Question about my husband's foley
 

First of all, it is now out (two weeks now) he's peeing fine, he's on Flomax and so far so good. Here is what I would like to know.

What the hell did the urologist in the hospital do (or not do) that I had to call the male nurse manager who obviously saved my husband's life.

Here is exactly what happened.

My husband has been in and out of Er's and hospitals and finally the nursing home.

This happened in the nursing home where he was getting physical therapy but because he wasn't peeing (due to an enlarge prostate and had fainted in the house (syncope) and they thought it MIGHT have to do with the tamsulosin part of the med, that they discontinued it and so they put a foley in. All was going well until about 3 weeks ago when he said "I'm not peeing'. I said "but you have a foley in you". He said "I don't care, I'm not peeing"

I put in a call to the urologist who (thankfully we assumed) would examine him, take out the foley, do whatever it is that urologists do and all would be fixed.

That did not happen.

The urologist pressed down on Alan's stomach pronounced all was well and told Alan "the foley has to stay in until next week, THEN we will take it out and see if you pee'. Alan had had the foley (second time since end of March) in him for about 8 days prior. So after 8 days I assumed the foley was blocked, told the urologist, asked that the foley be removed and he said "no, it has to stay, then he looked at Alan and said "Listen, you have a foley inside you, it's not comfortable, don't you understand this".? Alan said "but I'm not peeing and I have this urge to pee". The doctor was not moved and left.

Five minutes later, my husband started yelling his head off and said "I'm dying of pain".

I ran out over to the nurses station (thank god I speak french because they were all from French Morocco or from Haiti and they all spoke french) and they all understood me and I'm yelling 'Please come and help my husband I think his foley is backing up and he's screaming"

The 3 male nurses looked at each other, grimaced, grabbed some tools and ran into my husband's room along with a female nurse.

Because I didn't want to crowd them, I stayed out in the hall. Well......the screams that came out of Alan would be enough to raise the dead.

Then the screams got worse, I had to stick my fingers in my ears.

A few minutes passed and then there was no sound. I gingerly walked back in to find some red thing sticking out of his penis and all this urine pouring out into A SECOND BUCKET.

The urine was brown. I said OMG, this is so bad". The head male nurse said "no, it's nothing, the thing that would be bad is if we see blood and there is no blood".

Then after all the urine was out (and he felt so much better), (there was this other guy massaging Alan's stomach to get the urine out and I had been helping him do this.

When it was done, they told Alan to hold his breath and the male nurse pulled out the long red catheter thing that was being used to drain the urine.

So here is what I want to know. Alan said that when he took a look at the long red thing it had a blade (or something sharp) at the end of it and THAT'S what they put into his penis and carefully put it all the way up into the bladder (that's why he was screaming).

I cannot find any info on what this red thing (with the blade tip) is called that they put into him.

It worked, they put him immediately on flomax and he's been fine ever since and although he is is said to have A-Fib, today we see the cardiologist and he will do whatever cardiologists do when one is released from a nursing home as a follow up cardiology visit.

So if anyone knows what this long red thing is called and if anyone knows WHY my husband could not pee with that foley in him, I'd love to know.

Oh, and get this. I ran into the urologist the next day and I said "Did you hear what happened to my husband yesterday?" He said "yeah, I visited him and told him the foley could not come out". I said "oh you haven't been updated obviously". I told him EXACTLY what happened and his eyes grew big and said "Oh the foley backed up".

ISN'T THAT WHAT I TOLD HIM INITIALLY??

Good Grief, poor Alan

Melody

Melody L
Had been wondering what was going on as hadn't seen a post in a while - no wonder - you've had more urgent things to deal with. Sorry I can't help you with your questions. Have you asked the nursing staff that saved your husband what the red tube was called? Also they would have written up a report on what they had to do - see if you can get a copy of it.
Take care.

I have had a month like you wouldn't believe and that's just me. Imagine what Alan has been through. We just came from the cardiologist and he's going to be fitted with a halter monitor next wednesday. His ekg was fine.

And tomorrow we see dr. Fred.

All I do is go on Dr. Appointments with Alan. I am going to go look at my sprouts and feel normal for awhile. will update if there is anything to update.

I'll ask Dr. Fred what that red catheter thing was.

Bye for now

Melody

Was the Foley still in when they inserted the red tube?

I saw some info that the balloon thing can pop inside and block the tube, so maybe that sharp thing was needed to cut /puncture the balloon or whatever was blocking ,out of the way??

Melody, you or Alan should ask the doctor what happened.
Lots of things could have happened from what you've written.
Sometimes the inflated balloon on the end of the cath can get stuck in the urethra rather than in the bladder too and that would be very painful.
There are a number of different methods for deflating the balloon. It's likely it was a needle rather than a blade. Usually that would be done with help of ultrasound though. Main problem would be that a piece of the deflated balloon could break away and need to be removed.

Thinking of you both. Wow, what a time it's been for Alan.

When the three male nurses went in with some kind of gadgets in plastic, the head guy pulled out the foley, then Alan said he inserted some red catheter thing with a blade at the end. And I have no idea what balloon thing you are talking about. I haven't read up on foleys and balloons. They have balloons??

Melody

Hi Melody
Here's a link explaining foley catheters;

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/foley...r_introduction

There's 7 pages in total - 'risks' are on page 2

Look after yourself as well as your sprouts. Hope you get some well earned rest.

Hi. I read the whole thing
Couldnt find any information about what was done to alan to get the urine out. I am either a complete idiot or i dont know how to find the info. In any case, i do appreciate your showing me this. Off to youtube to see if they have videos on this subject. Thanks much

Melody

Hi there.

Well, to say that I am being educated on all things foley related is putting it mildly. I've just started. Never knew there was a balloon. Never knew ANYTHING about it until I started watching the videos.

I am learning.

Thanks much

Melody

Melody,
I really admire all you have done to educate yourself in so many areas. Alan is very fortunate to have a very "special" wife/friend. I'm sure it goes both ways.


Gerry