My leukemia's back.

[Alaskan]

I now have a sheet of ice on my drive...

Will have to skate down my hill in my car

Have to get to town today

 

[N F C]

I now have a sheet of ice on my drive...

Will have to skate down my hill in my car

Have to get to town today

Be careful Al!

 

[getaclue]

It got up to 76 here today. YAY!!!! It's going to be nice tonight, but tomorrow the temps are going to drop again. We all went early this morning to the kids' school, and watched them get presented with awards. Both of my grandchildren got Honor Roll, and Citizenship awards.

I was in the middle of writing this, and I got a call from one of my cousins. I had to go help her with my Aunt. She had fallen in the bathroom, and my cousin wasn't strong enough to lift her back up. My cousin was trying to lift her off the toilet, and my aunt lost all her strength, and her legs gave way under her. Neither of them got hurt, thank the Lord. The bathroom is small, and narrow, so it was very cramped, and hard to get into a good position for decent leverage, but we managed. Everything is fine now.

 

[Blooie]

You have had a day!!! Congratulations to your grands for the awards they received! What a proud time for them, and nothing encourages more success like success!

I am sorry your aunt had a fall. It’s a good thing you and your cousin were able to help her up and that she wasn’t seriously hurt. Jenny’s mom has MS and came out here from Sioux Falks to celebrate Kendra’s first birthday. She had just gotten out of the bathtub when she fell. She couldn’t get up, Jen couldn’t help her get up, and the bathroom was super small, crowded with all the things a bathroom normally has plus the full sized washer and dryer. Jen called me, and we tried, but Gail was wet, cold by then, and still naked. We had no room to work. We ended up calling rescue for her, and did our best to get her somewhat covered and warmed while we waited for them. It’s really a scary event.

 

[oldrooster]

GAC call around to the local stores that carry accessibility stuff, certain pharmacies and medical supply houses you might be able to find potty rails that you screw the frame under the potty seat so that your aunt can lift with her arms and legs so hopefully she can stand easier, and if she does fall hopefully she can land on her posterior on the seat.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I have a friend who has seizures about 2 times a year, and the last 4 have been when he is in the bathtub! He bangs around pretty good with the seizures so he needs to go to the hospital for evaluation after - concussion, sprains, etc. His house is a bi-level and due to the angles, the rescue cannot use the gurney to carry him out of the house. He usually walks out the front door and lays down for them to strap him down and take him away. He is not really totally aware of what is going on for a time afterwards, but he did manage to get underwear on the last couple of times before leaving the house.

 

[getaclue]

She has all the rails, and things in the bathroom, but did not have the strength to pull herself up, nor did she have the strength in her legs to stand. She has a bad shoulder, from a car accident, that can not be fixed, so simply pulling her up, or lifting under that arm is not a good option. She was dressed, so that wasn't an issue. When we started to lift her, and I realized we might hurt her, I began talking about using a beach towel, or folding a large sheet over a few times, to use as a sling. We decided to scoot a large towel under her butt, and lift. She had her arms around our shoulders as we lifted. It worked beautifully. We got her into her wheelchair, and then to her recliner. She sleeps in the recliner.

We discussed getting her a portable potty to put next to her recliner. There are a couple advantages to doing that. First off, they live in an older single wide trailer. The doors on the bathrooms are not normal house width. The doors are too narrow to accommodate her small wheelchair, so she has to walk from the doorway, into the bathroom, and back. Even cutting out the doorway, and installing a normal width doorway, the bathroom is still too narrow for any real maneuverability to get good leverage, if she falls again. Their living room is spacious. A portable potty could be put right next to her recliner either permanently, or simply as needed. There is just the two of them, and they don't get many visitors, so in the event of visitors, my cousin could move the potty into the spare bedroom. Being spacious, the living room allows for better positioning for leverage.

