Showering with a catheter

[frankswife]

Does anyone have any experience with the catheter protection bandages, not sure what they are called, I just know I paid $53 for 12 if them! Anyway, Frank is feeling very grubby and wants desperately to take a shower, so I ordered these things for him. But now he is hesitating to use them, nervous that he'll still get the catheter wet. I don't blame him, that catheter scares me silly. Has anyone used these things and do they work well? And do drugstores carry them? Thanks!

[Lillupie]

What cathater does he use? THe PD cath you can only shower with.

Lisa

[frankswife]

He's got the neck catheter

[Sydnee]

When Ed had the tunnel catheter in we were first at the hospital so I got to see how they bagged it up so he could take a shower. When we got home we used a quart sized ziplock bag and did the same thing they did at the hospital. We cut the bag so it was one big piece of plastic then taped it on the top and both sides (but NOT the bottom) we domed it a little so he could move his arm. It worked well. There is no way that Ed would have let me spend $53 on something he used in the shower.

Hope that helps

[jeannea]

I found the best thing is Glad Press n Seal. Cover the catheter and the area around it with the cling wrap. Just lay it on flat. Then use a hand held shower attachment to strategically aim the water. The outside of the cling wrap will get wet but underneath will be dry. Cheap and practical. I did it for 6 months and never got the dressing wet.

[Darthvadar]

And run the shower for a minute before getting in... Just in case there are a few bugs sitting in the shower head.... I put our shower head into a bucket of hot water with bleach in it every week or so...

Darth...

[Lillupie]

yeah wouldnt trust the shower... He doesnt want to take a bath?

[frankswife]

We remodeled our bathroom right before the catheter and put in a shower stall. We do have the spray attachment. We didn't know he was gonna need a cath, so... Drat! I think we're going to hold off taking a shower for now.

[noahvale]

^

[dialysis.sucks]

I found the best thing is Glad Press n Seal. Cover the catheter and the area around it with the cling wrap. Just lay it on flat. Then use a hand held shower attachment to strategically aim the water. The outside of the cling wrap will get wet but underneath will be dry. Cheap and practical. I did it for 6 months and never got the dressing wet.

PRess n seal is great. Cut a piece big enough to cover. Then take the clear tape from Dialysis (ask them first of course) and do up all four sides. No need to hold the cover on. I wouldn't take to many direct blasts. I always do the strategic turn side to side, but everything stays dry! Also you may be inclined to buy the cloth tape they have hanging up at walgreens. DON'T! The steam in the air is enough to get that to pull off. Definitely ask for the clear tape they use at your center. If you dont like asking for tape every other week (the techs are cool like that at mine), look at the type on the box (the name escapes me now) and you can buy a whole large box of it on Amazon. But free is always better 

[smcd23]

Tony gets a weekly shower with his catheter. We have some shower shield things, and have found them to be somewhat useless. We always seem to get the stupid bandage wet. I generally tape a plastic sandwich bag over the thing, use lots of tape and help him shower making sure he keeps that area out of the direct flow of water. We have a 50/50 success rate.

So we just keep gloves, masks, sterile gauze, iodine and tape on hand and if the bandage gets wet, I remove the old dressing, apply the iodine and recover with the gauze and tape. Next time he sees his neph he is going to ask if we can remove the old bandage/tape, and recover with a new gauze and tegaderm since those stick in the shower but I can't find any big enough to put over his site because the unit uses so much tape. As the nurses on his unit said, we have "medical training" since he did PD for so long, so they trust that we can change a dressing safely.

[Cordelia]

Never bothered to use  anything like that. I only ever used Glad Saran wrap with an elastic. Never, ever in the 1.5 years I had my cath, never had an infection.

[smcd23]

The key to preventing infection is doing what you can to keep it dry, and in the event it does get wet, change the wet bandage ASAP. We usually unwrap Tony while he is in the bathroom while he is drying off so I can run into the other room and get everything together if the bandage did get wet.

Never bothered to use  anything like that. I only ever used Glad Saran wrap with an elastic. Never, ever in the 1.5 years I had my cath, never had an infection.

Where did you put the elastic?? I am confused. I mean I can see putting it over the lumens but what about the exit site??

[CebuShan]

I had a hand held shower head that we bought. I, too used Tegaderm and just changed it if it got too wet. When the catheter came out, after it had healed, I went and stood under the shower until the hot water ran out! It felt so good not to have to worry about the site getting wet!

[Cordelia]

The key to preventing infection is doing what you can to keep it dry, and in the event it does get wet, change the wet bandage ASAP. We usually unwrap Tony while he is in the bathroom while he is drying off so I can run into the other room and get everything together if the bandage did get wet.

Never bothered to use  anything like that. I only ever used Glad Saran wrap with an elastic. Never, ever in the 1.5 years I had my cath, never had an infection.

Where did you put the elastic?? I am confused. I mean I can see putting it over the lumens but what about the exit site??

Yes, over the lumens, just to keep from water seeping in.  I had saran over the whole entire thing.

[Joe]

Ok gang, this has tickled my interest for some time now. As you know, I do PD. And I have a catheter, albeit it comes out of my abdomen and not somewhere else. I don't have any showering restrictions on my catheter, other than I have to do exit site care any time I get it wet. But that's not a big deal, clean it thoroughly when I'm done and bandage it back up (in my case, I tuck it back in my PD belt). So, what is the difference between how I have to care for my catheter and yours with a Hemo Cath? Thanks for helping me understand.

[jeannea]

The difference is in how the surgery installs the catheter. I had both types at different times. The permacath leaves the incision more exposed and makes it easier to get infection in there. With you PD cath, there is still some risk of infection but a lot less based on the way they close things up. The permacath has to stay bandaged and yours does not. Wet bandages are a real problem. Sorry but I don't know surgery technicalities. I just remember that under my permacath bandage things looked a lot more open.

[Cordelia]

I had a chest cath and never kept mine bandaged, never had an infection. But, I was given permission to not wear one. You  have to ask your doctor first, I wouldn't do it without approval. I had so much itching and constantly had allergic reactions to the bandage so that was why I got permission to do without.