foley catheter kunundrum

[AmberSPN]

Hi guys!, This is my first post I Had a question about Foley's..

In clinicals I got to replace for the second time a Monthly Foley Catheter on an ederly female patient.

I insterted the lubed catheter almost completely into the bifurcation and after a few second got a couple ml's of urine flow, the insterted a couple more inches, inflated the balloon while I looked at the patients face as she did not show any signs of discomfort, my question is: as Went to pull the catheter back out after inflating balloon until I felt resistance It did not move, and there is deffinately more than 5 inches of cath going into the meatus, I monitored the patient for some time afterwards for pain and urine flow and there was minimal amount of dark amber urine in the tubing and bag after insertion, her previous foley bag had about 100ml's of coffee colored urine, so I think its possible she may be very dehydrated. I was just concerned about not being able to pull the catheter out after inflating the balloon to properly "place" it into the opening of te bladder. Has this happened to anyone? is it possible she just has some inflammation that could explain the catheter not being able to get pulled out? I know the female anatomy and the urethra is not very long, so I know by looking at the remainder amount of catheter it is definately in there! Maybe she just has a very small bladder from lack of use?

I also realize I should have confidence in what I do....

[DeniseTN]

Without actually being there to feel it, I can't tell you for certain...but it sounds like it might have been in just the right spot. Normally a female only needs 2 to 4 inches. I hope she was undergoing IV therapy to replace fluids! She sounds VERY dehydrated.