iopele

I'm a pediatric home care nurse and my 14 year old client has CP with spastic quadriplegia that led to a 55 degree scoliotic curve. He also has asthma and a history of frequent bouts of pneumonia--4 times in the last 12 months. He had his spinal fusion surgery today, and although he'll be in the hospital for at least a week, I'm already worrying about caring for him at home once he's discharged. I know everything emphasizes how important it is to WALK WALK WALK after this surgery, but how can I best support this child who can't move independently at all? He's also unable to do deep-breathing exercises--the best I've been able to figure out is to try and get him to laugh during his nebulizer treatments so he at least gets a few deep breaths in. But after the surgery, I'm not sure he'll be in a laughing mood--either in pain or groggy from the meds. If anyone's got some good tactics or advice, I'd sure appreciate it! On a side note, his father's a Navy medic who doesn't know how to use the Hoyer lift they've got in their home and 2 weeks ago he decided he didn't like the Hoyer sling and literally hid it somewhere so I can't find it! He substituted it with a sling designed for a different kind of lift they had before, and this sling doesn't work well AT ALL with the Hoyer. It doesn't offer any kind of back or head support and spreads the child's legs so wide he cries because it hurts his hips, which don't have much ROM. Dad doesn't think the Hoyer sling is the right size, but my client's physical therapist measured him and it IS the right size. It's the same thing I use multiple times daily to transfer my client at the school he attends. Dad is flat-out refusing my requests to give me back the correct sling, and when my client comes out of the hospital, I absolutely do not feel comfortable using this floppy sling and am going to have to refuse to transfer my client at all if this is the only sling available to me. This isn't a fight I'm looking forward to having, because every time I've brought it up, I get the "well he's a medic so he knows what he's talking about" instant dismissal even though he himself admits he's never learned to use the Hoyer (not like it's hard!). ARGH! Any suggestions on how to deal with this? Sorry for rambling! Thanks for any help-- Amy