Judy: 1, m.

3. Miscellaneous
a. Foley Catheter
1. During the past several years we have used a variety of catheters and procedures for their care. I will try to explain how we have progressed through these various stages:
a. 1968 - used latex catheter with added opening to allow for insertion of continuous antibiotic irrigation (saline plus neosporin).
b. 1969 - used normal latex catheter, which we irrigated manually with a sterile water solution. Thankfully, this procedure was discontinued immediately upon discovery that it was causing bladder spasms which were refluxing bacteria-laden urine toward my kidneys. As I regularly drink 5000 cc. daily of any non-alcoholic liquid, it was felt that this internal irrigation was every bit as effective and for me, less dangerous than the manual irrigation.
c. 1970 - changed to the then new type Foley Silastic catheter. This is a latex catheter coated with a layer of silicon which is intended to reduce the body's normal rejection mechanism.
d. 1972 - changed to an all Silicon catheter, which claims an even longer life with far less sediment build-up and irritation than even the previous Silastic type.