bed positioning
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mrvaughan
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Hello
My husband is totally vent dependent and he still gets a shower 3x a week. We don't use a shower chair, mostly because they are too big and bulky and they lean him back. I didn't want him to lean back for fear the water would get in his traech. First, your concern about protecting the vent. We use the travel vent. Our DME provider automatically includes a 2nd trilogy vent in the monthly rental. Even when we have used the regular vent, we do it the same way. I make sure the vent is covered with a towel and outside the shower. There is nothing else I need to do with the vent.
Yes, we did covert the bathroom, we tore out the bathtub and built a tile shower in its place, one that has just a 1 inch lip that we can lift the chair up and over.
Next is him. back to the shower chair, not shower chair. We use a bar height outdoor swivel mesh chair. They are the kind you see everywhere for summer outdoor furniture. We picked this mostly because it drains water, swivels and is a good height to transfer him from. The transfer to it it just like to a wheelchair. We put a pillow case under his bottom so we can hold it on either side and adjust him back further. His final position in the shower is with his head bent forward, the shower water can hit is neck and we have a splitter on the shower head, so there is a hand held I use to wash him down. He is down to literally no trunk control, but this position allows me to put his elbows up if needed so he doesn't fall forward. Even when he is extremely weak, I don't seem to have a problem with him falling forward.
I forgot to mention he also has a peg tube.
The shower from here is just basically like every shower. I start under his arms with soap, and under his private parts with soap, then use a soft sponge for the rest. Since his head is forward, we can even easily wash his hair.
I keep his traech tie dry by putting a small plastic grocery bag around it.
After the shower, I need 4 towels. I put one down his back to get that dry, I put one each over each shoulder and covering the arms to keep him warm and start drying those parts, then use the 4th towel to dry all over.
I see you use a sling, maybe that can transfer him into the "shower" chair. I am lucky and have someone else here at all times, so we still do a 2 person transfer.
I hope you can use some of my experience to try to set up some type of shower for your PALS. I do it 3x a week and if my back is really hurting, I just forgo it for the day.
I don't know you or the other people on this forum, but I love you all for what you are going thru. Take care. Mary
My husband is totally vent dependent and he still gets a shower 3x a week. We don't use a shower chair, mostly because they are too big and bulky and they lean him back. I didn't want him to lean back for fear the water would get in his traech. First, your concern about protecting the vent. We use the travel vent. Our DME provider automatically includes a 2nd trilogy vent in the monthly rental. Even when we have used the regular vent, we do it the same way. I make sure the vent is covered with a towel and outside the shower. There is nothing else I need to do with the vent.
Yes, we did covert the bathroom, we tore out the bathtub and built a tile shower in its place, one that has just a 1 inch lip that we can lift the chair up and over.
Next is him. back to the shower chair, not shower chair. We use a bar height outdoor swivel mesh chair. They are the kind you see everywhere for summer outdoor furniture. We picked this mostly because it drains water, swivels and is a good height to transfer him from. The transfer to it it just like to a wheelchair. We put a pillow case under his bottom so we can hold it on either side and adjust him back further. His final position in the shower is with his head bent forward, the shower water can hit is neck and we have a splitter on the shower head, so there is a hand held I use to wash him down. He is down to literally no trunk control, but this position allows me to put his elbows up if needed so he doesn't fall forward. Even when he is extremely weak, I don't seem to have a problem with him falling forward.
I forgot to mention he also has a peg tube.
The shower from here is just basically like every shower. I start under his arms with soap, and under his private parts with soap, then use a soft sponge for the rest. Since his head is forward, we can even easily wash his hair.
I keep his traech tie dry by putting a small plastic grocery bag around it.
After the shower, I need 4 towels. I put one down his back to get that dry, I put one each over each shoulder and covering the arms to keep him warm and start drying those parts, then use the 4th towel to dry all over.
I see you use a sling, maybe that can transfer him into the "shower" chair. I am lucky and have someone else here at all times, so we still do a 2 person transfer.
I hope you can use some of my experience to try to set up some type of shower for your PALS. I do it 3x a week and if my back is really hurting, I just forgo it for the day.
I don't know you or the other people on this forum, but I love you all for what you are going thru. Take care. Mary
mrvaughan
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Hi Tillie, I have to get the hospital bed next week. I like you miss sleeping with my husband, but I don't miss sleeping with my PALS. We have tried for the past 7 months with me sleeping with him 1 day a week when I don't have to work. He is awake the whole night and is mad at me in the morning because I was not the "wife" I should be. I think you know what I mean. I kept trying it though, and held him all night and tried to be there for him, but just last week he decided that I was having an affair, I needed to be in prison for unlawfully imprisoning him and that I was a spiteful, hateful woman that was trying to get at all his money. (he just has social security, no savings and now a small pension since he turned 55).
