www.incontinentsupport.org

Hey all,

Well my stones are back in action, and guess what..I have to do ANOTHER lithotripsy. Sorry I haven't posted about this, just havent been in the frame of mind/mood to do it. It will be, of all days, on the 23rd! Yes, thats 2 days before Christmas! I just hope im not in too much pain come Christmas eve and Christmas so i can enjoy my family festivities.. Also, something my urologist brought up. She said she has been thiniking about me and my situation in the back of her mind, and brought up the InterStim. She said that if we did it, it would make it so my bladder stopped leaking and i wouln't be incontinet, but it would also mean id have to cath every 4 hours to get the urine out. I REALLY don't know if i want to do that. I mean we are talking possible side effects of surgery here, along with utis and discomfort from cathing.. when right now i can pee on my own and sometimes make it to the bathroom and stay dry all day some days. The big quesiton I have is.. would cathing make it so i wouldnt ahve to wear diaperse any more? I just don't know.. What do you guys think? Maybe this would be something to think about if i did become completly incontinent, but I'm not. I have gone entire days without wetting a diaper, and the most i wet a diaper is 3 times in a sitting.. its not as if i constantly use 6 diaeprs a day and am wet all the time. some days are like that, and some days arent. Its something to think about at least.

Any input would be aprrecaited!

Peace out!

Rob

_________________
"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II

I would think that your lifestyle would be an important factor here. Intermittent catheterization means that you will need to have a clean facility handy every time you need it, which will be several times each day for the rest of your life. Although it need not be sterile, it does need to be seriously clean, and you need to be able to clean yourself as well, in order to prevent UTIs. Much to think about here. Good luck.

Rob,

I am fortunate that I only have to self-cath three times a day for post-void residuals. Being totally dependent on self-catheterization would be much more of a burden.

Seriously consider the logistics and the inconvenience of long-term self-intermittent catheterizing. When you go out for a long day that means that you will have to carry the extra caths with you. When you must use a public restroom to self-cath hygiene becomes a big consideration to avoid UTIs.

There are privacy concerns here. It could be difficult to be totally discreet about self-cathing in many workplace environments. Opening some catheter packages makes a lot of noise (mine is louder than activating a disposable diaper) and would attract attention in a restroom. Then you must dispose of the used catheter and package.

As Patrick indicated, avoiding UTIs requires serious attention to hygiene. You can avoid UTIs, but it requires some diligence and personal inconvenience. Re hygiene concerns, a friend on travel encountered such filthy bathroom stalls that he had to self-cath while standing at a public urinal!

Check your insurance to see which catheters are covered. Many plans cover only the most basic catheters. I have to pay extra each month to get hydrophilic catheters (special coating combines with water in the package to create a very friction-free surface for less discomfort. Also fewer UTIs).

All surgery comes with some risk. Each procedure has a certain percentage of failures that our surgeons do not like to discuss. You mentioned Interstim. My research indicated that Interstim has a fairly high rate of post-implantation complications. I would recommend that you do some Google searches on your specific procedure.

--John

Self-catherising instead of wearing a diaper sounds to me like a cure worse than the disease. Provided that your bladder empties itself so that there is little or no residual urine, I'd defintely prefer to stick with wearing and using a diaper.

Inconimiss,

THe thing is, my urollgist did say that eventually id have to cath anyway, but we are talking years away from now.. when my prostate enlarges...if and when that happens. i imagine it happens to most men... They recently checekd my output because i was concerneed about retaining urine, and they told me i was below the threshold. yeah I don't like the idea of cathing any more than I like the idea of the clamp..


In other news, overall the pocket diapers still work just fine, no leaks.. the only issue I have is the occasional seam pop which is fixable and probably due to user error.. i have been working on mastering my technique so i dont pop any more. Texan, you chimed in on my post about pocket diapers could you chime in here? do you ever accidentally pop a seam? I talked to the maker about htis, and she told me im the only one who has reported this probelm. Perhaps it's my poor fine motor control that is the problem here.. I may not be able to strike the right balance between snug and too tight? I don't see a major reason not to continue buying and using these.. as this has been a once in a while problem, not an every day thing.

Also, my dad suggested that we make our own pocket diapers to save on cost.. I looked up the expensese of doing so, and the start up cost was roughly equal to or at least approaching hte coost of 1 pocket diaper off the website.. not to mention there would be a lot of work invovled.. I just don't know..

I'm going to wear one of my pocket diapers out and see if i can go without popping a seam. If I do, i will know that it's a fluke and not to worry about it if i don't..well, then i have to refine my technique. Either way, i want to make these work if at all possible. I will keep you all posted. Perhaps simply double reinforcing all the seams would help.

Peace out!

Rob

_________________
"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II

geek

If fine motor coordination is an issue for you, I would think that using intermittent catheters could be positively threatening. Even if you decide only to explore them, please get a physical or an occupational therapist to supervise you the first times you attempt to use them. UTIs are a huge threat, especially for folks who have kidney stones. Good luck.

An urologist also recommended the Interstim for me, though I am unconvinced that the recommendation was well thought-out. In my case, my active lifestyle (skiing, mountain biking, longboarding, all things that involve jarring motions and the occasional tumble) would pose a risk to the implant, which can become unseated and would require surgery to correct. The implant wires are placed near nerves in the lower back which control the bladder; knocking these out of place does not sound fun. I also do not do well with general anesthesia and the batteries of the Interstim apparently need to be replaced in surgery every ~5 years for the life of the device.

The device would potentially calm my OAB symptoms but would not guarantee I would stay 100% dry. Please research this device thoroughly before making any decisions. My doctor did not mention the pitfalls of the device, but simply presented it as a guaranteed cure-all for my bladder problems, which is not realistic.

One of my 13 doctors presented the idea of Interstim to me.....as always they say how great it is...(kickbacks???) as I read more about it, my immediate thoughts were that diapers and Foley catheters were a much better solution than that thing.....there's just too much that can go wrong. They also suggested Botox. Once again.....I think I'll just skip the unnecessary torture/surgery and have a foley inserted.......sounds like if that goes wrong I'll have a foley anyway.......I guess it's diapers and foleys for me.

I have the device in my back for pain and it locks up my bladder and bowel at time. If you have chronic pain like I do, it has save my life. I have wrote before in posts about this machine. As has been posted you have limitations on what you can and cant do. If you want to know more about this unit P.M. and I will b glad to tell you all about it.