@fritzo - with the briefs and guards…definitely take a pull-up brief and a few guards with you, and some fragrance-free baby wipes, and some little trash bags. Either little office trash can liners work, or those plastic grocery store bags, if those are still available in your area.

My care team had a little package put together for me, and she went over how to wear them and all that. While the fine makers at Depends don’t recommend it, the nurse suggested I wear a guard inside the pull-up brief. The guard is heavier than a thin shield, so make sure you buy the guards.

Wearing them that way, you can just swap the much less expensive guard every time you soak it, instead of the more expensive brief, and if you’re like I was, that first day, you’re going to pee and pee and pee some more, so you’ll be changing out a lot.

Also, the brief can act as a safety net of sorts to catch any overspill, until you get used to how your body is working. The only downside is the guard inside the brief makes the whole thing bulkier. I’ll say, though, I’ve yet to have a single leak get through to my pants, and I’ve had some whopper bladder emptyings.

Normal procedure for me was/is, step into the men’s room, either the single-use family restroom or just in a stall, then drop your pants, sit down, pull out the soaked pad, into the little trash bag, in with a dry pad, wipe yourself down, tie everything up in the little trash bag, toss it, and you’re done. After the first couple, you’ll get that whole routine down to 60 seconds, and that’s another benefit of the guard inside the brief…you don’t have to remove your shoes and trousers to change out a guard like you have to do with a brief.

Do the wipes help with cleanliness? They help, but they’re not 100%. You’ll still get a whiff of yourself when you’re changing out, if when you’re home and just wearing shorts and one of the leg openings lets a little air out, but it helps.

At first, at home, I was showering three and four times a day, because I just felt…icky. A washcloth at the sink would help, but without soap, it wasn’t much better than a wipe, and with soap, it can be hard to rinse completely, so for me, wipes were/are the best all-around solution. And yes, keep yourself as dry as possible, as moisture in a cooped-up area like that just breeds irritation with the skin.

At home, I just use a hand towel to dry off after a wipe or wet washcloth, and out and about, I just grab a few paper towels on the way into the stall.

I don’t know if your experience will be the same, but for me, I peed constantly the first few weeks. I was going through literally 15 pads a day. I was also hydrating a lot, which they recommend to help the bladder heal and the bowels to get working again, so that didn’t help things.

As my nurse told me, “You’re going to be more frustrated than you have ever been in your life, but trust me, it’ll get better. Do your kegels. Don’t skip them and you’ll get there. It’ll take several weeks before you see any improvement, but trust me, it’ll happen. You just have to stay with it no matter how frustrated you feel.”

And she was right, so hang in there. For me, the first two months after my catheter came out were the worst, and I’m terminally cheerful. You just have to stick with it and know that it will get better.