Catheter Leg Bag Management

Hi Bernard,
I had mine in for 3 weeks, if it any help this is what I did: The bags I was given had 2 slots in to pass an elastic & velcro strap through and using that with the strap behind the bag I fastened the bag to my calf with the strap below the knee around the calf muscle. I strapped the pipe to my thigh using another 2 straps and left the slack at the top so that I could move move my leg without tugging on the Foley catheter. The straps had a very "grippy" rubber layer on them that stopped them slipping

I emptied the bag simply by putting my foot on the loo seat and opening the tap.

Like flexi I emptied it regularly and wore fairly tight briefs to keep things still and well supported

good luck
Batholith

Bernard

I have had a catheter on three separate occasions with no real issues, have you got a strap at the top of your thigh that holds the pipe at the "Y" joint, so even if the bag drops it should not pull on the penis.  Then two straps for the bag, when walking I fastened one above the knee and one below and twisted the bag to the inside of the leg.  I was given a tube of instillagel to lube the pipe £2.50 from chemist.

Thanks Chris

Edited by member 25 Mar 2015 at 22:24  | Reason: Not specified

Thanks to everyone for there postings, it turns out that most of my difficulties were due to the nurse who dealt with my transition from the hospital bag that I woke up from surgery with to  the leg bag, the problems and solutions were;
P) The catheter was not correctly secured to the “G” strap allowing the tube to slide through.
S) The spare “G” strap that I was supplied with had a simple illustration on the packaging showing the correct fastening.
P) The elasticated straps supplied with the leg bag did nothing to stabilize the position of the bag.
S) Replaced with a fabric sleeve, in this case “Colplast Aquasleve” other brands available, a sleeve seems to work much better than straps on tapered legs without surface fat.
P) The “G” strap was placed around the highest point of my thigh resulting in a loop in the catheter before entering my urethra, this was fine when lying in bed clothed only in a hospital gown, but caused unnecessary movement when moving around especially in the presence of close fitting underpants resulting in heavy leakage and extreme discomfort when moving.
S) After discharge on Friday I eventually had a visit from the district nurse on Wednesday afternoon, with wonderful gentleness and patience she repositioned the strap, rotated the attachment between the bag and catheter to remove the twist and showed me how to position the catheter and strap correctly. What bliss it does not hurt to move and leakage is down to 3 pads a day.
P) Minor chafing between the catheter and the head of the penis even with improved positioning.
S) Just started using Instagell Optilube thanks to the recommendation from colwickchris, great call Chris it makes quite a difference and hopefully is the last piece of the jigsaw.
I will be having a cystograme in two weeks time and then on to TWOC if things have healed sufficiently, there is some concern that healing may be a little slow as I had brachitherapy previously and this apparently makes healing slower, of course I am impatient but hopefully I have plenty of time having got rid of those D*** tumors.

It would be really useful if someone suitably qualified produced a simple illustrated application sheet sheet showing the correct use of catheters, straps bags etc. I the world of engineering, nobody will use or specify a product without adequate documentation and application data, if anyone from  any of the catheter product manufacturers  sees this posting it is time to wake up, a few hours of work can save many days of misery for a vast number of people, it would even make commercial sense, people like to buy from manufacturers who give them the information that the need.

Chris sounds like u had better luck than me on the leakage front, when I asked on the ward if my leakage was normal I was told not to worry and was given four Jumbo nappies to get me home (GROSS).  As for changing the catheter the district nurse only repositioned the external plumbing, she also advised that she did not think that there was a blockage as I have no leakage at night despite filling a night bag + leg bag   in 8 hours.

Lyn

Have you looked at Elizabeth's profile.

Thanks Chris