Bonus Episode: Learn to Love Your Catheter with Landon Groff and MaxWell Medical Solutions

In this segment, Donna Lee is joined by NAU Urology Specialists' friend and colleague Landon Groff to discuss one of the most dreaded devices in all of urology–the urinary catheter. Many health concerns can require catheterization, but the most common are prostate issues, strictures blocking the urinary tract, and paralysis. The apprehension and discomfort surrounding catheter use led Landon to found MaxWell Medical Solutions, a company that ships catheters nationwide from their base in San Antonio, Texas. His amazing team uses their combined decades of first hand experience with catheters to reassure patients and walk them through the process of catheterization. Tune in to learn about the pros and cons of different types of catheters and how to avoid the most common mistakes new users make. If you or someone you love uses catheters and would like to learn more about MaxWell Medical Solutions, call 210-340-2217 or visit them online today!

Voted top Men's Health Podcast, Sex Therapy Podcast, and Prostate Cancer Podcast by FeedSpot

Dr. Mistry is a board-certified urologist and has been treating patients in the Austin and Greater Williamson County area since he started his private practice in 2007.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):


Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome back to the Armor Men's Health Show with
Dr. Mystery and Donna Lee.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hey

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Everybody. You're listening to the Armor Men's
Health Show with Dr. Mysteryand Donna Lee. I wanted to
bring in another one of ourvery special guests. As you
know, we like to bring in superspecial people, and I wanted to
welcome everybody to thissegment with our friend Landon
Groff . How are you, Landon?

Speaker 4 (00:31):
I'm doing well, Donna. Thank you so much for
having me. Yeah, of course.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Thank you for joining us. I've always wanted
to have you on the show becauseyou handle something that is
super mysterious to me, and Iguess you know what it is, but
I want the listeners to know, , if you've ever gone
to a urologist office or you'vehad maybe a surgery or some
sort of urological issue, youhave to deal with this
interesting little phenomenoncalled the catheter. And I know

(00:55):
a lot of people's ears justperked up because they're like,
oh hell , oh, hell no.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
They're thinking this is worse than a four
letter word .

Speaker 3 (01:02):
So I thought it'd be great to have you come on, tell
us exactly what a catheter isbecause you have a catheter
company and the company name,again,

Speaker 4 (01:10):
My company is Maxwell Medical, and we don't
manufacture catheters, we justdistribute them to patients
through insurance.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Right . Gotcha . But you handle those sorts of
things, and

Speaker 4 (01:19):
Any and every catheter f d A approved in the
United States, we candistribute.

Speaker 3 (01:22):
Oh my God, I'm so excited that you're gonna tell
us all about these mysticallittle creatures called
catheters. So why don't youtell us first, what type of
patient do you see a lot andwith regards to urology or
men's wellness? What kind ofpatient or procedure would need
a catheter?

Speaker 4 (01:37):
Uh, you know, various issues with the
prostate. I'll use myself as anexample. Uh, I was paralyzed in
a car accident 20 years ago, so, um, that said, I'm in full
urinary retention. I've got aneurogenic bladder, and I have
to intermittent catheterizedprobably anywhere from six to
eight times per day. Aside fromthose things, you know, you

(01:57):
could have issues , uh, with astricture, which is a blockage
in the urinary track , um,prohibiting your ability to, to
void out urine mm-hmm .
as you normallywould. So those are, those are
probably, you know, three ofthe, the main things that men
come across. Uh,

Speaker 3 (02:15):
What does a catheter do? Like, tell us like
physiologically, where is thecatheter placed and how is it
handled?

