SAVANNAH, GA USA (UroToday.com) - Jesse Billauer was the luncheon speaker at the SUNA Annual Symposium on Incontinence and Pelvic Floor Disorders.
He movingly told the story of how he has been able to overcome the challenges of spinal cord injury (SCI), bladder management, and how he solved difficult self-catheterizations. Jesse’s story began with a documentary of his life before his injury. Jesse was an active boy, involved in many sports, including skiing and baseball, before finding his true love, surfing. He was an international champion in surfing when, at the age of 17, while surfing, a wave crashed into his back, pushing him face down in shallow water, which caused his head to hit the ocean floor, snapping his cervical spine at C6. He found that in few seconds, he went from independence to dependence, as he would never walk again. Jesse discussed life as a SCI man, how he has tried to continue to follow his dreams by graduating from college, surfing in Fiji. He created a foundation: Life Rolls On, a subsidiary of the Dana and Christopher Reeve Foundation that focuses on allowing persons with disabilities to experience challenging activities, like skiing, surfing, etc.
But Jesse was at the SUNA meeting to share his experience with a difficult catheterization. He performs self-catheterization and had been having difficulty catheterizing for at least 2 years. He was catheterizing using a gel-based catheter when he punctured his urethra. He was hospitalized and had a suprapubic tube placed to heal his urethra. A physician recommended a hydrophilic catheter, a LoFric catheter (Wellspect). Since then, Jesse has had no difficulty catheterizing.
Jesse’s problem with difficult catheterization is often reported by many patients who self-catheterize. Nurses and physicians also encounter difficult catheterizations.
Presented at the Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA) 2013 Annual Symposium - March 7 - 9, 2013 - Hyatt Regency - Savannah, GA USA
Reported by Diane K. Newman, DNP, FAAN, BCB-PMD
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