Three essential steps to living happily with a suprapubic catheter
The biggest moment in anyone’s catheter journey is when you transition from thinking of a catheter as a short-term solution to a long-term solution. You can bear it short term as the catheter will be removed. It’s the long term – knowing you have to deal with it day in and day out that’s the harder part. Adapting to life with a catheter takes time. Here I share the things I wished I’d known when I first had to make room for a catheter in my life. 1. Get the right catheter equipment Having the right equipment is so important. I knew so little about different catheters, drainage bags and straps. My very first night, I had to wake every couple of hours as I hadn’t been given a night bag. I didn’t know they existed! Waking every few hours to empty a leg bag is not a long-term strategy! During the day, I used to walk around with my catheter bag swinging around my ankles until I found you could get different lengths of leg bag. Also, I wasn’t advised how to secure it, and it was painfully precarious, moving when I moved, until I learnt to use a…
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