Mitrofanoffs

Former home care kiddo of mine has one. She's w/c bound due to spina bifida, in high school. Good thing she's got it, because she's easliy 200# now (which is why I had to quit caring for her)

I took care of a 2nd grader. She only needed supervision to cath and was a very brave girl. :-) Although, she dealt with a lot of UTI's and sometimes she could not drain completely due to a lot of particles in the tubing. Bless her heart. There was also an odor when she would cath. No amount of lysol spray would get rid of it. :-( She was such a ray of sunshine to be so small and going through so much.

I have 2 right now. They are both young (2 grade). Both resulting from spina bifida issues. Sometimes there is some resistance from one due to pain, but I have her blow her bangs up to avoid the "bearing down" she sometimes engages in because she is scared. Once I get it in, I have her sit up some to increase output and force through the mucus. Surgical intervention may help with scar tissue.

I work in peds urology so a lot of our patient's have them. I would ask Mom what she does at home to make the cathing easier. some of these kids channels can be difficult and there is a certain way to place the catheter that makes it easier. If it is really tight and surgery is soon, maybe ask Mom if a catheter can be taped in place and capped (with you emptying it at the times you normally cath) is reasonable until her surgery fixes the channel. Sometimes having the kids help you (clean, put the catheter in the lubricant etc) can help. Another thing to try is having a special game, stuffed animal etc that they get to have while you cath them? If their bladders are augmented and they have a lot of mucus making it difficult to drain the bladders, may need to ask Mom if you can get orders to be able to irrigate with sterile saline during school. Thank you for all you do! Our special kiddos would never be able to go to school without you!