I hope someone here can help me. My mother was involved in an MVA on New Year's Day. She has some fractured vertebrae which apparently aren't serious enough for any kind of back brace, but still painful. She has also suffered a fractured right humorous which is currently immobilized in a basket sling. Whether or not she needs surgery will depend upon the follow-up x-rays to be taken Monday. Two years ago she fell on some ice and broke her left radius and ulna near her wrist. She has a plate, rod and several pins in her left wrist and has severely limited use of her left hand and wrist.
She is being discharged today and had a hospital bed delivered to her home this AM. She is able to get herself in and out of bed and her gait is steady.
Okay, here is her problem. Because of her immobilized and painful rt arm and her severely limited left hand, she is not able to wipe herself after stooling. She lives with my stepfather, but there is no way he can do it for her. (When the emergency medicine doctor told my mother this morning that he would just have to "suck it up and do it" I about reached over and yanked that ponytail right off her head.) Even if he could do it, he works full-time and, even though he is able to come home and fix her lunch during the day, he can't be there every single time she has a BM. The occupational therapist who saw her yesterday told her about something called "personal assist toilet tongs" and made it sound like she would be able to get this from the hospital. Well, the OT who saw her this morning said "Oh, no, we don't carry those here. You'll have to get those yourself." She could not suggest anyplace where we might be able to find this. I called all over town to various home health supply companies and either they weren't open on the weekend, had no idea what I was talking about, or would have to special order it and not be able to get it until at least Thursday or Friday.
Does anyone have any suggestions for an alternative for this or some other way she can clean herself after a BM? It may not seem like a big deal, but to her, this is huge. There is no way that someone can be with her all of the time due to our work schedules. She has every other aspect of her ADL's covered and except for this one issue feels she will do okay at home. Another doctor suggested to her that she be transferred to a rehab facility, but she became very upset and refused.
