How can I shower or bathe with a tunnel chest catheter?

[Jonndad]

I just had a tunnel chest catheter put in and told I can't shower or bathe unless I can figure out a way not to get it wet.  Any ideas out there?  Thank you in advance!  John

[Dannyboy]

I was given a supply of flexible one-time-use plastic "covers" about 7" square.  They had adhesive strip along the edge, and worked pretty good, keeping the area underneath dry for showering....the adhesive was good enough to be a water seal, but weak enough to be pulled off after without too much ouch.


I can't immediately recall the proper name for them, I'm sure someone will jump in here with that.


Hope this helps.


---Dan

[Jonndad]

I was given a supply of flexible one-time-use plastic "covers" about 7" square.  They had adhesive strip along the edge, and worked pretty good, keeping the area underneath dry for showering....the adhesive was good enough to be a water seal, but weak enough to be pulled off after without too much ouch.


I can't immediately recall the proper name for them, I'm sure someone will jump in here with that.

All the hospital told me was to buy some saran wrap and tape.  Since my vision is really bad I told them I couldn't do that very well and said go get someone to help you.  Yeah, right.  I'll call my neighbors wife, "Hey come and help me put this freakin' saran wrap on my catheter!". 

I want to know where I can buy those things you're describing.  I need to submerge me head in water and shampoo my hair or I just don't feel right. 


Hope this helps.


---Dan

[Joe]

The adhesive things Dannyboy is talking about are called Tagederm, I think. They are the covers my Neph suggested I use on my PD cath when I went on vacation. I bought mine on line, but I'm sure places like Walgrens, SavOn, or Longs would carry them.

[jeannea]

I did this with my permacath. Buy Glad Press N Seal. Cover the catheter plus a little extra area. Use a hand held shower head and aim strategically. The plastic wrap will get wet but underneath will be dry. Not as satisfying as soaking under a long hot shower but you'll be clean.

[Rerun]

Fold a wash cloth in 4ths and put it over your cath then put the press-n-seal over all of that and then use silk tape around the press-n-seal to tape it to your chest, then take a quick shower and try to not get a full blast of water on that area.    Lean your head way back to shampoo not forward.  If you live close to the center and you do get it a little wet just go and ask them to change it for you.

           

[cattlekid]

Heh....if I would have tried this at my old center (the going in and asking to have a wet dressing changed), they would have just laughed at me and told me that an infection would be the price I paid for getting my cath wet. 

I stuck to sponge baths until I started doing home hemo with my cath and had the supplies to change my dressings myself.

Fold a wash cloth in 4ths and put it over your cath then put the press-n-seal over all of that and then use silk tape around the press-n-seal to tape it to your chest, then take a quick shower and try to not get a full blast of water on that area.    Lean your head way back to shampoo not forward.  If you live close to the center and you do get it a little wet just go and ask them to change it for you.

           

[WishIKnew]

I washed my hair in the sink and then took a shallow bath.  It worked.  Good luck!

[MightyMike]

Get a shower head attached to the hose it makes it easier to get most areas without soaking your catheter.

[Riki]

My mom washed my hair in the sink and I sponge bathed until my line came out.. a year and a half... it was an infection that made me need the damned thing, I wasn't going to find myself with another infection before I didn't need it anymore.. a lady at my centre.. any time she'd get a line infection, she'd take a heart attack.. she died last year, and she was only a year or two younger than my mother

[Rain]

Normal sandwhich bags.   Put your line in the back and then take all around..   It works really well.  I then use a hand shower and wash my hair in the tub.

I have only had the line for 2 weeks but cut my washing time by 1/2.  Yes I loved my showers..

[Cordelia]

I used saran wrap and then secured it with an elastic. It worked for me. Had my cath 1.5 years and showered all the time, never once an infection.

[Jonndad]

Thank you all for your suggestions.  They were all helpful!

[kiddogal]

Hi, we got a plastic cover that my husband puts over his head, made by Korshield, specifically for people with catheters.  Here is their website:

http://www.korshield.com/

it works pretty well, we still cover his catheter but not as much.  Hopefully hubby is getting catheter out in 3 weeks!!!!!!

[kitkatz]

I put two trash bags over my head and hid the area. I also used a hand held shower.
I also learned to change the dressing myself.

[kit78]

I use a zip lock bag to tuck the lower part of the cath into, zip it good and fold the bag over and secure it with water proof tape. Then I use duct tape to cover over the first tape, then use duct tape on the upper part, overlapping 3 pieces.  Funny but duct tape is water proof, cheap and works well.  I get my Latex free, sterile large bandaids from the dollar store.  They are from 1.50 to 2.50 a box and have a better selection for me than Walgreen's! Go  figure!!!
You might want to cover the upper part with plastic so your dressing stays dry. But make sure you have what you need to change it just in case it gets wet. I change mine every time but have to use bandaids because of an adhesive allergy to the paper tape the clinic uses. They did get in Island bandages but I was allergic to those as well.

This is what I do, not saying you should by any means do it this way. Do what works for you.  Good luck!

[Big E]

Kiddogal, thanks for the Koreshield link. Right now my fistula is OK, but someday I'll probably need a revision, and just in case I have to get another catheter, this would be really useful. I remember how much I hated not being to take a decent shower...