We are not getting the hospital bed for that though, I would have still continued putting him on the bed and be propped up, but he is incontinent overnight often. We have depends on him, but it doesn't hold everything. It is hard to get him changed and in dry clothes and a hospital bed would be easier to move around, prop him up and yes, get the pressure off of his bottom.
take care Mary
We are not getting the hospital bed for that though, I would have still continued putting him on the bed and be propped up, but he is incontinent overnight often. We have depends on him, but it doesn't hold everything. It is hard to get him changed and in dry clothes and a hospital bed would be easier to move around, prop him up and yes, get the pressure off of his bottom.
take care Mary
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Oh Mary, I get every word you are saying.
Well he stayed in the bed all night, but the first thing I got told this morning is that it is a f***ing piece of sh it.
I'm exhausted already
Well he stayed in the bed all night, but the first thing I got told this morning is that it is a f***ing piece of sh it.
I'm exhausted already
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finally we are having a win!
After that first night and his complaints, I tried to get him in on his side for an afternoon nap to get off his sore butt. I didn't get it right and he started to panic and gagging so I had to fairly quickly get him out.
And yet I got him in again last night and he slept in it all night, didn't complain and then this evening said - I don't think I moved a muscle all night I slept so soundly. WOW!
The community nurse came today and so I asked her to help me work out a position with him to get him off his butt. So we fiddled and wriggled him about and did all kinds of gymnastics with pillows and got his butt completely off the bed and him still comfortable!
Later in the afternoon I managed to get him in again on my own and did the same positioning until his butt was not even touching the bed and went outside and enjoyed an hour of gardening, and when I came back in he was still comfortable! I was nearly doing cartwheels (except I can't and would have just landed in a heap, but you get the picture)
Tonight he is back in and actually starting to look happy about it all.
My relief is hard to explain, I was getting a real sick in the stomach feeling about him developing a nasty sore and being forced to stay on his side and wondered how we would cope. Now I feel I can get him off his butt just that few hours every day, and maybe end up being able to get him off it much of the night soon and we should be fine.
@tbananna - sorry to hear you are battling the same kind of issues. I'm a bit stunned to find that all this time I don't think the bed itself was his issue, so see if you can find a way to work out if he has some other kind of barrier?
one relieved
After that first night and his complaints, I tried to get him in on his side for an afternoon nap to get off his sore butt. I didn't get it right and he started to panic and gagging so I had to fairly quickly get him out.
And yet I got him in again last night and he slept in it all night, didn't complain and then this evening said - I don't think I moved a muscle all night I slept so soundly. WOW!
The community nurse came today and so I asked her to help me work out a position with him to get him off his butt. So we fiddled and wriggled him about and did all kinds of gymnastics with pillows and got his butt completely off the bed and him still comfortable!
Later in the afternoon I managed to get him in again on my own and did the same positioning until his butt was not even touching the bed and went outside and enjoyed an hour of gardening, and when I came back in he was still comfortable! I was nearly doing cartwheels (except I can't and would have just landed in a heap, but you get the picture)
Tonight he is back in and actually starting to look happy about it all.
My relief is hard to explain, I was getting a real sick in the stomach feeling about him developing a nasty sore and being forced to stay on his side and wondered how we would cope. Now I feel I can get him off his butt just that few hours every day, and maybe end up being able to get him off it much of the night soon and we should be fine.
@tbananna - sorry to hear you are battling the same kind of issues. I'm a bit stunned to find that all this time I don't think the bed itself was his issue, so see if you can find a way to work out if he has some other kind of barrier?
one relieved
zoohouse
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Tillie, I am so happy for you. But I also resent that you are GARDENING! Just yesterday, I was feeling trapped inside, and mourning the days that I could go out and work in my gardens. Now I would need a shovel and pick, and I don't think the plants would appreciate it. I use to ski in the winter months, so I didn't mind it at all, but of course that is out of the question. Tim would be up to being pulled in a specialized sled, but he gets cold through & through so quickly lately, and then he is a frozen log. Then after I do get him thawed he is a limp rag for 2 days and exhausted.
We are anxiously waiting for his new bed, but it will take a month. It turns him back and forth as programmed and has a roho insert in the middle section. He normally sleeps on his back with an alternating mattress, and has never had problems with bed sores, but I am sure that it is not good for moving the secretions around in his lungs, or for his circulation.
We are anxiously waiting for his new bed, but it will take a month. It turns him back and forth as programmed and has a roho insert in the middle section. He normally sleeps on his back with an alternating mattress, and has never had problems with bed sores, but I am sure that it is not good for moving the secretions around in his lungs, or for his circulation.
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Well it's never going to be easy and smooth is it?
The line came out of the mattress when he adjusted the bed and I woke at 5.30 to the mattress alarm going off, him in a deflated mattress ...
Of course then he needed to pee so by the time I got him out and toileted there was no point going back to bed as my alarm goes off at 6 ...
Sorry bout the gardening Paulette, but to rub it in I even got him outside in his pwc for the hour before dark in the backyard whilst I did some more gardening! The dogs are separated at the moment as our girl is in season and she was so ecstatic to have him out there and just kept laying at his feet for him to feet pat her lol
I put her away in her crate and brought our boy up and he was hilarious as he capered around and around the chair and garden kissing him. Then uh oh he noticed the peg button and I was nearly crying with laughter as he immediately felt that this needed the attention of his tongue, and me trying to keep a hand over the button (he is a big dog with a big head). Still it was a lovely way to end the day off.
