External Catheters
Last Wednesday, Dec 4, we went to a stroke group meeting where the subject being discussed would be bladder and bowel control. It has been a real pain and hinderance to not be able to go anywhere to speak of because of the 2.5 hr window of time before he needed to be changed. Most places it took nearly an hour just to get there, and the only option once there was a multi stall women's room. This lead to us missing many things. So, we seemed to be the only people interested in the external catheter info, and she gave us a conveen catheter and bag w/tubing to sample. It went pretty good that day, and he wore a pullup incase anything went awry. I only had to get a urinal to empty it in at his ankle during the day, he also sits on a bed pad incase anything should leak thru. It worked well all day, but at bed time, it had recently slipped off, and so his undies came to the rescue. (we use Assurance pull-ups in the daytime, from Walmart)
I could drive someonewhere in the car with him, that takes 1 hr to get there, and empty it while he is sitting in the car before going in, buying us another 2.5 hours! We are on pins and needles waiting for the delivery which should be today. I think I got a 25oz one for lower leg wear and an even larger one for bedside. I don't know how long you are supposed to use the bags before throwing out and starting over. I've heard you can rinse them, but found that really difficult to get water in that little tube opening. Even if rinsed, they must have a wear out point, with I don't know when that is.
Oh, and our son and fiance are coming in for the Christmas holidays so this will really make it easier to function during their visit. If the weather allows, we could even go out and not worry - well, there is always a little worry of leakage, no matter what.
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