Self Catheterization

Well i'd be cranky too!! That's ok...i said i was mostly guessing!! And my experience is with a fake urethra anyway or whatever that thing is leading from my stoma to my new bladder...i just know it gets cranky once in a while and decides to actually grab onto my catheter??...defiant little one huh? Anyway the softer cath will get to the bladder but my case is different as i have no other way to release.
Anyway have a happy holiday ... i just cleaned up after cooking and cleaning for 2 days for the l7 members of my family who came for Christmas Eve..only one cupcake icing smear on the wall.....not bad for 8 kids huh?
Pat

I couldn't help but wonder if the curved Coude tip might be an issue, but the bottom line is, the catheter passed the first time even though it met resistance, and it didn't pass the second time. It's a straight path, and in my mind, either the catheter fits or it doesn't. As far as the blood, it's from the stricture, not the bladder. It's not ongoing, so there's nothing to irrigate. Basically, if I urinate through it, it's been irrigated. We're a far cry from getting stoma nurses involved. The first catheterization succeeded. The second didn't. Before I seek any other opinions it would be nice to get an answer from my urologist. Remember, the purpose of catheterization is to keep the stricture open. To that end, it may be that the catheter should not be soft, because the aim is not simply to get the catheter in, but if the stricture is tightening, to dilate it.
I am urinating. So at this point I need to know what's the best thing to do for my stricture if catherization caused enough inflammation to prevent success the second time. And if that's not it, the urologist has to come up with another explanation.
Gee, I hope I didn't sound too cranky. I am a bit cranky now, but it's not aimed at you, Pat. I always appreciate your input.

Hmmm.....Warren is there a stoma nurse anywhere in the vicinity? At the hospital that you could talk with? Maybe the coude tip which is supposed to be the cath of choice for men isn't the one that will do the job.....have you thought about maybe a soft Coloplast l4" french..thats my back up cath when the other decides its not going in...very fickle sometimes. I'm fortunate in that i have a medical supply house right by me and they are very knowledgable...any suppliers nearby? The eye of the coude tip may be scratching a vulerable area.??? guessing!...it happens. Did he suggest any saline solution ..about 30 cc's to inject in there when there is some blood?...another guess. Pat

Not to worry folks. I did sleep, and I am not in terrible pain, but I am concerned about my second attmepted self catheterization being unsuccesful. What does this mean as an approach to try to keep my stricture open - Forget it? Try again in a few days when the inflammation goes down? Could I have done any damage? I really gave it the old college try, even pulled the catheter out and reinserted it, but it would not pass. Any risk of urinary obstruction? What does my urologist want me to do if I suddenly can't urinate - call them & go to the ER? Go to the ER & have them called? Go to the ER & don't bother them? Those are reasonable questions to ask at this juncture, and any urologist in the practice should have been able to answer them.
So I called, and my urologist won't be back until Monday. OK, let me talk to the covering urologist. I explain why I'm calling. The receptionist puts me on hold. She comes back and asks if I want to come in and be shown how to catheterize myself. No I don't! I catheterized myself 2 nights ago. I catheterized myself 8 years ago. And I've catheterized many infants in between.
So I explained that I'm a pediatrician and I know how to catheterize, but I couldn't get the catheter past the stricture. Put on hold again. The receptionist comes back. I guess the covering doctor is now scared to talk to me. They'll try to reach my urologist, and if they can't someone will call me back. That was 4½ hours ago. Still waiting.
Hey, I'm not asking them to offer me a mireacle cure for Christmas. Just answer some basic questions. If I don't hear from them, I simply won't try the self catheterization again until after I speak to my guy on Monday - if he says I should try again. I just hope a delay doesn't result in missing a window of opportunity for self catheterization to keep things open. But neither can I risk the possibility that repeated attempts will cause enough trauma to make things worse. In the meanwhile, it 14½ hours since my fateful faiure at self catheterization and I'm still able to urinate, so I'm less fearful of obstruction.
Thanks for listening.

Aw Warren I am so sorry you are having to deal with this pain and sleepless nights. I hope you get to see the uro today and get this problem fixed right up.

Second catheterization tonight. I couldn't get the catheter past the stricture. Afterward I urinated and passed a small clot. Now I'm really nervous. About to spend the whole night awake checking to see if I can still pee. Obviously a stricture can't scar down that quickly, so we must be talking inflammation, right? I hope. And that's the point I think no urologist has understood so far. My symptoms have always been pain, not slow flow. Since I was still having post-op pain, I feared starting the self catheterization at this point because I thought it would make the inflammation worse. Now my fears have been bourne out. The second attempt should have been easier if self catheterization was keeping the stricture open. It was a disaster. I'll try to urinate again in a little while and if successful, go to bed and call the urologist in the morning.