My Aunt is 89, and will be 90 this Sept. She was doing really good, until about 4 years ago, when she was in a car accident. No she was not driving. Another thing, she had her flu shots, but caught a flu bug. She barely got over it, and before she gained her strength back, went to the doctor's office, then the grocery store, and caught it again. She's just now getting over it the second time, but is very weak. Even after a younger, healthy person gets over the initial bad symptoms of some of these bugs, it take awhile to regain full strength. She got the double whammy, without regaining her strength, so that's why it's become a problem, for now.

 

[oldrooster]

GAC there are packets of in essence something like baby wipes that are made to give in essence sponge bath to a person who cannot be in the tub/shower, also there is dry shampoo most people have heard of to "wash" hair, it kinda works, but there is a newer version that had a pad of solution in a "shower cap" that can be heated (nuked) and you massage it on one's head, while not perfect it works pretty well. so she can get clean and not fall in the bathroom. I was hospitalized a few times and I was glad I had heard of the shower cap thingy they wanted me to sponge bath a few times using the pack of cloths and I asked a nurse about the cap some nursing students in a different town had been talking about the cap and I knew enough to ask, the nurse I had didn't know about it, she asked someone else and I got one and used it, she was glad to find out they had them and that they worked.

 

[bobbi-j]

I have a friend who has seizures about 2 times a year, and the last 4 have been when he is in the bathtub! He bangs around pretty good with the seizures so he needs to go to the hospital for evaluation after - concussion, sprains, etc. His house is a bi-level and due to the angles, the rescue cannot use the gurney to carry him out of the house. He usually walks out the front door and lays down for them to strap him down and take him away. He is not really totally aware of what is going on for a time afterwards, but he did manage to get underwear on the last couple of times before leaving the house.

Now that’s the kind of patient to have! In my 30+ years in EMS, I’ve helped get people out of small bathrooms and other tight quarters. One larger lady in her tiny bathroom between the stool and the inward swinging door, the unresponsive stroke patient in the motor home, and the 400 lb man in the camper bathroom (I wasn’t on that one.) It gets interesting.

She has all the rails, and things in the bathroom, but did not have the strength to pull herself up, nor did she have the strength in her legs to stand. She has a bad shoulder, from a car accident, that can not be fixed, so simply pulling her up, or lifting under that arm is not a good option. She was dressed, so that wasn't an issue. When we started to lift her, and I realized we might hurt her, I began talking about using a beach towel, or folding a large sheet over a few times, to use as a sling. We decided to scoot a large towel under her butt, and lift. She had her arms around our shoulders as we lifted. It worked beautifully. We got her into her wheelchair, and then to her recliner. She sleeps in the recliner.

We discussed getting her a portable potty to put next to her recliner. There are a couple advantages to doing that. First off, they live in an older single wide trailer. The doors on the bathrooms are not normal house width. The doors are too narrow to accommodate her small wheelchair, so she has to walk from the doorway, into the bathroom, and back. Even cutting out the doorway, and installing a normal width doorway, the bathroom is still too narrow for any real maneuverability to get good leverage, if she falls again. Their living room is spacious. A portable potty could be put right next to her recliner either permanently, or simply as needed. There is just the two of them, and they don't get many visitors, so in the event of visitors, my cousin could move the potty into the spare bedroom. Being spacious, the living room allows for better positioning for leverage.

My Aunt is 89, and will be 90 this Sept. She was doing really good, until about 4 years ago, when she was in a car accident. No she was not driving. Another thing, she had her flu shots, but caught a flu bug. She barely got over it, and before she gained her strength back, went to the doctor's office, then the grocery store, and caught it again. She's just now getting over it the second time, but is very weak. Even after a younger, healthy person gets over the initial bad symptoms of some of these bugs, it take awhile to regain full strength. She got the double whammy, without regaining her strength, so that's why it's become a problem, for now.

Sounds like a bedside commode would be a good thing for her.

 

[getaclue]

The bedside commode is on it's way. She gets sponge bathed, and there is a foam my cousin was talking about that she uses. As for her hair, she leans her head forward in the sink, and they have a sprayer. Her hair is short, so it's not difficult.