Foley Catheter

Sometimes you know the language, but until you experience the procedure, the words don't begin to express what you are about to encounter. A Catheter is a device you might know about. You may have even seen a television commercial for self-lubricating catheters with happy, smiling actors. Remember, they’re being paid to act happy, something you won’t be when you experience the catheter up close and personally. A catheter is a tube that goes up your urethra directly into the bladder to drain it. While putting it in was awful. Removing it was even worse. Most catheters are kept in place by a tiny inflated balloon that expands in your urethra. The first time I had a catheter, Nurse Sunshine used a different type of catheter, one that used a screw type mechanism to keep it in place. When nurse Dana came in to remove it. She tried to deflate the balloon – but there was no balloon. She decided that the onl...