learned to Cath today!!!

yep swishing meaning going back and forth..if a piece of mucus has lodged at the eye it will move it off and you almost get a little more out with the swish...i do..i still do it. My Indiana varies..sometimes i can go in about 5 inches and it just pours out..other times i have to go in and find it...trickly little pouch..it likes to play games with you...and i found swearing at it only made it madder so i became friends with it.
Yeah cut back on the water...drink when you are thirsty..i found after my cystectomy i was more thirsty than before but that tapered off. I drink my coffee in the morning..have juice later on and really not a whole lot inbetween except for dinner. But again i was NEVER a big drinker. But the pouch has not stretched completely yet so holding 200cc's is about its capacity for this week anyway..next week aim for 300.
I know this sounds contrary to what every stoma nurse will tell you but my uro made a lot of sense..he just rolled his eyes and said How much are you drinking and i told him what the nurses told me and he said.."They get carried away with that..drink what you normally would"....problem solved.
I hate to sit..i always stand like the big boys as my navel is up pretty high and i pee right into the container which i sit in my sink..i'm pretty tall so its the perfect height for me and that way i can measure and keep track and then i dump it in the toilet. Now when i'm out i stand and try to hit the toilet but i have much more compassion now for my 3 boys for missing the toilet...but i still think i do a better job than they do!!!
Oh about what my Indiana looks like..i asked the uro at my supra pubic removal ..it just helped to know where it was situated ..i didn't feel so lost cathing. He drew me a picture.
pat

thanks pat I am probably drinking too much as I also am trying to get 8 cups in that is a lot of liquid. How do I know what size or shape my pouch is???? I also use a red rubber 14 french it can go in about 13 inches of the 16
although at about10 inches is where most of the flow comes from. Swishing????? Do you mean going in and out???I have mucous but it seems to come out ok. But I agree and Im leaning on irrigating regardless of what the nurse said. Do most indiana pouch people void in the toilet standing (seems to splash alot) or sitting or into a separate container. I was taught to sit but I find I like to stand and void into measured container they gave me placed on small table in the bathroom. The supra pubic comes out on Tues will see then if I leak.Sorry for writing on Thanksgiving it has been just frustrating
love julie

Julie..i can only tell you my story....first of all how much are you drinking? If you're doing what the nurses said to do and drink 8 glasses of water a day..which my doctors said..NO don't do that if you've never done it before...Anyway i was squirting out of my stoma l/2 hr after cathing as i was drinking all that water and my kidneys were in total shock..they'd never processed that much liquid before. I cut back to drink when i was actually thirsty...solved the problem. If you're leaking then nurse was wrong and you are not emptying or you're drinking too much..if there is mucus in there..and believe me there is plenty..it is pushing the urine out as it wants to come out...aha..thats where the sterile saline comes in that nurse says you don't need. When you're in there with the cath when you first get a flow don't move the cath around until it stops..then push it in a bit further and swish it back and forth to make sure you've found the sneaky pockets that sometimes are in there. Knowing the shape of your Indiana and where it is located helped me a lot as i wasn't as tentative about the cathing once i realised the shape of it. I can actually go in with a l4" french which is 16" long to about 14 inches..depends on how full i am. it will stop you if you're empty. Its difficult to figure out in the beginning as you are tentative about it. And don't go by my shape because i have a navel stoma and my Indiana is shaped like a basketball..i don't know how yours is shaped?
And yes you may shower without the bandages on..just make sure you pat it dry. I also used the gauze squares(just enough to cover the stoma..maybe a 2" one?) and a bandaid across the gauze to cover the stoma...you want to make sure it is dry as the urine will irritate the skin around the stoma...i would change the squares everytime i cathed but use the same bandaid as i would just pull it from one side and then restick.
Again the first week you're training and 150cc's to 250cc's is what you're aiming for and if you're drinking a lot you will fill up quicker and will not make it to the 2 hr mark. I don't know why you're leaking through the supra pubic..i have a feeling its come out as its capped right? Thats one i have not encountered.
pat

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
HELP!!!!! I am leaking from my stoma and supra pubic. I am soaking a maxi pad in a 1/2 hr to 1 hr. I called the resident on call she said to open supra pubic after cathing to see if I was not completly empting. I got just a small amount so I must be cathing ok. I was cathing every 2 hrs and woulD gEt 100 to 150 cc during the day more at night.She said it sounds ok but not that common with indiana more with native???? Has this happened to others?? Also nurse said to just take a shower without my stoma covered is that ok? after shower Im using a gauze with bandaid over is that ok or should I buy a bandaid that keeps stoma covered completly and moist??
Im thankful this year for my health, family friends and all of you
Julie

Julie..i had no problem at all with my insurance company. And certainly Dr. Steinberg is no novice to writing these scripts..he probably has a form letter for as many as he does. I am surprised about the saline as it definately breaks up the mucus but do let me know if he has a new theory on this.
Geez its such a no brainer...i wonder if that nurse had a cystectomy what she would want?..4 catheters a month..I DON"T THINK SOOOOOOOOOOOO.............
pat

pat well this one will get you going(IT DID ME!!)
Dr Steinbergs nurse said I dont need to irrigate so I dont need saline solution. I couldnt believe it!!! I know almost all of you irrigate. I will email dr steinberg and verify this is what he wants but hey its his head nurse. Pat i will just buy the extra caths on my own even if I have to get my internist to write a script that way I wont reuse.