Doing My Best
Distinguished member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2022
- Messages
- 115
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 02/2020
- Country
- US
- State
- CA
- City
- San Diego
My PALS, Steve, is almost 100% immobile, and splits his time between his PWC and his bed, transferring by Hoyer. He has been wearing a condom catheter 24/7 for several months. We change it every day, and it has generally worked well. He's had trouble with it occasionally slipping off, but with a new brand of condom that has stopped happening.
However, after using the new brand for a couple of weeks (which may or may not be related), he has developed a small, painful open sore underneath the base of his penis. Putting a condom over it seemed unthinkable so he went without condoms for a few days trying to let it heal. Not fun, as he has become fully incontinent and it was impossible to "get there in time" so there was a lot of changing of chucks pads, clothing, etc. During the day I ended up having him sit in his shower chair on the patio with a bucket underneath him. Not really comfortable enough to be in all day, and obviously not a good long term solution.
Does anyone have advice for this? It hasn't fully healed yet but we have a guest staying for a few days and it's just impossible to do the no-condom thing in those circumstances. I read on another thread about PrimoFit, which someone had used for a few days in the hospital. I noticed on their site, though, that they said not to use it in a prone position, so if that's true, wouldn't work for overnight (unless having his head raised 30-45 degrees counts as not being prone for this purpose).
Is this a realistic option for the long term? Other thoughts? Many thanks -
However, after using the new brand for a couple of weeks (which may or may not be related), he has developed a small, painful open sore underneath the base of his penis. Putting a condom over it seemed unthinkable so he went without condoms for a few days trying to let it heal. Not fun, as he has become fully incontinent and it was impossible to "get there in time" so there was a lot of changing of chucks pads, clothing, etc. During the day I ended up having him sit in his shower chair on the patio with a bucket underneath him. Not really comfortable enough to be in all day, and obviously not a good long term solution.
Does anyone have advice for this? It hasn't fully healed yet but we have a guest staying for a few days and it's just impossible to do the no-condom thing in those circumstances. I read on another thread about PrimoFit, which someone had used for a few days in the hospital. I noticed on their site, though, that they said not to use it in a prone position, so if that's true, wouldn't work for overnight (unless having his head raised 30-45 degrees counts as not being prone for this purpose).
Is this a realistic option for the long term? Other thoughts? Many thanks -
