Very First Condom Cath

[wheels5894]

OH dear, what a shame. Oh, well, a week isn't that long!


Keep smiling

[Patrick]

JD,

I've had two skin cancers removed in the last seven years. They can be either minor, as mine were, or major to the point of life-threatening. I hope your dermatologist got all of it, and that, if condoms work for you, you'll be able to return to using them soon.

[Wetters]

JD, my thoughts are with you. I hadn't realized that you have been dealing with skin cancer on top of everything else. I'm sorry that your "research" into the condom cath has been put on hold.

Wetters

[JDinVirginia]

Patrick and Wetters,

Guys, unfortunately it runs in my family - I was blond as a child and have fair complexion. I'm 72 and, when I was a kid, you were expected to get a sunburn to start each summer. When I was a teenager we did all the wrong things - baking in the sun and applying baby oil with a few drops of iodine in it!! At the time we thought we were cool. Then, baking in the sun during two tours in Vietnam certainly did not help.

The skin cancer that was just removed was serious in that it could metastasize. This was the third one in four years. The Mohs surgery should have caught it, but they had to remove 5 layers. I had a melanoma many years ago. I am fortunate that one day my dentist noticed something around the curvature of my neck where I could not see. I had surgery on the melanoma later that same day!

Patrick, you certainly have been through it with two skin cancers in 7 years!

--John

[Patrick]

JD,

Thanks for your concern; however, both were basal cell carcinomas that came off with no more aggravation than a pimple.

[JDinVirginia]

I am off the antibiotics and resuming my experimentation with the external caths. Trying a different condom today, again, after applying two coatings of skin prep.

A question for you guys - do you position your leg bag on the inside or outside of the leg, and why? I can see advantages and disadvantages to each.

--John

[wheels5894]

I used inside the calf where it was easy to empty

[Puffy Pants]

Inside as well, for empty purposes as wheels said, along with the fact it "hides" better there. I usually empty at around 1/2 full. Puffy

[Patrick]

When I could empty it myself, I wore it on the inside of my left leg. When I could not empty it myself during a hospitalization, I wore it on the outside, to make the staff's job easier.

[JDinVirginia]

Thanks guys! I now see that wearing the leg bag on the inside also will reduce the length of the tubing by a bit. That will help reduce some of the "tugging."

We have discussed my problem of getting the condoms off earlier than designed - after about 10 - 12 hours. I first tried applying a very thin coating of baby powder to my penis to reduce the adhesion, but that did not work at all as it caused the condom to pull off.

I then tried to carefully apply the baby powered just above the point where I wanted the adhesive to stick. That also failed due to my inability to precisely place the line of baby powder. Too much got into the area where the adhesive is needed.

My latest attempt was to very carefully place a thin layer of vaseline just above the line of desired adhesion. This time it worked like a charm! I tried this previously and think I did not leave enough room for the adhesive. So, now the burden is on me to keep experimenting until I have some means of precisely applying the layer of vaseline to leave enough adhesion, but not too much. I guess I'll have to break out the ruler.

Wow, this is almost like work. I wish I had known all of this when I first started.

--John