Foley Catheter

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post. I am looking for suggestions from those of you who have experienced problems with urine retention.

I had a TVH with cystocele and rectocele repairs on
April 16. Went home with Foley catheter day after surgery, then returned to surgeon's office six days later for catheter removal. Expelled some urine before leaving office, so thought I was good to go. All afternoon I could only expel several drops and my bladder was filling and becoming very uncomfortable. I even tried jumping in a hot shower three times and really straining to go -- only a few drops. After calling surgeon's office that night (Apr. 22), I was told to go to emergency room to be re-catherized. I filled the catheter bag with 600 ccs of urine. Instant relief. I return to surgeon's office in five days and am nervous that I still won't be able to go on my own.

I am anxious to hear from those of you who experienced the same thing.

Other than this urine retention problem, I feel terrific!! If it wasn't for having a catheter, I would feel like I never had a TVH and the repair work. The most pain I felt was cramping or slight belly soreness. But, I know I still need time to heal and am taking it easy as instructed.

Thanks everyone!

5334CLB

It sounds like your urethra is swollen. The longer the catheter is in the more swollen and dependent your bladder becomes. Once removed you have to retrain your bladder. I'm surprised they are leaving it in w/o giving you the opportunity to go on a daily basis. These are just my thoughts...I"m not a doc or a nurse....I know for me personally I would just learn to self cath that way I could give my body the opportunity to try to "go" then if not I would cath my self....hope that helps. I'm sorry you have to deal with this.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by nieceMB The longer the catheter is in the more swollen and dependent your bladder becomes.

Actually, it's just the opposite. The reason the catheter is needed sometimes in the first place in those of us who had vaginal hysts with repairs is because the enormous amount of swelling in the vaginal/urethral area pinches the urethra almost closed so that only the barest amount of urine, if any at all, can pass. The catheter keeps the passageway open while giving the area time for the swelling to go down.

(((5334CLB))) I kept my Foley in at home for a week and then removed it myself at home (the nurses at the hospital showed me how - it's very easy). For me, that week was enough, but it can vary; perhaps you just needed a little longer.

After my catheter was removed, my DR had me keep a log of when I used the bathroom. I had to write down the time each time, and the goal was to go a little longer in between each time. At first, I had almost a constant urge, and had to go about every 15-20 minutes during the day and every hour or two at night. It took me a couple of weeks to get back on a 'normal' schedule of every few hours during the day and once or not at all during the night.

Resting, drinking lots of fluids and sitting with your feet up (as in a recliner) are about the best things you can do right now. Your body has to get rid of all the swelling in its own time. Rest assured that, in all the years I've been here at Hystersisters, I've only seen one woman who wasn't able to get rid of the catheter eventually, and even she was able to find an alternate solution to her problem, which was more complicated than just swelling. So, it eventually does come out and stay out.

in there!

s,
-Linda

s,
-Linda

Linda, you were right. I am finally rid of the second catheter and can urinate on my own . My surgeon put me on Bethanechol (generic for Ureocholine) 10 mg tablet 3-4 times a day. I took them for five days and can now go on my own. I'm not 100% yet because the urge can be quite uncomfortable and I still stop and start before the bladder empties. Thank you for putting my mind at ease.

Carol B.

(((Carol))) that's great news!

s,
-Linda

Hello Sisters
I had my op on April 8 2010 and all went well until I was taken off the catheter the following morning. I couldn't urinate and my bladder became very full. They put me back on another catheter until the next day, then took that one out and I tried again. Same thing happened - I couldn't urinate so they had to catheterise me a second time.

I was told I could go home with the catheter (Foley) in place (with a leg bag) as everything else was fine and I just needed more time for internal swelling to go down. A week later I was back at the hospital to try again without the catheter - no luck, so another Foley was put in place.

Another 9 days later, back yet again for another unsuccessful try. So much pain when you have a very full bladder and can't pee!

They said I needed longer to recover and had me back another week later to fit me with a Suprapubic catheter (by the way, my surgeon did this with a local anaesthetic having assured me it was a quick procedure, but I would NEVER recommend having it done without a general - it was traumatic!).

Back home again with a suprapubic cath and a tap on the end (much better than the leg bag in my opinion). The idea of this is that my bladder needed retraining. Now I had to try and pee in the usual way (yes!) and then turn the tap to drain off the residual that I couldn't!

Two weeks later, back again to the hospital with copious notes about my output and residual functions which they said werent good enough quite yet.

Back home again for a further 5 days having been told to only pee normally now, but that the tap could be used if I was in trouble. I wasn't! I am delighted to report that 6 weeks exactly after my op, I had the catheter removed.

It hasn't been an easy 6 weeks. Both types of catheters were very uncomfortable, I have taken loads of painkillers in that time, but there was success at the end. My consultant told me it's a rare complication that he only sees once every five years. I hope my story gives hope to anyone else having this kind of problem as I couldn't find much on here that was similar.

And please ignore previous comments before mine that refer to longer term catheter use stopping your function coming back!

Ughhhhh!!! I went home with a Foley Cath the day after surgery because i couldnt pee, had a high fever my first night home, it was 104 at 5am so I held off and called the doc at 8am vs the ER at 5am, went in and he said my body was rejecting the cath being there so he took it out but I still couldnt pee by the end of that day so back in it went, had a 102 fever tat whole night, the fever goes away when the cath is out so he must be right. We tried to take it out again Friday and no luck, but I could dribble with no control in the shower and standing over the toilet which the doc says is a good thing. But it had to go back in for the weekend. I go back in tomorrow to try this again. I have Intersistial Cystitis which I'm sure makes it alot worse than it should be, it gets kinked in my sleep and OMG that hurts. I am hoping I can pee tomorrow because I can't take much more of this catheter. I'm totaly out of my rx pain meds, and I wasnt even taking them as often as prescribed, but let me say this pain is unbearable!! DH went to get Aleve to try and I pray to god they give me more prescription meds tomorrow as a mess, not sure if my last 2 hours of crying are from the pain or my body finally realizing the hormones are gone. This sucks!! I can't imagine weeks and weeks of this!!

Hi everyone,

I too had bladder problems post op and went home with a catheter. Tried to remove it twice before a successful attempt. If it didn't work the last time they told me I would have to learn to straight catheterize myself a few tims a day! Luckily it worked.

After taking out the catheter though I had pain on urinating and some urgency. Thought it was normal, but finally went in for a urine check 3 weeks later and turns out I had a UTI. 24 hours on meds and a new woman... completely the same as before!

Make sure you don't have a UTI on top of your other problems! That one is easy to fix!