Just wanted to share a few things I have done to help make showers or baths easier on DH. I have installed a 3 partition dispenser (big box shore have them,found mine at GW) on the shower wall toward back of shower. I use first for shampoo,second for conditioner and third for shower gel. I have thus eliminated all bottles and bar soap from my way and I don't have to handle bottles during showers which really frees up a hand. I use a combination reg. shower head and hand held shower which is easier because I can keep water out of DH face (he hates his face wet). As I just recently fractured three ribs while giving DH a bath in the tub, I decided I couldn't do that anymore so we are now showering together. Hes also another just stands there and isn't interested in doing it himself person so I later him up and rinse him, put him to the back of my shower and get mine. I am considering a bath chair and just letting him sit as my poor back hurts so much while bending down to do his legs. I also have a towel bar on the back of the shower that I keep a couple of extra wash clothes on so he has a dry one for soap in eyes, etc. Could you let me know of any tips you have?
Well, now that's about the best idea I've heard in a loooong time. And, I'm wondering why I didn't think of it. I've seen those dispenser things. Should work great! The bath chair is a wonderful idea. That way we could get the legs easier and there's no danger of them falling in the tub. My DH is scared to death he's going to slip and fall. He keeps grabbing me--sort of like a drowning person does a rescuer.
Do you have grab bars installed on the walls? How about a good non-stick mat on the floor? I like a big big towel to wrap around DH. It's easier than trying to dry him off. The towl sort of soaks up the water. Or, what about a big terry cloth robe? One for each of us? That might be kind of cool. Am I on a roll here? We could get matching terry slippers.
Also, FYI, I can't cut DH's toe nails any more. He obviously can't do it and my eye sight is so bad, the last time I did the job, I cut his toe--really bad. So, now, I take him up the street to a little Vietnamese lady who has a nail salon. She waxes my lip and chin and does his toe nails all for the grans sum of $20. I give her a tip and we're out of there in 15 minutes. He put up a real fuss the first time I took him in there, but that cute girl was so sweet to him, he just ate that attention up and -- viola--no more problems.
Also, have a hair dresser come to the house every five weeks. She cuts my hair and then does DH's. He doesn't have much hair left but what's there she does up nicely. She also trims his bushy eyebrows and shaves out his ears. Saves me the trouble.
So, now we've got our DHs all slicked up. Do you and your DH wanna go out to dinner w/us? (smile)
Mawzy, I had heard that Medicare will pay for toenail care. I was looking for that particular information ... undoubtedly a post on "the other site" ... and found:
Post by Johanna C, who is a nurse and very, very knowledgeable about AD and FTD patients:
We had a visiting podiatrist. It cost $35/month.
THey do NOT cut the toenails, they grind them with a special instrument. Cutting is verboten for the elderly susceptible to poor circulation and heightened risk of infection.
NO nail salons for this, please. No aides to do toenails please. Safest with podiatry.
Another post: I am fortunate that I was able to find a podiatrist that makes housecalls. My mother is homebound with diabetes and needs a lot of footcare and while the podiatrist is at the house he cuts my father toenails too. You might check with the hospitals in your area, local clinics etc. and find out if they have a visiting MD program. Both my parents have dementia as well as other medical problems and visiting doctors really help. This podiatrist even takes medicare.
Apparently, either the requirements for getting Medicare to pay for toenail care are getting a lot stiffer, or they differ from location to location. But ... something to check into.
Oh how I would love that dinner, now that we are all dolled up. I have the bathmat, use the big towels and I am looking into grab bars. I live in a mobile home so we have to be careful with the bars, the space between studs isn't as accurate as a standard coded home. My brother is looking into the safest to use. Our home has two bathrooms, one with a garden tub and one with standard tub. So far we have more room in the garden tub to get around.
I cut hubbys hair when my back allows, shave and do his nails. Every other month he usually goes to the barber and I clean him up with those little mini electric groomer things in between those trips. He gets all the pampering. I have this beautiful tub that I never get to use but maybe I will just put him to bed, leave the bathroom door open (its right off bedroom) and let some great scent take me away. Some soothing music ..... a cool glass of sparkling juice ..... now thats a good time. At least these days.
i have my showering down to a tee after so many yrs of fuss/cuss/etc:) i have a shower chair which i get DH to sit on without turning on the water. i undress him clothes off but leave depend on til hes on the chair, for his modesty issues:) then rip that sucker off after the doors shut and warm water is flowing. it helps him ifi warm his feet first without just barrelling into the sprayer all over his body. a little warming up first helps. then upwards from the feet and finally to back and hair for shampoo. then the shave-i then dry him off still sitting and bring his deo and shirt into the shower and let him put on his shirt there STILL sitting on the shower chair- then he holds a towel in front. and proceeds out the shower with shirt on-he absolutely refuses to come out of shower nekked:)haha so having the shirt on helps his dignity-now all i do is powder him up and put depends on and his elastic pants. its much easier to wrangle him into a shirt over the head while hes still sitting on the shower chair. i have this routine and i can do it in less than 15min start to finish. i am very proud....haahha. took 7yrs is all::)) divvi
It is possible to get the hand held shower attachment with an on/off button on the head, and with an extra long hose. Someone makes one designed for more of a handicap type use than just for convenience. It has also been suggested elsewhere to have spouse wear earplugs and keep the heat up high. Some of the liquid soap is also designed to be used as a shampoo.