Speaker 4 (02:20):
Well, so there's a couple of different types of
catheters. You know, there's anindwelling catheter that stays
in permanently. It's whatyou're most commonly seen in a
hospital. You know, you have aurine drainage bag hanging on a
bed. Um, something like that.
It's got a balloon inside, itstays in the bladder. Mm-hmm.
, it's a constantdrain going into a , a bag. And

(02:41):
the other way to manage urinaryretention, these other
conditions is intermittentcatheterization. And it's, you
know, technique that's as oldas time. I mean, basically it's
a siphon mm-hmm. , you know , it , it's a , a
clear tube. Um, there's avariety of those. We'll talk
about , um, you simply insertthe catheter through the
urethra into the bladdermm-hmm. , and you

(03:04):
let it drain and you pull itout. So it oftentimes is
referred to in and outcatheterization.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
So I have , um, no experience with this, thank
God. And I don't have a penis,but does it hurt when you
insert the catheter?

Speaker 4 (03:18):
I would say it's an acquired taste. , I'm
not gonna lie to you. And I'm ,I'm not gonna be one of those
commercials on TV that , uh, isgonna send you to the catheter.
That doesn't hurt. Yeah. Um, alot of it is fear driven
though, because, you know, I ,I'll tell you right now, when I
get paralyzed and I'm laying ina hospital bed mm-hmm.
, and a doctorcomes in and he's like, you're
gonna have to stick this there,you know, probably six times a
day for the rest of your life.

(03:38):
And I'm like, what? Oh wow .
What's the other option? He'slike, well, you can have a
permanent indwelling catheterand carry a bag of pee around
with you for the rest of yourlife. And I was like, okay,
we'll figure this out. Right.
And, you know, intermittentcatheterization, you're way
less prone to infection and,you know, long-term issues.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Gotcha . And tell us more about the difference.
Like, what is , um, I know alot of people are probably
wondering what does it mean tobe in retention?

Speaker 4 (04:02):
Being in urinary retention is your inability to
void urine, you know, on acontrolled level and fully
emptying your bladder. A lot ofyou guys listening out there,
you might have , uh, you know,a dribbling effect or feel like
you're not emptying fully.
Mm-hmm. , you'revoiding, but you're probably
leaving behind post voidresidual urine, which can in

(04:25):
turn, you know, kick back toyour kidneys and put you back
in the hospital with a seriousinfection. I

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Was gonna say that sounds like an infection issue.
Yeah. And then tell us aboutyour company again. Um, how
long ago did you start thiscompany, Maxwell?

Speaker 4 (04:37):
So I started Maxwell Medical , uh, it's been about
five years ago. Uh , startedshipping catheters , uh, it'll
be close to four years ago.
Mm-hmm. . And,you know, prior to that, I've
been in this industry for along time, worked for a couple
of different companies thathave since been acquired. And,
you know, at the end of thelast run, I was just like, you

(04:58):
know, let me see if we can dothis. And it was the right
time, right place, and rightpeople, you know, went out and
learned the inside of thebusiness as I was a sales rep
for many years. And, you know,here we are four years later
and we're doing a heck of a jobgrowing at a great rate. And I,
I credit a lot of that to, youknow, my staff. Um, we've had

(05:19):
great people working for us. II've never lost an employee,
you know, from termination or ,uh, someone quitting on me. So
we're a tight-knit group and wehave great culture, but I made
a couple of key changes instarting this company. Mm-hmm.
, first one beingbasically for you guys out
there listening, you're gonnago into a room, you're in some

(05:39):
sort of retention, and you'reunable to fully empty your
bladder, you have an infection,whatever it might be. Mm-hmm.
, well, you mightthink that you're gonna go into
a clank room and doctor's gonnasay, okay, here, take this pill
for this many days, and boom,magic's gone. Mm-hmm.
. Well,oftentimes that's not the case.
The case and a nurse walks inwith a bag of intermittent

(06:00):
catheters and all of a suddenyou're like, what? I get a sick
what, where four times a dayand all of a sudden you as a
patient, you shut down. Um, youdon't ask the questions you
need to ask, and you walk outthe door and that's that. And
then a couple hours later youget a phone call from a D M E
company like Maxwell Medical,and the person on the other end

(06:23):
of the line is trying to, toship out a catheter order that
we received from your doctor.
Mm-hmm. . Andfour out of five times the old
way. We , we did it with othercompanies , uh, you know, we'd
get hung up on a lot. And Ialways had an issue with that
because it's not keeping thepatient compliant with
healthcare and their bestinterest for success. And , you

