UOAA Discussion Board

Hi. I'm a 54 yr. woman. I just had an appendicostomy. 4 days after surgery I was great. Of course there was a feeding tube in the opening. As soon as that came out I started to use a cath. I have had nothing but infections, burning constantly and I feel terrible. I suffered 9 years with constipation and thought that this would be my miracle. The doctor says I'm not putting the cath in right? I dont believe it. I had a radiologist put it in and still had the same problem. If my doctor thinks this and I know it is not true where do I go from here? Can someone help me, please!!!!

I am not familiar with your procedure, BUT I do have a continent urostomy pouch. I can tell you that in the beginning- actually the first year or so, I had trouble getting the catheter in and used various methods to help this. I would try changing positions when I cathed- sometimes I had to be reclining in bed to get the thing in. I would also try doing it in the bathub in some warm water. What worked the best was going to a smaller size catheter- don't know if this can an option for you or not, since I just had to pass fluid/urine through mine. I can tell you also that a few times I had to go to the ER or my doctors office nad have them access the thing because I could not and my pouch was so full that I was was in extreme pain. Now 20 years later it is rarely an issue. Hope this helps.

Thanx. Have to have the 14 in cath. I feel like there is a whole in my stomach, I put the cath in, how can I being doing it wrong?????? In so much pain! But Thanx for the concern

I found that in the beginning I actually had a "false tract". For some reason the catheter wasn't getting in the right place. I know it sounds weird, but in time it worked itself out. I use a 14F too, but mine is coude- this means the end of the catheter has a curved tip. It helps me to negotiate the tract better. I used to use a 12F till I felt that the 14 would work. I was started off with 14, but due to a hard time cathing I was told to use a smaller one till things straightened out.