The line came out of the mattress when he adjusted the bed and I woke at 5.30 to the mattress alarm going off, him in a deflated mattress ...
Of course then he needed to pee so by the time I got him out and toileted there was no point going back to bed as my alarm goes off at 6 ...
Sorry bout the gardening Paulette, but to rub it in I even got him outside in his pwc for the hour before dark in the backyard whilst I did some more gardening! The dogs are separated at the moment as our girl is in season and she was so ecstatic to have him out there and just kept laying at his feet for him to feet pat her lol
I put her away in her crate and brought our boy up and he was hilarious as he capered around and around the chair and garden kissing him. Then uh oh he noticed the peg button and I was nearly crying with laughter as he immediately felt that this needed the attention of his tongue, and me trying to keep a hand over the button (he is a big dog with a big head). Still it was a lovely way to end the day off.
mrvaughan
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it is -5 degrees here in Michigan right now! You must have some sort of indoor garden in NY. I am glad the bed seems to be working out for you. I have the prescription to get one again (we had one 5 years ago or so) but I am not up for the fight yet.
Mary
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It is a pretty neat garden setup, stays quite warm
He has spent nearly 4 hours laying in his bed, I changed his position once, during the afternoon, so it seems we are maybe on a winner.
Part of it is also that he is becoming extremely tired and weak now. Sitting is even tiring for him as his back and neck are starting to weaken significantly. I also think his breathing is maybe causing a little CO2 retention and making him more sleepy.
It is good though to see him more stretched out and relaxed than he has been in some time.
He has spent nearly 4 hours laying in his bed, I changed his position once, during the afternoon, so it seems we are maybe on a winner.
Part of it is also that he is becoming extremely tired and weak now. Sitting is even tiring for him as his back and neck are starting to weaken significantly. I also think his breathing is maybe causing a little CO2 retention and making him more sleepy.
It is good though to see him more stretched out and relaxed than he has been in some time.
zoohouse
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Well Tillie you really know how to rub it in. Gardening is one of our favorite thing to do together. Tim use to do landscaping, and specialized in pruning, and training espalier trees, so he sits back and tells me where to put the plants and where exactly where to prune the branches. I thought I was a pretty good gardener before I met him, but he is amazing.
What kind of dogs do you have? I had to put my Golden down one year ago, and it is the first time in 30 years that I haven't had a dog. We have a fairly large yard, but it is not one that you would fence, and I just don't have the time to train, or walk a large dog. I have often thought about a small dog, but the thought of going out in the freezing cold so that it can do its business does not really appeal to me. Maybe I will think about it in the spring. It sounds like you guys had a really good day, excluding the bed fiasco. Have you tried just giving your husband a bottle at night, rather than getting him up? Tim was resistant at first, but he is getting quite good at it now, and realizes how much energy he saves doing it that way.
What kind of dogs do you have? I had to put my Golden down one year ago, and it is the first time in 30 years that I haven't had a dog. We have a fairly large yard, but it is not one that you would fence, and I just don't have the time to train, or walk a large dog. I have often thought about a small dog, but the thought of going out in the freezing cold so that it can do its business does not really appeal to me. Maybe I will think about it in the spring. It sounds like you guys had a really good day, excluding the bed fiasco. Have you tried just giving your husband a bottle at night, rather than getting him up? Tim was resistant at first, but he is getting quite good at it now, and realizes how much energy he saves doing it that way.
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Sorry Paulette I won't mention gardens again ... :smile:
His hands are clawed and he has nearly lost all arm movement I'm afraid so a bottle is not possible.
He actually gets through the night without getting up to the loo, but since the alarm was beeping, the bed was deflated ... well not he was awake enough to be ready to go.
We did actually have a good day, I got work done and he slept comfortably in a bed.
His hands are clawed and he has nearly lost all arm movement I'm afraid so a bottle is not possible.
He actually gets through the night without getting up to the loo, but since the alarm was beeping, the bed was deflated ... well not he was awake enough to be ready to go.
We did actually have a good day, I got work done and he slept comfortably in a bed.
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Tillie, I was doing a little weeding this weekend--now even FL is freezing today!
a male urinal is very easy to use and he doesn't have to use it by himself. my husband has to pee a couple times at night and I have him on his side, slip the urinal up to his business and after he is done I carefully remove it. the only dangerous time is when I take it away if I tip it then there is a wet mess. (I have done that a couple of times when I was very tired) it really is a lot easier then getting up to go. guys are lucky in that regard.
a male urinal is very easy to use and he doesn't have to use it by himself. my husband has to pee a couple times at night and I have him on his side, slip the urinal up to his business and after he is done I carefully remove it. the only dangerous time is when I take it away if I tip it then there is a wet mess. (I have done that a couple of times when I was very tired) it really is a lot easier then getting up to go. guys are lucky in that regard.
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