(06:45):
know, either getting over thisuntil a surgery or learning how
to manage it long term .
Mm-hmm. . So whatI did was I implemented a
strategy where every single newpatient that comes over to my
company, their first call, andhowever many after that,
they're gonna be talkingdirectly to somebody that's got
years and years of experiencepersonally and professionally

(07:05):
with intermittentcatheterization. Mm-hmm.
. So now four outof five of those patients
we're, we're getting the orderout the door to them, they're
compliant with their healthcare, and as soon as they
understand they're talking tosomebody that deals with this
on a daily basis, the wallcomes down and they start
asking us the questions we ,uh, probably that they should
have asked you guys. Mm-hmm.

(07:26):
. And, you know, I, I remember a , a patient of
y'all's early on, I got greatreviews on one of my employees,
his name's Logan, and I sentthe email to Liz and Leona
mm-hmm. . And,you know, he basically said in
so many words that he felt likemy company was an extension of
y'all's practice. And that'sthe biggest compliment ever

(07:47):
because people are different.
Everybody takes everythingdifferently, but we are there
in the bullpen. Mm-hmm .
ready to getafter it. Mm-hmm .
and we help theseguys. And so hugest compliment
ever. And really it's justhelping people, people overall.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yeah. Well, and you are an extension of our company
because we're sending thepatients to you. Well,

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Thank you for that, Donna. You know, we, we do our
best and you know, not everypatient's perfect, but we wanna
make it as comfortable aspossible for you guys. 'cause
ultimately it , it's not soextremely painful, but there's
a lot of hesitation.

Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah. You need somebody soothing on the other
end of the phone when there'squestions. I'm sure when it
comes to a catheter, you don'twant some crazed employee
freaking out going , it's gonnahurt like hell. Good luck.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
No. And then I'll kind of jump into the types of
catheters. You have a straighttip catheter, you have a coup a
tip catheter, and, and that'swhat you most often see in a
urology office. Mm-hmm.
, um, you know,various types and sizes. You
can put gel lubricant on themto insert them. You can,
there's pre lubricated gelcatheters. There's hydrophilic

(08:45):
catheters, which water reactsto the catheter makes it very
slick. So there's not a wholelot of friction in going in.
Mm-hmm. , um, acoup a tip catheter has a
little bend at the end. Youknow, generally speaking, most
men at some point in their lifeget enlarged. Prostate. The
curve tip at the end allows thepatient to get around the
prostate with ease and , uh,accomplish the same thing. How

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Long is a catheter?
Like physically? How long isit?

Speaker 4 (09:08):
Um, a standard size catheter is 16 inches. 16

Speaker 3 (09:11):
Inches. I made every man jealous here. . So
tell us again before we have towrap up. Your company name is
Maxwell Medical. What's yourwebsite?

Speaker 4 (09:19):
My company is Maxwell Medical. We're based in
San Antonio, but we ship topatients nationwide. The
website is Maxwell, like thecoffee Maxwell m like Mary, ss
like sam.com, so maxwellms.com. We're, we're based
outta San Antonio. Phone numberis [phone] . Awesome.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
Well, thank you so much for joining us, Landon. I
know you've answered a lot ofquestions and probably calmed
down a lot of anxiety and somepeople knowing they have to
take that road to a catheter.
Uh , but you can reach us at 51 2 2 3 8 0 7 6 2 during the
week. You can even ask for me,our website is armor men's
health.com. You can send yourquestions to Landon if you ,
um, forget his website againthough. It's maxwell ms.com.

(10:01):
Yes. And , uh, but you can alsosend me a question to armor
men's health.com and I canshoot that question over to
Landon. Be sure to listen toour podcasts wherever you
listen to free podcasts. Andthank you so much, Landon.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Thanks, Ana .

Speaker 2 (10:11):
The Armor Men's Health Show is brought to you
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For questions or to schedule anappointment, please call 5 1 2
2 3 8 0 7 6 2 or online atarmor men's health.com.