If you have a towel rod nearby, remember that they are not installed to function as a safety bar even though we all grab onto them from time to time. I think everyone, at some point or another might need a shower chair and/or safety bars (we've had foot surgery, knee surgery, etc.), but I have seen some articles that suggested that since using a bar (especially one that is new) maybe something they cannot learn to use, that it might be better to position them where the caregiver can use them best, rather than the LO.
I'm storing all this info for when it's needed. And, thanks to info from this site, keeping an eye on the toothbrush and soap supply so I can notice sooner when needed.
Do you and your husband have diabetis? My Poditrist told me a few months ago Medicare only paid for patients with diabetis. Maybe they have changed the rules.
We live in an old house and have only one bath tub, which has a removable showerhead, but it's a tub. I know we could get a "bathfitter" replacement but everything I've read here says not to spend a lot of money for what may be a fairly short-term fix - and we all agreed that having no tub would be a bad thing when trying to sell. Ever since his hospital stay, in particular, but maybe just over the last few months, in general, my husband's been getting weaker and it's harder for him to get in and out of the tub (we have grab bars). He essentially can't bend one leg so that makes the bath sliding bench really hard for him to use.
Does anyone have suggestions for helping him bathe? He's pretty paranoid about water getting on the floor since for years we've had a recurring problem of water coming down into the front hall ceiling.
briegull, there was a discussion on this subject a few weeks back. Excerpts:
divvi: Ladies, there is a Nova swivel CHAIR that you sit them in and then it swivels in the shower or bath. it turns 360degrees for ease. i will be geting on of these for my DH when he cant step into the bath anymore too. you can google Nova swivel chair and there are many companies that sell them, they arent cheap but i think the best way to transfer them safely and it has a real seat with arms so they feel safe...i saw them for about 280doll hope this helps..divvi
Jane: Sally, I understand your frustration. I went through the same thing with my husband. I even thought of removing the bath tub and installing a walk in, but I am so glad I did not, for it does no good to even have a walk in when you cannot get them to understand to walk in it. What a waste of money it would have been. As for the swivel bath chair with arms, that would also be a problem for us when I try to wash him, the arms would be in the way. The hand held shower is a MUST. I ordered my swivel chair from Active Forever for $264.00 and it has been worth a million. Don't know what in the world I would have done without it.
Look it up on the internet, under Activeforever. The phone number is 1-800-377-8033. It is just like the chair you now have, sits inside and part outside the tub, only difference is that it swivels and slides. ...This chair also comes with a little belt that I only use when I wash his hair, he thinks he is strapped in and does not try to move. I really don't have it strapped hardly at all it is just that he feels like it is.
Order the Chair, no one will be sorry. Just make sure the size will fit your bathroom. I would say it is about the same size as any of those chairs that sit inside and out.
Probably not the best idea, but how about the old fashioned 'sink' bath. Put several towels on the floor to soak up any dripping water. Can he bend over the sink to have his hair washed? Do that, if you can, then just start washing from the face down. Change the water and rinse the soap off. Towel dry. Use deoderant, powder, lotion or whatever. Nice warm PJs and you're done. Not much fuss or mess.
I did it for my daughter after she had major back surgery and couldn't get in or out of the tub and was scared to death of falling. For her hair, I used a dry shampoo and groomed her that way. She loved the attention and feeling all nice an clean.
I have a slide-over bench, never used, so I think I'll try that first, getting the physical therapist, who's being supplied by the Visiting Nurses for the moment, to work it out with us together. He likes her and may do what she wants. If that doesn't work, I'll go for the swivel chair. It seems so expensive for something that might not work out...
Yes, sink bath if all else fails. I'm comfortable with that for myself, but he's been a shower-a-day person forever. His chest hair has been washed for more minutes, every day, than I can count! But he does seem to cover himself with suds, when he showers himself, so I hate to stop it, but he does seem to be getting less stable all the time.
Isn't there some kind of little stand-up thing that he could go into and you shut a little gate? It would be completely portable. You'd need a good shower mat for the floor so he wouldn't slip. I don't know. I shower with DH and so far everything is working out ok. I hope it doesn't come to anything like this. I do notice that he's getting rather skittish about putting his foot over the tub to get into it and shower. Then when he gets out he always hangs onto the towel bar. I'm getting a grab bar installed ASAP. (That's when one of our sons is back in town and can do it.)