Ian
In 1988, when he was 16, Ian broke his neck whilst playing rugby and became paralysed. He had a suprapubic catheter for 5 or 6 years and then a urethral catheter. Later, he was fitted with suprapubic catheter again, which he has had for over 10 years.
In 1988, when he was 16, Ian broke his neck whilst playing rugby and became paralysed. He was taken to hospital and, when he came round, he realised that he had been catheterised. He had an indwelling suprapubic catheter. He spent about 8 months in hospital, some of that time in a spinal unit.
Ian’s accident caused a serious spinal cord injury. He lost use of his hands and had little use of his arms. Losing the use of limbs and torso is called tetraplegia.
Ian had his first catheter, a suprapubic catheter, for about 5 years. He said he often had blockages and, sometimes, a district nurse had to come round to change it every 2 weeks.
Ian uses a catheter maintenance solution (CBG and Solutio R) which has helped enormously with blockages. He now has his catheter changed every 10 weeks. Recently, Ian said a clinical nurse specialist visited him to discuss reducing the use of the catheter maintenance solutions as they were working well. Ian uses a night bag all the time and this is changed twice a week by his carer.
Ian advised other catheter-users to drink lots of fluid and know their own body so that any unusual symptoms can be dealt with quickly. He drinks cranberry juice and also takes cranberry capsules. He gets 2 or 3 infections a year, on average.
Ian said that having a catheter did not have a major impact on his day-to-day life and he felt he’d been lucky with it. He said he sometimes gets over-granulation of the skin around the catheter site, which a district nurse deals with by using a cream. Although he has his catheter changed every 10 weeks or so, a district nurse visits 3 times a week to help with bowel care and any catheter related issues. He said he used to have 3 bladder washouts a week but now has 2.
Ian has a full-time live-in carer from an agency that specialises in helping people with spinal cord injuries. These carers are also trained to deal with catheters. His carer helps him with washing, dressing, feeding and generally looks after him while his wife is at work.
Ian praised the information he was given at the spinal unit when he was first injured and, later, from district nurses. He was happy with the care he’d been given over the years. He said district nurses had shown him how to change a urethral catheter and, on one occasion, he was able to instruct his brother on how to change it when there’d been a problem.
Ian’s first catheter was a suprapubic catheter, which he had for 5 or 6 years. This was then changed to a urethral catheter but, because it was wearing away the end of his penis, he was fitted once again with a suprapubic catheter. He was unsure how long he’d had the urethral catheter but has now had the suprapubic catheter for over 10 years.