/ER and they inserted a Foley catheter and told me to come back in about a week. In retrospect that week long period was probably totally unnecessary for my situation, but they didn't know what was causing the retention at the time, so I think that's their default.

So I wonder, when a retention episode occurs do they have a good idea of what's causing it, and know how long the catheter needs to remain before the problem has resolved itself? Or are they guessing, and always use a worst case scenario?

I'd like to hear what various people have been told when confronted with this issue.