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After my 91 year old Mom fell down and dislocated her hip she was in the hospital and then rehab for 2 weeks. They placed a foley catheter (for reasons I was still not told) and this morning I took her to a urologist who sent us home for my Mom to drink lots of water and try to urinate. If her bladder doesn't measure something (I don't understand this) then the doctor is going to put in another catheter. I am really concerned about a long term catheter because of what I read about UTI's, etc.


I don't understand why the doctor said if she doesn't urinate enough today that she could end up in the ER. I take her back to the urologist in 1 hour. What happens if I refuse the catheter? I don't know what to do....

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Why would you refuse the advice of a specialist? Because of something you read on the internet? Explain all of your concerns to the doctor and listen carefully to his answers.

My mother had a catheter for many weeks after her hip broke and she was bed-bound. She was in a nursing home. They watched closely for any signs of infection but she did not have adverse effects.

You need to find out why the catheter was put in in the first place and why it might be needed now. There are risks to virtually all medical treatments. Doctors weigh the benefits vs the risks.
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I don't trust doctors. This is a doctor that I don't know and I am the type to do research on many different topics. My Mom had the Foley catheter for over a month now.

I keep asking why the catheter was put in in the first place and no one is answering me. I asked the doctor and the nurse and the response I received was they have to look in her files from when she was in the hospital.

I guess I'm concerned of my Mom getting a UTI. I will "demand" answers when we go back soon. Thanks.
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Well, you sure don't want your mother to get a uti. I understand that! To increase the chances of getting a uti isn't a good thing. So be sure that the doctor explains what the risk is of retaining urine if she doesn't have a catheter. Which is worse?

BTW, wearing disposable undies can also increase the risk of UTIs, especially if they are not changed promptly.

My mother had a UTI. Bad news! This was a year before she had a catheter. A couple of years ago I had a UTI. No catheter. No disposable undies.
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Her doctor is simply performing a urine trial to wean her off her catheter and coax the bladder muscles, sphincter muscle, etc back to do what it's supposed to do. Catheters make the bladder muscle lazy and it needs to work again to pee. 
The point is to let her walk about & drink fluids for a few hours with the expectation that when she returns to his office she will go on her own. If not they will have to put another catheter in if she can't pee on her own.
Encourage your mother and try to relax her and tell her to try her best to pee at the MD office, like she has done many times in her life.
If she pees on her own, the cath won't need to be replaced.
She will probably do ok. Many do fine but there are those that take a longer time. The longer the cath is in the lazier the bladder gets so encourage her today as I bet  everyone wants the catheter out, especially her! 
If not they will try it again down the pike.
The catheter was inserted as standard operating procedure for many surgeries. If the incision got wet and dirty when she had he'd staples that is not good (infection). It's time for her to get the cath out permanently & hopefully it was today!
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Thanks for explaining all this to me, very much appreciated! Well, my Mom went back and they didn't put in the catheter because they wanted to give my Mom more time to try to pee. So I bring her back tomorrow afternoon and since we came home she has been peeing which is good news.

They measured the urine in her bladder and said it was 1/2 liter but because my Mom was not complaining of being uncomfortable and had no pain they sent her home and told me if my Mom tells me she gets really bad pain that I am to take her to the ER.

So that's it for now. Thanks again..
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Great! She should do fine once she starts going regularly which will take a day or more.
A very good sign for her and I bet she loves that the cath is gone. 
However give her time and privacy if she needs it, run the tap water, wiggle her fingers in warm water. All those old tricks.

Encourage fluids once she is back to normal so she can flush out any left over sediment, etc.
32-48 oz at least of fluids daily.  

And report any burning and/or stinging to her PCP so they can run a culture if need be to check for a UTI. 
Keep up the good work!
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Jeannegibbs, no, I don't want my Mom to get a UTI nor do I want to get one either! I had a yeast infection years ago and that was painful (all because of taking Cipro as a precaution after having a root canal done).

Anyway, Mom went back today to the doctor and no catheter for her which makes us both very happy. Doctor does want my Mom to have a renal test to make sure her kidneys are okay in about 2 weeks.

Shane, thanks for all the info and warning signs. I am trying to encourage my Mom to drink lots of fluids without becoming a pest.

Thanks again!
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