www.incontinentsupport.org

I am about to be admitted for a serious surgery replacing my aortic valve in my heart. Will be in the hospital 3 to 5 days. Since I'm totally incontinent, I'm not sure how the hospital handles this. Will they ask me to have a catheter placed in me, or will they just let me stay in diapers. No one has ever changed my diaper except myself. My wife thinks the hospital will want to use a catheter, but I have heard they discourage it sometimes because of infections are easy to get.
How many of the members here have been through this and what did you do? My surgery is in about a month. Thanks for your comments!
Paul Martin

Paul
I had surgery in July, my wife changed me till I was able to do it on my own. She came in while I was in recovery and changed me. We had a plan with the health care team before I had the surgery. The nurses were very happy to assist. I hope your health care team will help you and your wife through your trying time. Good luck on your surgery, I hope all goes well !!

Mike

Paul

I wish you all the best and a quick recovery from your surgery.

Schoppy

Paul, I'm sorry that you must undergo a medical ordeal. My thoughts are with you for a smooth process and a fast recovery.

Wetters

Paul,

No worries! Once a year, I am admitted into one of the VA Regional Spinal Cord Injury Center hospital's for a 7 - 10 day stay so I'm pretty sure what you will be asked your preference of being cathed, or use of diapers when you check into your 5 star hospital hotel. I say "5 star hospital hotel" because every private hospital should be rated as a 5 star hotel for what they charge per day. Ouch,... even if you have a deductible its going to hurt.

As mentioned, I'm certain you will be asked if you prefer to be cathed, or wear diapers during your hospital stay. It's your decision, but since you are bowel, and bladder incon it would probably be easier and safer if you continue to use diapers during your stay. I can't stress how important it is to take your own diapers. If you are able to change yourself great, if not DON'T worry about it. I can assure you, the nursing staff is well experienced in changing adult diapers so if your wife is not present to help you change,.... don't worry about it. You will need to swallow your pride, don't be embarrassed and just follow the instructions of the nurse if your not able to change your self, or need assistance changing. If they change you and the entire process will be completed in LESS than 5 minutes. You will me amazed how professional they are about this sorta thing. Rest assured,....the nursing staff is NOT going to measure anything.

Be sure to let the nursing staff know you are incon when you check in and also make sure they know that you brought you own diapers and prefer to use them. I've been told, and have stories that I can tell about the quality of adult hospital diapers. I've been told "most" hospitals use Kendall Wings diapers and I'm sure you know the quality of those diapers so I need not say anything more except I have experienced the same when I didn't bring my own diapers. Just to make things easier for the nursing staff, I always have a stack of 4, or 5 diapers next the bed stacked up on the nightstand. so they are easily accessible to the nursing staff especially the night nurse. No one has to hunt down any of my diapers in the middle of the night when there is a small supply readily available with easy access. I prefer to go all night without changing, but the nursing staff is not so keen on that idea so I get changed about 2 AM every night (day). One thing you need to be aware of is hospitals e are very PRO skin care (for good reason) and want your skin to be dry, and free of pressure sores. That said, they DON'T like the idea of not changing a diaper at night and remaining wet until the following morning regardless how changing the diaper in the middle of the night may disrupt your night's sleep,...(this has been my past experience). The VA hospital that I go to for my "annual" doesn't hassle me about not being cathed during my stay,..... so I don't hassle them over waking me up at 2 AM for a diaper change. If your not able to do your own diaper change(s), or need assistance they will have you roll on your side and have you cleaned up in a blink of an eye while being nothing less than professional during the entire process. Diaper changes on the spinal cord injury ward of the VA hospital that I go to each year is a common procedure, or at least I'm told that which makes perfect sense to me since "most" people with severe spinal cord injuries are incon. I been told the nursing staff of the spinal cord injury ward of the hospital where I stay sometimes preforms several diaper changes each day to a number of patients on the ward. In small talk you might even ask the nursing staff how often they change adult diapers,.....they'll tell you. They do it to me every yea,r and not once has any nurse ever had to think about what they need to do, or how they need to begin a diaper change,...it's a very common procedure on the spinal cord injury ward of the hospital where I stay each year.

