Wideband Catheter - Holy Crap!

[AlaskaDiver]

I'm sorry, I really cannot give you any advice, but I feel obligated to give you thanks for your candor. It was a great read!

OK, a warning up front: This posting is going to contain pretty frank descriptions of an anatomical nature. If you don't want to look at discussions of such things, go read something else now.

Suffice it to say, the following is a bit embarrassing, but I need the answers to my questions more than I need my pride.

My dry suit is off having its new Halcyon Streamline Discharge Valve (P-valve; pee-valve) installed, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to figure out what to do about external male catheters to connect to this thing. Everyone on this board recommended the Rochester Wideband catheter, so I called up Rochester for some samples. They sent me one Medium size and one Intermediate size to try on, along with a sizing chart just in case I needed something different.

Using the size chart is...weird. As far as I could tell from the size chart, I'm pretty much an Intermediate, though depending on where (and what time of day) I measure, I might be close to Large (the next size up). The thing is, I'm circumcised and parts closer to the body are larger than parts in the middle. But, I figured, a bit smaller wouldn't kill me, so I tried on the Intermediate. It seemed to fit reasonably, and I could "perform necessary functions" with it on, so I figured it would be OK. That's when the less than fun part began.

First of all, may I take this moment to re-iterate the admonitions that others have made about trimming back hairs that might interfere. I did not take those warnings nearly seriously enough. When in a "relaxed" state, I am rather "short", and all of those hairs that you would normally think are nowhere near where this thing might go are VERY MUCH in the way. (Remember, as you unroll this thing, the edge is covered with glue which very much wants to stick to those hairs.) A little fast action late in the game with a round-tipped cuticle scissors made things much better than they might otherwise have been. I'll be MUCH more vigilant next time.

But the rest of the removal process was...(how do I put this?)...well, I don't think I've pulled on my anatomy for that long a period of time with so little pleasure in my entire life. :11:

I figured doing this in the shower under hot water would be the best approach. Unrolling back to the point of the circumcision was not entirely horrific except for the matter of the hairs that I did not do a good job of trimming. However, once past that point, I thought for the life of me that I was going to lose skin. I used soap, hot water, and assorted tugging. It was EXTREMELY slow going, and none too comfortable. It took me the better part of thirty minutes to peel this thing free of myself! It seemed to stick especially well to those parts that were once covered by foreskin which are no longer, and...uhhh..."getting over the hump" (for lack of a better description) at the end of the process seemed to be the worst part.

Once freed of my rubber prison, there was then the matter of the left-over glue. I washed as best I could with lots of soap (and trust me, I was still NOT having any fun with this process), yet there was (and is) still quite a bit of glue residue left.

So here are my questions:

1. Would going to the larger size help any in this situation? One thought I had was that since it fit "snugly", that might have made the thing more adhesive than it should be.

2. Was the fact that I put it on and then pretty much immediately took it off part of the problem? If I wear the thing the whole day, is the glue a little more forgiving (both in the peeling aspects and the residue aspects)?

3. Is there another brand or model that might have slightly better removal characteristics for my particular anatomy without compromising the seal?

Any info would be helpful. And heck, if I can talk about my parts, you can talk about yours.

 

[SparticleBrane]

First of all, may I take this moment to re-iterate the admonitions that others have made about trimming back hairs that might interfere. I did not take those warnings nearly seriously enough. When in a "relaxed" state, I am rather "short", and all of those hairs that you would normally think are nowhere near where this thing might go are VERY MUCH in the way. (Remember, as you unroll this thing, the edge is covered with glue which very much wants to stick to those hairs.) A little fast action late in the game with a round-tipped cuticle scissors made things much better than they might otherwise have been. I'll be MUCH more vigilant next time.

Get yourself a Philips Bodygroom.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

I laughed so hard I just peed myself!

 

[JeffG]

I laughed so hard I just peed myself!

I hope you were wearing your catheter.

 

[TSandM]

I don't know what the answer to your problem is, but I do know that my dive buddies put on their catheters in the parking lot (I have occasionally had the bad timing to walk up to somebody's car when they were doing so) and they remove them there, too, very quickly and with no audible whimpering. So there is some kind of answer.

 

[Plug]

Having recently acquired a pee valve myself I understand your concerns.

I work as a nurse and have for years been Kendall Preppies Adhesive Remover wipes or similar products on patients. Two weeks ago I dawned on me that I should be using them to assist in the removal of the external catheter.

Has anyone tried them or similar products??

Weather permitting I will try them myself this weekend and let you all know how they went.

A link is included if you need more info

PREPPIES™ Adhesive Remover Wipes

Plug

 

[Spratman]

glue + swanstucker = :no

No reason for the extra wear and tear....

 

[Sprokit]

Hello & Happy Thanksgiving.
I was killing time while the turkey is cooking and came across this post. I have tried many accomodations with my dry suit and have suffered the same issues: leaks, adhesive burn, hair pulls, etc. My girlfriend, who is a nurse, suggested an alternative which seems to work pretty well for me. It is called a McGuire urinal, which is something like a jock strap that a latex sheath snaps into. Your buisness end fits into the sheath and is sealed by a thin latex cone. The end of the sheath has an screw thread attachment for a tube to the p-valve. I have never had an "accident" while diving. On shore, when doffing the dry suit, I can reach down, undo the tube, cap the sheath, and push it under my thermals, where it cannot be seen. Once in more privacy, I can take the whole thing off. No adhesive, no muss.

 

[grumpymedic]

Ok I just looked up the Mcguire Urinal and that is just wrong...LOL !!

Male Urinal McGuire Style

 

[divad]

Ok I just looked up the Mcguire Urinal and that is just wrong...LOL !!

Male Urinal McGuire Style

Wrong like a midieval orthopedic pervert device........mmmm, I think I'll get one.