Ok this is a terrible reply
www.uoaa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=13683&start=0#p113613
do not use a foley catheter you're just asking for a UTI......bad advise and this woman has had her Indiana for l5 yrs? And can only go 2 hrs?....forget it
Tammy...it takes a while to get comfortable as the pouch still thinks its a bowel and it will spasm and squirt and behave quite badly in the beginning but over a period of about 4 weeks you can get to a pretty good holding capacity during the day of 4 hrs or so....now if you drink all the time you'll have to go more just as if you had your old bladder. The stoma nurses will tell you to drink 8 8oz of water a day....my doctors said they were overzealous and to drink what i normally drink....sure made a difference with me.
Your muscles in the abdomen are sore right now...your intestines are extremely angry with you but it will get better....they told me 6 to 8 weeks...well...maybe to stand up straight and to make it up the stairs without stopping thats true but it truly took me about 3 months. I'm a slow learner.
I use 2 different caths as i found out that every once in a while the one they gave me at Cleveland would decide not to go in...thats a non latex l4" french Dover Cath which is l6" long.....my second catheter i use is a clear non-latex l4"french ..l6"long ColoPlast soft cath...its very easy to manipulate as its much softer. I have never had any pain associated with inserting the catheter unless i hit a nerve when i get into the pouch...that happens once in a great while. I don't know what you mean by the scabby feeling other than there are a couple of valves you have to go through which you might be hitting and you sense at your fingertips but you should not be feeling anything getting to the pouch.
My procedure for cathing at home ..wash my hands with antibacterial soft soap and dry...open the surgi-lube packet (individual ones) insert the cath into the packet and cath...i like standing up and i use a plastic measuring holder that they gave me which is marked by the cc so i can tell how much i am voiding. In the first year i used the sterile irrigation fluid at least once a day..i would insert 30cc's into the cath after i had voided without removing the catheter and don't worry if you don't get it back out. Sometimes it does..sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you will get projectile mucus...like i said it can be tempermental for a while. That will lessen to the point where you rarely need to use the sterile solution. ( I only use it now on a rare ocassion.)Next.. I throw the urine in the toilet and flush. Then i use Viva towels which i think are the softest and wet it to wipe off the stoma and another to pat dry it well.(don't rub the stoma) When i first came home i used the packaged 3" gauze to place over the stoma and put a bandaid over it. Now i just use the bandaid to cover the stoma as i rarely leak. I found that i'm allergic to most soaps as they have perfume in them and my stoma was breaking out so i just use water and it seems to have worked for me. I have never re-used a catheter and i have never had a UTI. The doctors should have written you a script for the catheters, lube, sterile irrigating solution so that your insurance will cover it. And Medicare has now allowed over 200 catheters a month so there is no reason to reuse.
When i'm away from home i carry a few catheters and surgilube packets in my purse and some babywipes and bandaids.....i find that Starbucks has the cleanest bathrooms!!...and as my friend Karen who mentored me so wonderfully warned me...have a mayo jar handy in case you get caught in traffic...i actually did once!!
They should have given you a scedule for emptying at Cleveland...i know they did for me. The first week i cathed every 2 to 2 l/2 hrs religiously..day and night...second week...3 hrs...third week 4 hours...my capacity at that time was about 450cc's and i was wildly sleep deprived and cursing my new stoma quite a bit. It will slip back once in a while but it is trainable...be patient...sneak a nap when you can......eventually it will let you sleep 6 hours...keep night time fluids to a minimum....now i sleep 8 hours and empty about 600cc's in the morning. It just takes a while to get there.
My stoma is at my navel...it has never closed up. For some reason the skin does not want to heal over at that site but i have heard of it happening at other sites lower on the abdomen.
Aaah...that leakage...i had that too and i thought it was from the vagina...they checked me out...not the vagina but from the urethra area which of course there is no urethra anymore....they checked it ..said..DOH..it was nothing.....and i still have it???..My gyno checks it out every year....its not infection...they don't know why?? So i'm not worring about it.
Check out Melodies site on the Indiana Pouch...she has another perspective
i think its
www.bladdercancerwarrior.com/discussionboard.html
Hope i covered some of your questions........xxoo Pat
