I know nothing is perfect as my mom had the wall system in the hospital, we have the dry dock system at home and I've got the placement down but sometimes it leaks so I use a pull-up plus she's on a chuck pad. We only use at night as she fills the 2 liter container. I also use tape as I was instructed by nurse in hospital to help keep it in place. Any one else have any other suggestions on how to prevent leakage?
I'm upgrading the pump in the Purewick Dry Dock from a Fusion 500 to a Fusion 700 to get better suction. Sometimes it's kind of hit and miss as far as suction goes.
Go to Ebay to locate this pump. Only about $20.00! To install... Remove the 2 torque screws on the back of the dry dock, and on the bottom, the front screw that hold the rubber foot on and replace pump. Fairly simple.
But before you close everything back up,,, There is a fix for the urine smell in the room! It is as follows: Remember,,, To be able to have suction, you have to have discharge! On the Fusion pump, there are two 1/4" exhaust ports. This is how the urine smell gets into the room. To solve this, plug pump in and find which port is exhausting. Next, drill a hole in the Dry Dock housing lined up with that port. Now attach 1/4" clear Tygon tubing thru hole in Dry Dock and attach to the exhaust port. It's a good snug fit, nothing else needed.
The next thing I did was drill a @1/4" hole in the drywall above the baseboard. @ 4"between the studs. Run the tubing into the wall. Since I went into an interior wall, I also drilled a hole into the top plates so that the small amount of exhaust could vent out into the attic.
Not only did this decrease the urine smell in the room, the tubing out of the Dry Dock and the 1/4" hole in the wall is barely noticeable!
Hope this helps anyone that may be frustrated with the workings of the Purewick.
In previous comment, I tried running the 1/4" exhaust tubing to an interior wall, up into the attic to eliminate the urine smell in the room. What I did not expect was to collect "that" much moisture. I was collecting an ounce of condensation per day!!! Well,, time for a revision! Best thing to do is to take the 1/4" exhaust tubing to an outside wall. Elevate the drydock @ 4" and run tubing along the top of the baseboard, and keep the line level so that condensation does not build up in the tubing.
She has an internal catheter, which she just hangs on her walker at home and straps to her leg when leaving the house. It, too, leaks, but she seems less bothered by it. The supra pubic cath looked awful and painful, but she never said it hurt. Then internal one gets twisted and such, and I don't know what she does--mostly just lets the urine run down her legs, until someone shows up to clean her up.
Sadly, I think this is a lose-lose situation--but you have to do SOMETHING!
Also, I have found that she is less likely to keep 'ahead' of the draining of the cath bag--so she thinks she can go an extra hour or more and it results in a mess for everyone.