I like the medina cath 30fr or 32fr depending on the size of her stoma...

But...if it is bending at the end, it may mean something else...either the valve is twisting or has created an 'elbow' or her pouch may be 'down'...meaning either partially or completely slipped off of the abdominal wall...

I am not a doctor, I have just been a k poucher since 1979 and have had quite a few complications. Some of my complications were due to the pouch hanging awkwardly off of the abdomen...What that does is to twist the angle of the valve and cause the trajectory of her intubation to change...

Mine was very mobile...I was never quite sure in which direction I needed to point the catheter (usually upwards and towards my bellybutton)...my pouch had slipped (happened about 4xs in 40yrs). So, when I was pushing my catheter in it was hitting the side of the valve instead of following it...and then buckling at the end...and pinching me.

I needed to move around, bend forward, and go sideways to finally find the right direction. Also, she may need to empty-out more often to avoid the pouch overfilling. When it overfills it gets heavier and pulls the pouch downwards.

The results can either be difficulty intubating, finding the path or leakage...I eat a lot less bulky foods but eat a lot of blended vegetables soups, pureed vegetables and proteins and very few carbs like breads and pastries...(I do eat them, just less).

High protein and low carbs should help a bit.

She may need a scan or pouchoscopy...let me know if you need help with that.

Sharon

Bending catheters are a struggle for most of us at one time or another. There may be something going on with the valve so maybe it’s time for a scope. When I was having difficulties with a catheter, I tried freezing them. Caution - if it still bends, it may be more painful because the catheter will be brittle. But it’s worth a try 1 time. In other cases I just gave in to the bent catheter idea and bought rubber catheters. I keep a few on hand in case of emergencies. They bend more easily but they don’t hurt or scrape. In a bind, I’ve soaked a Marlen in boiling water to get the same effect. It worked to buy time until I could get a scope. She what have to hook back up to a continuous draining bag if intubation gets too painful. Again - all temporary fixes until she can see a doctor.

Thank you both for the info. She went on continuous intubation the day after I wrote the original post and stayed on through chemo. This chemo series was particularly harsh.

She finished chemo the end of October and she’s trying to let everything heal. So she’s still bagging. We’ve been staying in touch with the surgical team and they want her to stay bagged until more of the side effects of the chemo wear off to allow her body to heal to see if it will fix itself.

I tried to find a rubber catheter, but I could not figure out which one to buy. Any recommendations for what to search for that is similar in size to a 30fr Marlin/Medena?

The sizes are universal. So a 30fr plastic catheter is equivalent to a 30fr rubber catheter. I keep a couple of sizes on hand just in case 1 doesn’t work. It sounds to me like she may just need time. As annoying as it is, she probably needs to stay bagged as the doctors requested. When there has been enough time to heal, she may not need anything different.

Thank you. It’s all pretty overwhelming when it’s new.

We've all been there...it takes time to learn all of the tricks!