I go in for what I refer to as my "annual tune-up" on Dec 30th, this year, and will most likely be in the hospital this year until Jan. 11th, or 12th because of the holiday, and how weekends fall since they only discharge M-F. I call this annual event my "annual tune-up" because for one week I undergo several tests, and evaluations to measure the status of my condition, but in addition to checking my spine, they also do a complete check-up of EVERYTHING from head to toe and everything in between. During my hospital stay, I will see several doc's specializing in different areas of medicine. I'm an Incomplete Paraplegic (mobile) with Cauda Equina so my issues are lower spinal cord nerve issues. Unlike a "complete" paraplegic, I don't have any spinal cord broken bones, my injury is nerve damage. My injury level is low,...L5/S1, and because of the low level of my injury I'm able to walk, but there are trade off's. I'm also double incon and endure a good amount of daily nerve and muscle pain. I've been told if I were a "complete" paraplegic I would have less pain because I wouldn't feel it so there is a price to be paid for being a "incomplete paraplegic" with the ability to walk. Make no mistake about it,.....I am thankful for the things I can do, I just wish I didn't have some of the medical issues I have as a incomplete paraplegic.

During my hospital stay the doc's will do a LOT of testing, and evaluation to determine the stability of my condition and measure any changes that have occurred since my last exam including urology. Once they determine my health assessment they write a 12 month health plan to include any med changes, etc., and this plan is what my primary health care provider follows until my next annual tune-up.

Leave any re-usable incon products you may normally use such as diaper covers at home. ONLY take quality disposable diapers regardless how often you change. Just be sure to let the nursing staff know you are incon and have brought your own diapers from home that you would like to use. I HATE hospital garb so I always wear sweats during my hospital stay. When I need assistance changing sweat pants are easy to pulled down with no need to remove. Take whatever you feel comfortable wearing, but also remember that you need to wear something that can be easily pulled down, or removed for diaper changes if you need assistance.

Good luck with your surgery. Will you be able to go home a few days following the surgery, or will they want you to convalesce some place after you leave the hospital?

Keep us posted on your progress.

Hope this helps.

Paul,

Good luck with your upcoming hospital stay.

My genetic disease has given me a leaky aortic valve and a dilated aortic arch, so I am more than merely interested in your post-hospital report. I have been told to expect cardiac surgery in the future. My last experience with an extended hospital stay was for my sphincterotomy, for which I had a Foley, so incontinence management was unnecessary while I was a patient; now, however, incontinence management is another story.

Again, good luck and I look forward to reading of your successful surgery and speedy recovery.

I think it's fair to expect to be catheterized for the surgery. Any surgery longer than 3 hours, which I suspect this will be, the patient is typically catheterized after they are anesthetized. You'll wear your diaper into the OR and they'll just take it off when you get in there. They will likely have the foley out within 24 hours post op due to the risk of infection in the hospital. You may be given the option to leave it in longer due to your incontinence. I'm a regular foley user and I don't think the catheter is a big deal. There again my wife has been the only one ever to catheterize me. She has actually done it for me in the hospital (she is an ER nurse and well versed in doing this) and another time I was in the hospital for surgery, I came to the hospital with the catheter in already because I needed it to make the hour+ ride down there in comfort. I wish you the best of luck. Keep us informed!!

Ps. Be sure to ask some of these questions at your pre-op appointment. They'll answer all your questions!!

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions up to this point. I'm definitely take my our diapers. The Foley catheter does not bother me, but I would rather have it out and back in a diaper. I'll probably be in there 5 days and going straight home. From what I've read so far, I will be in ICU for a while before I go to a private room. The scary part is a machine breathing for me and my heart being just about stopped putting in the new valve. Good thing is I will not remember a thing.

I'll keep you guys up to date. Thanks again!!!!....................Paul Martin

The foley shouldn't bother you, it's not a big deal. I spend multiple days every week with it in and I'm at the point where I don't even know it's there except that I'm not in the bathroom every 15 minutes with it in. My biggest issue with the foley would be somebody else putting it in besides my wife. She's been doing it all along and she's careful about it, and I trust her. Somebody who isn't careful about it can cause a UTI. Though UTI's are relatively uncommon in men. Catheters are among the leading causes on infections in hospitals. You can't be too careful with these things. This is also the reason that they take them out as soon as possible after surgeries. The longer it's in, the more chance for an infection to develop. They'd rather have you in diapers as well. Most people don't get infections with them.

Just an update on the surgery I had. Every thing went extremely well as far as the surgery. My recovery in the hospital surprised all of the staff. My incontinence really was a problem, though. I did not take my own diapers which was a huge mistake. It took a while for the staff to know what I needed. They offered a pull-up which would no way work. I ended up with a blue diaper that would last only two wettings. Night time was difficult. I had my wife with me every night, but a snow storm kept her from going home to get my own diapers(We lived about 70 miles from the hospital). After 5 days, I finally made it home to my own stash.
Next time, I will heed to the advise of you guys here on the forum, [u][b]"Take Your Own Diapers" if you are going to stay over night!.............Paul Martin