An elderly woman I was caring for at the hospital the other night had her call light on. When I went in to see what she needed, she told me rather desperately, “I have to go potty!” After determining that she thought she needed to urinate, I reminded her that she had a catheter, and that although sometimes irritation from the tube makes it feel like you need to go, you really don’t. She just looked at me blankly, so I explained what a catheter does, and that since she had one, she didn’t have to get up to go to the toilet, but could just stay in bed and relax.

At that she settled back on her bed with a look of happy surprise, and exclaimed, “Well my goodness! What will they think of next?”