So the moral of the story is...

Pee isn't supposed to be bloody; but apparently it isn't supposed to be bright yellow either.
All these years I've made such a joke of it: "Oh, I live off coffee!  Oh, I'm the most dehydrated girl in the world!  I haven't had a glass of water in weeks!"
Well, the joke's on me because over time, the consistent dehydration I thought was "no big deal" actually created a rawness in my bladder that caused minor bleeding and a whole lot of discomfort.
If you read my last post, you'll know I was making bathroom trips ridiculously often; I had to pee all the time and we couldn't figure out why.  I had a minor meltdown pre-cystoscopy, imagining horrific scenarios like cancer or infertility.  How embarrassing but relieving to find out I was the cause of my own easily-treatable ailment.
So the moral of the story is: drink your eight cups of water per day.  Don't skip 'em.  Because it's not the cystoscopy that hurts (it's uncomfortable, sure, but not truly painful) but the peeing after is a BITCH.
Don't get me wrong; the hospital staff was exceptionally nice and the male nurse who chatted with me was hilarious-- but I wouldn't want to make this a regular thing.  Much better to drink litre upon litre of H2O and have to pee plenty at the moment; my doctor assured me that soon I'll have "trained" my bladder back into a regular schedule.  But only if I drink.  I guess it's a "use it or lose it" kind of thing.

You can read the start of my medical journey here.

Bookin' it

JEM