Dear everyone,
I am a student coming to the States this September from Shanghai of China. My father, who is now 61-years old, was suddenly paralyzed last October, and was diagnosed as SCI T3 caused by Spontaneous Spine Hemorrhage. Although my mom and I put him into the best local rehab in Shanghai soon after his surgery, the staffs there were just too inexperienced to offer a good rehabilitation program.
I am so happy to have found this community this morning – thanks Dr. Young, all the moderators, and everyone for sharing your information and in-depth advice. – Many of them are of great use to me.
I have two questions on my father:
1. What shall he use to keep him dry? My father has been suffering from Urinary Incontinence ever since he sustained SCI. He used a temporary indwelling catheter for 3 months and then switched to padding. He also tried external condom cath but it doesn’t seem to fit him well. The weather is getting cold in China and it is really inconvenient to change pads all the time.
2. Could you recommend some good rehab institutes around Stanford which I can visit and talk with some staff/patient there? I am curious to know the difference between the SCI rehab program here and what my father is doing in China. (I may have some difficulty in understanding the rehabilitation ‘terms’ but I will bring a dictionary
Thanks very much to all, and have a great thanksgiving!
Steve
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My T3-injured father in China
- By zaza
- Posted November 22, 2007 at 5:40 pm · 2 replies
- In New paralysis/rehabilitation
- Shared with the public
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- By FuschiaFan
- Posted November 22, 2007 at 6:01 pm
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Welcome to our forums. I believe you are referring to Dr. Wise Young at CareCure.org (which is a different website).
Your father should not be using either an indwelling catheter, or an external condom catheter (ECC), or padding (diapers). He should be doing self intermittent catheterization where he passes a catheter through his urethra every 4-6 hours during the day. This will also require the use of anticholenergic medications such as oxybutinin to keep his bladder pressure low and also to prevent leakage between catheterizations. High pressure voiding with padding or ECCs can damage his bladder and kidneys, and also increase his risks for autonomic dysreflexia. You can find information on how to do intermittent catheterization in the clinical practice guideline on bladder management from the Consortium for Spinal Cord Medicine, which you can download here:
http://www.pva.org/site/PageServer?pagename=pubs_generalpubs#Bladder
If you will be attending Stanford, you can visit both the SCI Center at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center (right next door) and Santa Clara Valley Medical Center's Rehabilitation Center in San Jose. Both are considered leading SCI rehabilitation centers. I know people at both centers so if you need an individual contact, please send me a private message here.
- By Heech
- Posted July 7, 2009 at 5:57 pm
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Just curious but why would you no recommend an external catheter? Think one of the issue was a bad fit of the condom. There are so many brands and types out there. Personally for me, I prefer a self adhesive condom catheter. Been working great the past 12 years. Had more issues self cathing with UTIs and such. Was also difficult and time consuming due to lack of hand use.
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