My mother has had urinary retention issues for some time. Just left hospital with Foley Catheter which probably is a good thing for her UTI wise. However, she also has fecal incontinence - first, she is non verbal and second, it often happens overnight. Anyone have any suggestions of how to protect the Foley from feces? TY!!
Is sleeping on her side possible? Liquids are obviously harder to contain than solids, so diet & laxatives important.
Sometimes a vowel regime can be implemented (not an expert here) to ensure BM is in the daytime? Eg supps after lunch.
Look up cleansing around catheter online. That will help, but the awful truth is that feces will get on the area of the urethra and will move up into the bladder. You can only do your best, always wiping down and away from the urethra toward the buttocks. You should have been given material about foley care when you left the hospital. If not, research it or return to doctor office for it.
Good luck. This will be almost impossible to prevent problems with; you can only do your best.
Nurse can help you with catheter questions and show you how to manage both issues.
I went to the lengths of cleaning around the site with cotton buds, determined that I was not leaving our client anything less than perfectly clean when we settled her for the night. The client's daughter fetched the buds for me, my 2:1 partner waited patiently and raised no objection to the extra time being taken during our lengthy evening shift, the client herself expressed thanks for our efforts. But from the polite silence while I was at it they clearly all thought I was out of my mind and wasting my time. Reflecting on how long her pad was going to stay clean after this marathon session, I came sadly to the same conclusion.
You do your best and encourage her to drink plenty. If you can, I would also schedule pad changes during the night.