jake8745

I'm a grunt CNA, male, 60 years of age. I've been lucky enough to be in this profession 3 years and I recall very vividly what my instructor in school taught me: "Good morning Mr. Smith, my name is Mike and I'll be your CNA today." And then proceed to tell him/her what was on the immediate agenda. The instructor had spent 24 years as DON in the local maternity ward and was of the 'starched white cap' class. She was terrific.

Whew! It's Monday night and the Tex cath is in place. I think it should make it through the night, otherwise tromorrow at 8AM I'll have a nice surprise. He voids nearly 2 liters every night being a tube feeder. We did a little tonsorial action in the pubic area this morning so he's pretty well free of hair. I feel foolish asking this, but the various condom heads I've seen are marked with measurements like 28mm or 31mm. What are we measuring? Length of the condom, diameter of the member, circumference of the member, what? I think the ct's daughter bought some marked 28mm and there is no way I can get his soft 'head' in the tip. We didn't cover this in CNA school and the nurses at my agency weren't as much help as you angels. You wonder how I made it to age 60, and after 27 years as a manager in the car business at that! Thanks in advance for any more help you can give me. Mike

Hi again.. I said "Foley".......he said "DIE!" Monday night is the big event...not my demise but the Texas 2 liter hat. Check the obits for my name and thanks again for all your help! Mike

Hi..Thanks for the suggestion, but in FL CNAs are not allowed to use Foleys. The one time I got Tex on him, he like it and was dry the next AM. Like someone said earlier, practice makes pen......er....perfect. Mike

Hi everyone, I'm still Mike your 60 year old CNA again looking for help from the learned ones. I have a home health client who we'd like to get started on a Texas catheter. Big guy, 6'2" and 210 lbs. VERY immobile. I need to get him off the between-the-legs "Big Bertha" urinal so I can reposition him. I can't get his skin breakdown healed cause he's on his back 14 hours a night and then sits all day. I did get the thing on him one night, but it's like trying to stuff a night crawler into a toothpaste tube. I finally got the 'condom' like end onto his member but where do you grab to roll the thing on. He's a good sport but one episode like that was enough. Of course, I never thought about trimming his pubic hair till I had that sticky adhesive all over him. You angels gave me lots of help with his TED hose so please don't fail me now! Sorry this got so long. Big blabbermouth! Mike

I've never posted anything here, so I hope I'm not invading a world I don't belong in. I'm not an L/D nurse but a CNA that does home health care but I have to pass this on. When I was in school I worked around to ER of a local hospital. When the triage nurse was doing her work up she (or he) would get to the question "...and how long has this been bothering you?" The pt would respond "Oh, 5 or 6 days." Even I wanted to say "And NOW you come to ER? We have a walk-in clinic right across the street. Thanks for letting me share. I enjoyed the comments. Mike