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Living large at a catheter study

Mar 21 09:48

The other day I had the opportunity to take part in a communications study sponsored by a catheter manufacturer. I know, I'm living on the wild side, but for once my life I finally met all the qualifications for one of those studies that give you free money for just coming in and letting them pick your brain for a few hours. Hey, when a catheter company is in need, who am I to say no?

As it turns out, there's a catheter company out there looking to make its way into social media scene. It's an interesting notion, a catheter company trying to figure out what they need to do to get more Twitter followers… what kind of content they should try posting on their Facebook page to make it more active. But is it a lost cause? Would you follow a catheter company on Twitter? Really?

On one hand, catheters are a lot like toilet paper - once you figure out what you like, you never want to think about them. Ew, gross, they serve a purpose and that's it. Open, use, throw away, and forget about it, righ? Or do you think about catheters more than that? Obviously, if the catheter style you used stopped working you’d be on the catheter-info search like mad, but otherwise...do you?

This happened to me in 2005 when the Foley catheter stopped working for me. I turned to my Urologist for help….not Coloplast. I also turned to CareCure.edu, one of the best places to get spinal cord injury information. After a few weeks of doing this online research, then an appointment a few months later with a surgeon to discuss the Mitroffanoff surgery, before I knew it I was in the surgery, and it was all spurred by my internet research. Amazing. Maybe one day we'll be in more direct contact with medical manufacturers to enrich our lives just like this....it may be weird right now, but who knows?

How do you find the information you need for your catheter questions? Where do you usually go? And what source have you found works best for your situation?

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By Tiffiny Carlson

Tiffiny Carlson Disability buzz, travel, fashion and dating — fun things to amp up everyday wheeling life.

Tiffiny Carlson is freelance writer and writes the “SCI Life” column for New Mobility. She's also a C6 quad from a diving accident that occurred when she was 14 years old. A lifelong resident of Minneapolis, Tiffiny has been a writer in the disability community for over 10 years and writes for several publications and blogs, as well as her personal blog BeautyAbility. Her work has also appeared in mainstream publications such as Nerve.com and Playgirl.