Catheter emptying

Hi B2theC . No apologies needed here. We know the more you know, the more there is to know. If that makes sense. It's a long time since I had a catheter so can't really remember volumes. I am sure someone will be along with a better answer. The paleness with no blood is a good sign. In the meantime is he drinking plenty of water? Best wishes.

Thank you! No blood...very pale and he's drinking LOTS of water! I'm emptying it literally every 15 to 20 minutes at the moment...about to do it again! Oh, the joy

Suggest you get him a portable urinal bottle so you can have a rest and it also might help at night. Plus would they give him an attachable night bag so he can sleep?

To be fair, it's helping me get my steps in!

The issue is his inability to bend due to his right hip. I'm just draining it into a juice bottle and he has been given extension bags that attach to the bottom of his day catheter. Looking forward to 10 or so days time

Male, 75 here. I've had Foley urethral long term catheters since mid 2018 following radiotherapy and two TURBTs. I also have arthritic hips, so to some extent I'm familiar with catheters and inflexibility of hip joints. I drink about 4 litres of water per day plus about half a litre of tea/coffee/diet Pepsi. For this reason, a standard 500ml leg bag is inadequate because it fills so quickly. I use a single 2000ml bag night and day which has a decent valve for emptying. On hospital advice, I change it for a new one every 7 days.This gives me ample endurance at night time and during the day I can empty it when it gets to around 800ml. Any more than that makes it too heavy and bulky when concealed in clothing. I am able to walk to the loo to empty it myself and have perfected this arrangement as I'm on catheter number 31 so far!. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with them because my scarred bladder tends to bleed if allowed to expand and contract naturally. I hope your husband can do away with the catheter once his bladder has healed. Best wishes, Ray x  

Wow! Thank you for this Ray. His is a 500ml bag with add on night time catheters provided. It's crazy how quickly this little bag fills up! He never went to the loo as often as I'm up emptying, that's for sure

He's also struggling to pass solids...I think it's from the pain relief plus the fear of pushing the tube out?

x

From your description, your husband has probably got a Foley in-dwelling urethral catheter. Unlike single use catheters, these have a small secondary connector at the external end which is for inflating the retention balloon inside the bladder with 10ml of purified water. This will have been done when the doctor or nurse inserted the catheter and is not something to be concerned about. The balloon prevents the catheter from being ejected when straining (but best not to strain too much!) and also stops the catheter from being pulled out accidentally. Before the catheter is removed, the medic will deflate the balloon of course. Foley catheters are therefore quite securely retained until removal is required. My catheters have always been long term ones, capable of staying in place for up to 12 weeks, but shorter duration types are also common particularly when used after a TURBT to assist in healing of the bladder.  

That makes sense, especially as they put a small hole in his bladder wall. Thank you.