3. Self Catheterisation

I have been performing intermittent self-catheterisation for about 5 or 6 years. I catheterise every time I go now. At first it was a few times a day as I didn't like the idea of carrying the cumbersome catheters and bags around with me everywhere I went. 

One day I did a trial for a new type of catheter. It is made by a company called Coloplast and is called the Compact Speedicath Catheter. Compact by name, compact by nature. 

It's great! It comes in a pocket-sized green tube, 7 or 8 inches long, extending to the necessary size when removed. No more need for a rucksack carrying standard catheters around, and no more need to still have a half full bladder AFTER I've been to the toilet!

I got asked in July if I wanted to try out Coloplast's new catheter. They told me there were only 3 people in the country that would be trying them. 2 women and me. "Hang on, that will make me the only man in the country to have used one?" I asked, full of my own self-importance.  "Yes" they replied, clearly telling me fibs, as other men would've tested them out in the design stage. 

The catheter is called the Speedicath Compact Set. It is identical to Coloplast's compact catheters that are being used all around globe, but it has a bag attached. 

It couldn't have come along at a better time, because as my MS progresses, I am spending more time in a wheelchair and transferring from chair to toilet seat can on a bad day be very troublesome and totally depleting. Therefore, when on said bad day, I can pass urine without leaving the 'comfort' of the wheelchair. 

Also, if I need a wee in the middle of the night, when my anti spasticity drugs have well and truly worn off, I can sit on the edge of the bed and go, rather than stagger to the toilet like a drunken idiot about to fall over. I find falling over easy, it's the getting up part that is difficult!

The bag folds nicely around the end of the catheter, is easy to unfold, courtesy of a neat Velcro strap and comes in an equally easy to open tube that is no longer than the current compact catheter that's on the market.  The tube is slightly wider than the current compact catheter, but when you realise it contains an attached bag, you can see just how compact it really is. 

Once you have emptied the bag, you can fold the bag back up and fit the catheter and the bag back in the tube, put the lid back on and carry on with your day. 

I've been itching to talk about it for 2 months now, but have been sworn to secrecy. Now that it has hit the market, I don't have to keep my trap shut any more. Hurrah!

Dan