I'm wet. My God damned catheter came loose! It doesn't seem to happen all that much these days. Mostly my catheter days are uneventful. I think it came loose today because we put the catheter on, then did exercises. I think all the lifting and stretching pulled it loose. So I've called Home Care to come and change both me and the catheter.
Alberta Aids to Daily Living, or AADL for short, will cover one condom catheter per day. That means I pay for both the in/out catheters and any catheter over the monthly allowance of 35. They are generous in recognizing that there are failures. What this system doesn't recognize is that the catheterization routine I have, where my condom catheter is removed and replaced every evening to allow for the in/out catheters, means that I go through two per day by default.
The cost of the in/out catheters is about $70 per month. The cost of the additional condom catheters is $90 per month. Right now I am paying for both the condom catheters and the in/out catheters. I applied for coverage for the in/out catheters based on the doctors note that I needed them. So, as of March first, all I have to do is pay the $90 a month for the condom catheters. I will be applying for coverage for them as well soon. Hopefully they will understand the logistics of this relatively new routine.
For certain the in/out routine is helping with my general health and well-being. I suspect it will mean far fewer visits to the hospital due to infection. My only real issue is that each month I spend more than the cost of a decent bottle of Scotch for night cathetezation. I would go to night time diapers, but I have to pay for them too, and they cost about the same.
I could also try going back to sleeping without a catheter at night, something that would be much more comfortable. The problem is that I am having increasing trouble reaching and lifting, so getting the jug off the dresser would be problematic. That's why I went to catherization at night to begin with. I couldn't consistently get to the jug on time, leaving me with lots of pee soaked towels and wet bed pads.
Today I will spend $2.60 for my additional catheter, plus another $2.60 for my night time catheter. I will also spend an hour or two sitting here with wet pants. I could get angry about all of this. I don't. At least not right now. It might show up later, but I can live with it. I have to. I pee. So does everybody else. Only I pay for it, rather unhappily, like I was using an over-priced pay toilet.
Oh well. Shit happens. Or in this case, pee happens. It's life; living with ALS.
I thought ALS didn't typically affect bladder control. Do you catheter because your hands are too weak to handle your "junk" or due to loss of control of your bladder?
ReplyDeleteIt would seem, in my case, that ALS has caused issues with bladder control. Other pALS have has similar issues. It's called "neurogenic bladder". My hands are fine, in that regard.
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