Thursday, 6 February 2014

Betadine and Chlorhexidine

Thursday   2014-02-06

Some centres use betadine to sterilise my catheter, and others use chlorhexidine. Some nurses who use chlorhexidine are very annoyed of the betadine strain. The nice ones would clean and scrub the stain off with gusto, and I would watch them with good humour and imagine of their spotless home that everything shines and reflects as mirror. Others would clean the catheter with grudge and attitude.

I remember that one time how I got a severe told off while being cleaned, saying that how I should clean it with water and soap, that in New Zealand the catheter is not even dressed, and cleaning is done in the ordinary way. At this point, I simply hold my tongue.

For fear of infection, I dare not touch the catheter. When I bath, I cover it with sandwich rapper. Because the awkward position of my catheter which is right near the armpit, dressing it is always a problem. Most of the time the side of the dressing would be opened up even before I get home from hospital, which often want more sticker on all three sides. With dressing like this I never dare to take a shower even though I was told that the dressing was waterproof, to me they look far from it.


For me, as long as the point near the stopper is clean, I’m happy. This satisfies me and gives me the peace of mind.

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