Catheter Mishaps

Dennis' catheter, for the most part, has been a blessing. We have had our mishaps, however, and this morning was one of those days.

Every once in a while, the tube that connects the catheter to his bag completely falls off. The first time this occurred, we were in Paris sitting in a restaurant over-looking the city. His chair was wet and we knew he had not spilled his water. Thankfully, he had black pants on that day and the only way anyone knew was if they walked to close to him and inhaled deeply. I doubt anyone in Paris would do such a thing.

The second time this happened was this morning. This time we had put a pad down the night before and nothing ended up on the mattress itself.

The first night he returned from his 3 week stint in the hospital/nursing home, we experienced another type of catheter accident; we forgot to close the shut off valve of the bag. Oops. Our new carpet was covered in pee. Well, why not. The very first day in our new home Dennis managed to crack a toilet tank in two. It seems apropos that he would stain the carpet on his first night sleeping in his new bedroom.

Aside from a few accidents now and then, and an occasional pulling on his manhood, having a catheter has been a life saver for both of us. His feet and legs are not swelling up anymore because he is retaining urine. I am not having to change the bed each day and then wash and dry a load of sheets. He is not searching for a bathroom every five minutes. We have not had another occurrence like the one in Barcelona when he sat in a pool of urine on the tourist bus. When the bus finally stopped, we snuck off while the woman in the seat beside us watched with her eyes popping out of her head.

At least this is one symptom of his syndrome/disease that has an answer that seems to work for us, fairly well.