I am so sorry Joan,

You are discribing one of my nightmares. 

Useless right hand...arghhhh! (Charlie Brown music Arghhhh!)

My only suggestion is to hook yourself up to a strait drain...put the tube in and tape it down then plug the end. That way you only have to aim and unplug...for the couple of days in/at the hospital and first couple post op at home I would keep it hooked up to the leg bag...then you just have to empty the bag out directly into the bowl.

Once you are on the move and feeling better you can plug-and-go.

Depending on how your skin is you might want to put down a sheet of coloidal bandage directly onto the skin with a key-hole cut out in the middle for the tube...then you tape the tube onto the colloidal sheet and not onto your skin...if this is going to last for over a week then it is a great way to protect your skin from damage...

Don't forget to wrap the base of the tube with a folded gauze sheet...to absorb the gunk!

Good luck

Sharon

I totally agree with Sharon’s suggestion on use of the catheter while your right hand recovers.  When I was discharged from the hospital following BCIR surgery, I was set up with a foley catheter and leg bag for the long trip home.  Although this worked, I discovered when emptying the bag in a public restroom that particles of fiber got caught in the bag’s drain and made emptying the bag more difficult.  Unfortunately, leg bags are designed primarily for urine and not stool.  If I had to do it over again with the leg bag, I would have a liquid diet along with well pureed food so nothing would get stuck in either the entry slots of the catheter or the drain to the leg bag.  Before surgery, you might want to try using your left hand to manage the catheter and organize your supplies (tape, dressings, etc.) to make it easier to manage things when you get home.  Do you have a close friend who could help you at home?

I agree with Bill on the diet...no fiber, lumps, nuts, pineapple, pulpy oranges etc...keep it strained, puréed or liquidy...the last thing that you need is to have to unblock that darn tube with one hand.

I remember years ago, they gave me a syringe with a bulb at the end of it (a big green thing)...it worked great one handed (when I had a miserable time with my i.v. in my right hand)...I kept a 1 litre reciepient and the syringe in the powder room (in France there isn't any sink in most powder rooms...thus the need for the jug and syringe for rincing as well as irrigating...although akward it works one handed.

You could probably snaffle one from the hospital.

Sharon