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My husband is in his 4th year of Alzheimer's. He has an enlarged prostate, so has a 24/7 Foley catheter. I've lost track how many times I have taken him to ER because the tube stops draining. Some how he is dislodging it. We watch him constantly, but it still happens. We have tried several kinds of bands, patches that should hold it in place. When he goes to bed, we put a belt around his pants at the waist & a Velcro tie at his ankle so he can't get to it. I'm running out of ideas! Any help will be appreciated!

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This is a terrible situation for you. It's natural for your husband to pull on it - it bothers him and he can understand the reason for it being there. Also, just his movements could be bending the tube or causing other issues that stop the flow.

It sounds as if you've done nearly everything possible. I think that if his urologist doesn't have any ideas that can help you it may be time to seek a second opinion. That doesn't mean that his doctor isn't good. It simply means that another urologist may have learned of a solution that the current doctor hasn't heard of.

I wish I had a brilliant solution, but I don't. Please let us know if you learn something new. We'd like to know how you are doing and whatever you learn may help others.

Meanwhile, we're empathizing with your exhaustion and frustration over this issue.
Carol
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My father, who is bedridden, also has a catheter. The nurse thinks using that velcro band would keep it in place and won't pull it. Not! That velcro band tends to slide down as my dad is constantly moving his legs. Several times, when it's time to change his pamper, the velcro band is down at his knee, also pulling the catheter tubing tightly down. What I've been doing is now taping his tubing to his upper thigh. I first adjust the velcro band higher, above his knee. Then I give some slack on the tubing to allow it to expand without pulling the tube when he moves his legs. Once I get that down right, I put 3 strips of paper tape to hold down the tubing against his leg. 1 tape is on the "Y" -on one of the arms. The other 2 tapes holds down the tubing to your leg. I try to move around the tapes to avoid irritating his skin or damaging it.

I definitely dread the day when he loses his memory completely and tries to take it off. FYI, it helps that he wears Depends pamper.

For now, like you, I make sure that dad's pants are tight on the waist but he still can suck in his stomach and dig a hand inside.
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That's what we have always used. It's called a "Stat-Lock", here in Florida anyway. Yes they do work great, but lately he is unsnapping it and then trying to pull the cath out. The past few nights it has worked with using the paper tape in several places on his leg, in addition to the stat-lock. His cath is changed every 3 weeks. These episodes of pulling are almost always, for a few days, after it has been changed. I think it is more sensitive for him then, that's why he pulls on it.
I ordered adult footed pj's for him thru Amazon & am hoping that will keep his hands from getting to it.

Thanks everyone ....Linda
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Thanks so much for your input! Yes, I have him in pampers. (Occasional bowel movement with no notice). Yes too, for the paper tape, for his thin sensitive skin on his thigh. We are thinking now, maybe try long footed pajamas or long johns. We live in South Florida, they are not needed here! But, I'm sure I can find them on the Internet. If that doesn't work, my helper wants to try pantyhose, but I think that would just be tooooooo hard to get him into!

Thanks again, enjoy your day! Linda
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I'm trying to picture what part of catheter is being pulled on. My father's catheter tube goes out of penis and into a clip on his upper thigh, and that clip keeps the cath tube from being pulled away from penis. Dad could still pull tube that goes to collection bag, but as long as cath is secured in the clip, the tube into penis stays in place. These clips are something his urology nurse gave him in bulk, seems a standard item for use with catheters, and dad is supposed to change it once a week. The clip has medical adhesive backing to stick to skin and snaps shut over the end of the cath tube part that comes out of penis. Hope this makes sense and hope it helps? I didn't see clip mentioned anywhere here, which made me think there isn't one in use.
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ABB, our home care nurse only provides the velcro wraparound. It's basically like a stretchable bandage that wraps around the upper thigh which you insert the tubing through the loop. Then you use the velcro to tighten or loosen the wraparound bandage. I googled what you mentioned with the clip. That wide adhesive would damage my dad's skin. Even when pulling out the paper tapes, it hurts him. But your clip is more stable than the velcro one. Do you know if when your dad changes it, does it hurt him? Or is easy to come off?
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redirect, if he has dementia, alzheimer's give him some blocks to sort out and organize. The gentlemen I had a year ago did that, and his tube came out near his belly button, he was a former crane operator, so I purchased some toy cranes, and that did the trick. He had dementia, and was in middle stages. He would spend hours on those cranes.
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My dad has pretty delicate skin, and history of skin issues like things irritating him easily. But the clip seems to stay in place (it also comes with a skin prep wipe) and the few times I've taken it off, my dad says it doesn't hurt. Mostly it doesn't get changed each week like its supposed to, and it just falls off at some point... But I am trying to get him on a schedule, changing his clip and bag once per week, as recommended. I imagine you could leave clip on longer than a week, and adhesive will be that much weaker by time you go to change it. Then pick a new spot next to old spot to put the new clip, so you're not irritating same patch of skin? Just some thoughts. That clip thing does seem to do the trick of not allowing the catheter to move around inside the body. Maybe ask home nurse about them? If the nurse could get you a few, you could try and see if its something that would help your dad. My dad has pulled the balloon of internal cath into his prostate before, causing bleeding, so it seems important that these catheters get properly immobilized.
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How about putting his hands in big gloves, like boxing gloves? I saw them do that at mom's nursing home to someone who was doing the same thing.
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Have you looked into adaptive clothing designed to prevent the wearer from disrobing? It is basically a jumpsuit that fastens in back. It doesn't have to be tight at the waist because there is no opening there.
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