Life's comings and goings

Lots and lots of stuff happening this week...so today on my day off, I'm doing the usual errands including taking our dog to the groomer. He hates getting a bath, but he needs it. He's been shedding like mad and really needs the haircut.

The story of the last few days has involved that famous (or infamous) condom catheter.

They are a real issue getting them on and staying on for men who have what we facetiously call a "hider", or a penis that really, really retracts. One patient got wet, not once, but twice Monday because no matter how I put his catheter on (with SkinPrep or without), it came loose when he urinated. This meant clothes changes, equipment changes and a few transfers for me and for him.

Luckily, my other patient who used these catheters was not spontaneously voiding, so there was no leakage issue with him. If I only had a cath with a removable tip, it would make his intermittent caths a cinch, since I'd only have to put a condom catheter on once a day. (Now I have to put one on after every four hour catheterization.)

We also have a patient who's on our unit while he's completing SATP. He's a relatively quiet fellow, but something yesterday's program spooked him because he came back all breathless and he has an electric wheelchair. His heart rate was way over 100, so I called the doc. She checked him out and declared he could rest for the afternoon (He has several other health issues, too.) He took a nap, ate his lunch at 1400 and vegged the rest of the day in the room. When I read the notes I noticed the topic of the AM session--Grief and loss while giving up drugs. My guess is that he's still on the fence about staying clean. It's going to be a rough road, but hopefully, we can help him get there.

More goodies later....gotta take the dog to his groomer.