[kimgilaby]

Hi its been awhile since I've posted anything about this new experience for my husband. He is 7 months post and we are now being told by his workmans comp insurance that he needs to start performing his own digital stim for his bowel program. My husband does his buisness on a daily schedule and goes pretty much every day. He is a T-8 para and has titanium rods fusing his spine from the T-5 to L-4 and his balance is not great yet. Add to that he has gained alot of weight since the accident because he is depressed alot of the time from just sitting at home all day because I had to return to work to make ends(barely) meet.

So heres the question, How many people perform their own Stim while using a comode chair and how do you reach up there? I know this is a personal question but I haven't been able to get a good answer and I am so afraid of him falling while I'm at work.

[carole338]

I am a t10/11 - L2 incomplete so I have some balance. I do my own stim on a special toilet seat on top of the regular seat. It opens to the side so I can reach. It took me more than 7 months to get to this point. Trial and error. Just be careful when he tries a different method.

Good Luck

[Lucydog]

he might find it easier to lie on the bed. Depends on how quickly the dig stim works (trying to be tactful)

[kimgilaby]

We have thought of the bed method but I still don't see how that will work. He can reach in that positon but the clean up is harder and he doesnt like the idea of excuse my language here but "sh*ting where he sleeps.

I have been told about tools that will help but they cost alot and we don't want to get one without knowing it might help. Has anyone used one of those?

[BillS]

I'm a T8 para and I've always taken care of my bowel and bladder care. My method is to insert a suppository about a half hour before I do the digital stimulation. I'll wake up pop in the supp. then hit the snooze alarm a few times. I toss a towel on my cushion before I transfer to my chair just in case there might be a "problem". I'll then transfer over to a standard toilet seat, not raised, not a commode chair, just a normal toilet. Then here's my trick. I sit sideways on the seat with my wheelchair sitting right in front of the toilet off to my left side. I'll place my left hand on my chair for balance and lean left. My right hand then has plenty of room to take care of business.

I've been doing it this way for 30 years now and it works for me. I actually find the commode chairs and the raised toilet seats much harder to use then a regular toilet. But maybe I'm just an old school type of guy.

[tinamarie]

Hi,

I am a T10 para with spinal fusion from T5 all the way down to the bottom of my spine. I do my digi stim/bm's while sitting on a 3 in 1 commode chair that has arms. (It can fit over a toilet). I transfer on to it, and hang on tight to one of the arms with one hand while leaning to its side and reaching around to my backside with my other (dominant) hand and do the stim. I've had this long fusion for over 30 years before I became a para 7 months ago, so I was already very used to reaching around to wipe despite having a very immobile spine. I am fairly thin.

My physical therapist has worked a lot with me on balance. Would that be a possibility for your husband?

Sorry to hear he's depressed. So am I. Does he have access to computer? It might help him to come to this site to vent and/or give/get some support to/from the rest of us.

Re: the gaining weight. We try to stock our kitchen mostly with healthy foods. If there were a lot of junk food here, I'm sure I wouldn't be able to control myself from eating it and gaining a ton. I know of a person who belongs to an internet site designed to give support to those who are trying to lose weight. If your husband would be interested in taking a look at such a thing, let me know and I'll find out and send you the name of the site.

Best to both of you and take care,

tinamarie

[longhaul]

Hi, if you live near a shop that deals in equipment for the disabled go there and look at the raised toilet seats and see which ones would work for him, make sure he can get his hand where he needs to. I go between my legs and reach back it's important to be positioned right so the anus is close to the front of the toilet. It should be sturdy and have removable arms because it's easier to transfer from the chair with one arm removed. The best is to get one that fits a regular toilet seat and is about the same height as the chair. I find it easier to use a poor mans bidet which is just a plastic bottle full of warm water used to wash the glove off and clean my self with a small amount of liquid soap. He should be able to get the hang of it PDQ you could stand by for the first couple of times until he gets it down. Don't buy junk food eat loads of veges and some lean meat not much bread or pasta, get some exercise try going for a walk every day. Good luck.

This post has been edited by longhaul: 31 May 2008 - 10:01 PM

[Brokeback Brenda]

I transfer onto my raised toilet, get my pants partway down, prop my feet up on my chair, get my pants down the rest of the way, then my legs will fall open so I can just reach thru the front. I'm a T6 and it's never been hard for me to keep my balance like this, in fact, it's rather easy. It takes me about 15-20 min from on to off the toilet.

[Yong]

I am appalled to hear that the rehab center near you didn't go over all of that with your husband.

I am a T6 complete and have been doing my digital stim about a month post my accident.

