No roll in shower...what to do?

Status
Not open for further replies.

trying to stay positive

Distinguished member
Joined
Sep 17, 2007
Messages
313
Reason
CALS
Diagnosis
08/2007
Country
US
State
Illinois
City
Chicago area
How do you bathe a PALS when you don't have a roll in shower and they can no longer help with transfering? Can you use a Hoyer lift (providing one can maneuver it in a small bathroom) to get them onto a shower bench? What about when they can no longer sit up by themselves? Do you tie them to the shower bench?!:confused:

My hubby is still able to lock his knees when I get him to a standing position, but his left leg is getting really bad & I realize that this will not work for much longer.

Thanks for any input.
 
If you can't modify your shower to a roll in then how about installing a ceiling lift as a hoyer will not work because you will not have enough room. Is your present shower big enough for a shower chair? If not your best option is to renovate and make a large, roll in, shower.
 
Hi,

I had this same problem with LB. Our solutions were not the best but worked. We had a hole cut into our cement foundation just a fraction larger than the hoyer lift post. I took the diameter measurement to a place that could cut me an pipe with a bottom (looked like a tin can with the top cut off)I then put this into the hole. The post of the Hoyer would come out of the stand and I would put it into the hole. Now, I could roll LB next to the tub in his power chair and use a sling to transfer him from the chair to the tub and back. This cost me less than $100 to get the work done and pipe cut. Later, when he was too fragile to do this, we bought a Tilt-in-Space lounge chair. I cut a hole in the bottom and put a solid piece of foam exercise mat over it with a hole in it. This is what we used as a potty chair and bath chair from then on. This chair was put next to the tub or shower and I used a hand held shower sprayer to bathe him. I bought a childs flex side swim pools to put the lounge chair in to keep the floor dry. This is a little work but we had few options and it did work well. The bright side to this.....my bathroom floor was always clean because I had to mop the spills up everyday:)

Hope this helps someone.

terri
 
Is it possible to modify your existing shower, or install a new one?

Stu ALS Guardian Angels
 
in the uk you can buy a shower pod that will fit in any room, they are moveable if you were to move home.. from memory look at contour showers. Just get an idea of what I mean then look and see if they are sold your side of the pond. Of course, you still need a room that has space for it
 
I was just at a Kitchen and Bath show and came across this company that had shower barriers...if you were to go with terris ideam, these might help to block some of the water. We have a roll in shower, but I still find that we have water everywhere after the shower, so I am looking into purchasing one of these barriers.
http://www.akw-medicare.com/home.php?cat=8
 
Glen, your link doesn't work for me.

TTSP, as others have suggested, a roll-in shower is the best solution if you can do it. In my case, I had a local contractor remove my existing tub, I retained the fawcetts, bath spout (which I find really handy for other uses) and shower head. He lowered the floor about an inch under the tub, relocated the drain to the centre of the old tub footprint, sloped the floor under to the old tub to the new drain and retiled the floor and walls. It wasn't very expensive and required no wall relocation. I did remove the existing swing door and replaced it with about a 4' wide sliding door. It works great for me. Depending on your bathroom layout, it has the additional benefit of increasing floor space and hence wheelchair mobility.
 
"Glen, your link doesn't work for me"

The goat strikes again! Just remove the last part of the url "portableshowers.html" and you can navigate to the bathroom page. It looks like they have other useful stuff too!
 
Need more bathroom advice

Hi again,

Thank you to everyone for all your suggestions & links. From what John describes, he has a shower the size of what use to be a bathtub.

The AKW MediCare link shows these showers. Does anyone have any experience with them? My concern is that the space would not be large enough for a shower/commode chair as well as for me to fit in there to do the showering for my husband. Also, any experience with how well the water is retained within the shower?

We FINALLY sold our house after over 20 months. We are currently in a rental house while searching for a home for us. I don't want to screw this bathroom thing up! It seems that the houses I look at just won't work for one reason or another because of the bathrooms.

Any help, advice, experience or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated! Hubby is almost at the point of not being able to stand for transfers anymore. I need to find a house that we can afford as well as one that will work.

Linda
 
Last edited:
I might suggest that if you don't find a home with a suitable bathroom , find a home with an extra bedroom that can be transformed into a bathroom suitable for a roll-in shower.

Besides being functionally better , it will add value to that home.
Glen
 
sponge bath

Certainly not the ideal, but cardiac patients sometimes go for months with just sponge baths. There is a certain amount of pleasure from a warm shower that you don't get with a sponge bath, but someone suggested to me that you can make a sponge bath seem less unpleasant by amping up the atmosphere. Light some candles and turn on music. Put towels in the dryer and get them warm and then place them in an ice chest. Put the warm water in a smaller 6 pack cooler so it stays warm during the bath. Cover the PAL with warm towels except for the area being washed at that moment, give a back rub when applying lotion after the bath. Plan a treat afterwards... a movie, ice cream, snuggling, ? Most of us don't need a shower every day once we reach a certain age or when we can no longer work up a sweat. Diaper wipes or a warm wash cloth take care of wash-ups inbetween baths. We all just do the best we can. If you can't do anything major like a remodel, you can still show your love by attempting to keep your loved one clean and comfortable in the best way available to you.
 
Newbie, that was a good post. Thank You.
 
You may want to have an occupational therapist come to the house to evaluate your options before you spend money in renovations and new equipment. We had someone come to our house, which was a huge help.

Good luck.
Pam B in Va
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top