I told my husband I had to go blog - and he looked at me and asked - okay what did I do now?? I told him he could read all about it in a minute! :)
And he did nothing wrong. I have just been mulling this over.
We have a shower issue. In all the years, we have been together I have NEVER seen my husband take a bath. He is a shower guy. He hates the entire idea of a bath.
Okay --- but he won't be able to put ANY weight on his foot for 6 months. SIX MONTHS.
(Are you seeing the problem?!)
It simply won't be safe to try to balance on one foot in the shower - not to mention how would he get in and out of the tub with only one leg - hop in? All I can see is an emergency visit after that! Well, actually what would even be worse is to have to call 911 to 'explain' why we need help after he fell (not clothed) in the shower and even more embarrassing for him - when emergency personnel come to help. (I bet emergency personnel just have great dinner conversations! So what happened to you today - well I had to haul a naked guy out of a tub after he fell!)
So baths are it. And he is totally opposed. TOTALLY. He has actually claimed he is going stinky.
Hmmmmm - 6 months without a shower? That isn't working for me. I happened to mention this to my Dad (another guy who is not a bath guy!). He actually mentioned that we could put a chair (for him to sit on) over the floor drain in the basement. Hook up a hose to the sink (which has warm water) and hose him down. (Do any of you watch Desperate Housewives? Okay I confess I do and love it. And there is no redeeming value to the show but I still like it. Anyway, Brea's husband was in a wheelchair and refused to shower - so she took him outside with dish soap. Poured the dish soap all over him and turned the hose on!) When my Dad suggested this I actually had that episode come to mind! Except it was in our basement with dearest hubby not clothed. And I thought he is NEVER going to go for that! And how on earth would I keep the kids away?
I have decided he has to become a bath guy. One, because cleanliness prevents infection and two - because seriously - it's gross and I don't want 6 months of stinky in my bed! Of course now that I ponder this some more ---- I am not sure if he could stand up if he was in the bath tub anyway. How do you stand up from down there with only one leg? It would have to be one strong leg! We might have to find a chair to put in our tub. That might work.
We do have one other option. My parents have a walk in shower --- it is not a tub - and there is no hopping required to get into their shower. We could drive to their house. A chair could easily be put in that shower where stinky could sit and shower. So we do have that option. The problem is it is about 20 - 25 minutes to their house.
The hose option is starting to look better and better. Either that or a chair in the tub! We shall see.
Any ideas?
3 comments:
Debbie,
When I came home from the hospital, I was too weak to stand in the shower. Bill put our step stool/chair in the tub and it worked great. Could he stick his leg out of the shower like that? Then there's always the option of the sponge bath, which is very desirable when you're in pain. Good luck!
Lori
That might work. Thank you for the suggestion. I will have to keep that in mind too. He can't get it wet until we have the stitches removed in a week but then he can --- the issue is that he can't put any weight -- not even toe touches - on his right foot. The stool or chair might work if we can find a way to get him on to it. With only one leg he can't really hop into the tub.
I did ask the physical therapist when she came to help size him for crutches. She was a wealth of information (turns out she is someone I know from our church - small world!) She had a catalog full of stuff and even found various vendors that all sold stuff - told us to shop around as they all have different pricing. She recommended a bench like thing where he could sit down and slide into the tub and stay sitting on the bench while showering. I think that would work - it is called a transfer bench and is about $75. I love the stool / chair idea as it would be cheaper but this transfer bench might be the safest route. We shall see. He can't do anything more than sponge baths for a week. So I have some time to look around. Plus my MIL thought it wouldn't be a bad thing to get as eventually as they get older they might need it.
Thank you for the ideas though. Until you go through something like this, I have to admit I have just never thought about it. Or had to look into solutions. I suppose anyone with older parents might have had to deal with shower issues. Our parents are just not at that stage thankfully. So it has never come up before.
Debbie--I was going to suggest that transfer bench--we had that for my grandmother. And I'm sorry, but I'm laughing at a memory here--soon after my first was born (at the hospital, in fact:)--I hit my husband up for a deep soaker tub--our former tub was a very shallow cast iron--and when becoming a SAHM-I knew I'd need an "escape"---so, I got more than I wished for---he said if he was going to all that trouble, he may as well put a spa tub in---here's the issue--he's an engineer--so he decided to take this MAJOR bathroom project on himself, since it would save us a TON of money and be done the way he wanted---well, I'll skip all the details--but he started end of March and finished in early August---(this was a MAJOR project)----OH---we only have a bath and a half---we were WITHOUT a tub or a shower for that whole time frame! you would have been so grossed out:D
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