Sitting on the toilet to drain an Indiana Pouch

William,
you were in the hospital quite a long time...was there a problem after the surgery?
Don't know your age but in the last year or so Medicare has allowed 200 catheters a month and that then becomes policy with regular insurance carriers. If you don't have to re-use ..Don't. You don't need a UTI because a tiny microbe did not get washed out. I'm 8 l/2 yrs with my Indiana ..have never reused a cath and have never had a UTI. So have your uro write the script for the caths as well as the saline solution for irrigation only and the surgilube..insurance pays for it all with varing deductables for some i guess..i have none.
Are you training it at various intervals? I could not get mine up to 6 hrs at night for about 6 months and then it started to listen to me. I now can go 8 hrs easily...but then i don't drink much in the evening.
Any questions...just ask
pat

Thanks, Pat, for the info. I was sent home with about a dozen tubes; I have an appointment with my urologist on the 21th of next month. I got the hang of cathing, except sometimes when I'm sleep, it wakes me up by leaking, otherwise I have no problem. Well, one good thing about it, when I'm out biking or rollerblading and have to go, at least I won't get cited for indecent exposure right?

Thanks again,

William

Hi William,
Yes it takes a while for that new pouch to accept it now contains urine and will continue to produce a lot of mucus for about 6 months...its lessens eventually to the consistency of egg drop soup. Are you using a sterile saline solution for irrigation only to break up the mucus? Your uro should have prescribed that also. I would cath then put in about 30cc's every time after I emptied the cath and then swish the cath around to see if there was any more. Don't worry about getting it back out...it will help break up the mucus. Sometimes if you give a big cough it will come out also.
How is the training going?
pat

Hello everyone. I'm new to this site. I was operated on for bladder cancer on the 20th of August and was discharged on the 14th of September. I have an Indiana pouch that still thinks that it's still a part of the bowel and produces a lot of mucus along with the urine. How long will this last? Sometimes the mucus prevents the urine from flowing smooth which causes me to move the tube in and out a few times to get the flow going again.

I would appreciate your help in this matter

William Jones

Mike - Thanks for the photo...very cute! Altho. I have an Indy, my stoma is 2 inches down and 2 inches over from the belly button, so I gave up skirts and nylons after my surgery. I didn't want to hassle with a skirt or even dresses for that matter. It's just so easy to pull my jeans or whatever pants I'm wearing down a bit, lube up, insert the catheter and let er rip. I love peeing like the guys do. I'm thinking your insurance is less than the best if they aren't allowing you more catheters. I will wash at home and re-use but I can't imagine washing them in a restroom and re-using them. And more often I am finding there is little hot water or sometimes none in the public restrooms...must be an energy saving measure but it sure doesn't go over well with me.

Just think about Indian women having to do it with a sari!


So if that isn't enough for a panic attack, here is a picture of me wearing a sari. This was for a halloween party at our house when we lived in Bangalore, India in the mid 90's.



Since the middriff is generally open it would actually be quite easy (standing that is).

Mike