When we were renovating our bathroom to accommodate me, I had the contractor anchor in grab bars on the wall next to the toilet so I could use that during transfers. I also hold onto it and lean over to my right side in order to be able to stick my finger up my butt..haha.

Forget suppositories...forget doing your routine in bed... go to home depot and get a grab bar, screw it into the studs in your bathroom wall and just use a commode.

Oh..about falling off. I've done that twice (in rehab once and when I first got home). I think it really is inevitable..sorry to tell ya. If you fall, it's only a learning experience of your limitations and also a lesson in how to get back into your chair.

I'm a 13 months post injury now and am 100% independent (including getting my butt back into the chair from the floor).

[Trinity]

Hi
I'm also a T8, I'm completely independant with my bowel programme, my balance is not great but I have a handle next to the toilet to hold, I have never fallen off (yeah I know, famous last words!)
He should be able to master it no problem.

I'm nearly 14 months post injury and I still can't get my butt from the floor to my chair! However I am 100% independant. Where there's a will there's a way, he just needs the will to do it

Good luck
Trinity

[qbounce]

Where're all the quads? I have a hand held stimulator extention (weak finger strength), and go behind and under due to balance issues. I'm in a roll in shower commode wheelchair. I do one transfer to this chair and shower after, too.

By the way, I know it works for you, but you should consider going every other day. I FINALLY decided to take a rest in between days and it's the BEST decision I've made since I landed here...
not one accident in between, either!

[Kwag_Myers]

The best thing for depression is also the best thing for weight gain - exercise.

As for the program, I’ve been doing my own all along. I had a hard time with a commode because of the arms getting in the way. Now, my balance is better so I use a standard seat.

[russ1]

I'm T2 so balance from core muscles is virtually non existent. However with grab rails and drop down rails balance shouldn't be an issue and I just use a grab rail on one side of the toilet and use my chair on the other side for balance. I use a standard toilet with a non raised pressure relief seat (which means that I can actually use any toilet anywhere that I can get my chair up to to transfer onto) and have been doing my own bowel procedure from about 2 months post injury. As for reaching I just lean forward and put my hand between my legs.

[sincere]

hello, im a t7/8 incomplete but i also use a shower/commode chair... i bowel every other day, take stool softer daily, fiber supp pill one in morning and one at night, but the days i dont poop i drink a little more then a half a cup of prune juice at nite... for upper body strength, must work a routine, it helps with balance etc... but majority of the time my bowel program goes smooth, stimulating for the better i would say do it reaching down under your privates and feel for the hole and insert alittle your finger to you feel the poop but be paitent, keep in mind sometime it comes down on its own but with expirence your husband will learn his way, but when he feel the poop, with the finger go around the poop in a rotation motion and also push and sometimes that helps for me. sometimes my poop is compacted bad that i have to dig it out and with that be paitent, it can be frustrating but its reality but my method works pretty good for me! good luck! something he will have get use too but learn quick to cope and understand the change of lifestyle, its hard but its what you make it. most of the time it comes out on its own but after 20 to 30 minutes i still insert my finger up there to make sure all is out... dont forget i use suppository to 30 to 40 minutes befor using commode.... bye

[squarie41]

tinamarie im interested to know the name of website u have mentioned if thats ok,as hubby put heaps weight on and cant seem to get rid of it.

[kimgilaby]

THanks for the advice everybody. He is trying on a daily basis but as his mom told me he wasn't potty trained the first time in 1 day so we just have to be patient and keep trying.

Keep the tips comeing though we are actually trying everything you suggest till we find something that works.

[wheelz99]

i have a splint made that supports my index finger under a rubber glove. then get on my shower chair over the toilet. and Viola!

[ParapelegicBUD]

Tell your husband to try this......get on toilet with raised seat pull his chair directly in font of him and place legs in front of him on chair as if to indian sit. This gives you more room to move and more balance! hope it works! I am a t5 complete been fully independent since birth, remember practice make perfect!

[KimAndSophie]

qbounce, on Jun 1 2008, 05:04 PM, said:

Where're all the quads? I have a hand held stimulator extention (weak finger strength), and go behind and under due to balance issues. I'm in a roll in shower commode wheelchair. I do one transfer to this chair and shower after, too.

I'm a quad (c6 complete). I just transfer to a regular toilet seat. Both bathrooms here are pretty small, so I leave my wheelchair at a 90 degree angle to the toilet and lean on it. I use supositories and barely ever need to do any digital stim. but even when I do this way I can do it. I can also transfer dirrectly from the toilet to my bath bench, then back into my wheelchair.

[LuckyinKentucky]

I'm fused T6-L2 and have done mine since rehab... learned the mechanics in bed but soon moved on to the toilet. prepare to be exhausted for at least the first month while doing it. I USE AN Activeaid 101 raised/padded seat