Taking shower after surgery....

[pal]

Currently on my 2nd week after my surgery. Can somebody share there experience of taking shower and how to get into bath tub.

thanks,
pal

[Theresa]

Hi Pal,

My first week of showers my husband had to help me with them. We had installed a flexible hand held shower head and I also used a shower seat. We have a stand alone shower. The shower seat and the hand held shower head really helped alot! Our tub is so big that I couldn't take a bath for months. I could get in it but I couldn't get out! I did some trial runs every so often with no water. Those first showers felt so good! We would adjust the nozzle so that it was a gentle flow of water coming out. I was so proud of myself when I was able to do it myself. I used the shower seat for quite a few months. Just remember that this is not forever and you will get past this hurdle and feel great!

[LindaRacine]

Hi Pal...

You should ask Dr. Boachie's office, but I'm guessing that they'll tell you no baths for awhile. If you're talking about taking a shower, I'm trying to imagine why you might think it was difficult.

Regards,
Linda

[JLozada1013]

Hi Pal,

I wish you well on a speedy and safe recovery. As for showers? I was in the hospital for almost a month, and I was too weak to get into the patient showers; therefore the nurses or nurses assistants had to give me sponge baths. Boy did those hurt. Even when they are trying to be cautious, the littlest wipe hurt like hell. I was not able to take a shower until after a month and a half past, the water pressure from our shower head felt like BB pellets and that was the gentlest setting. I took baths and my husband was able to assist me during bath time and boy was that torture too. I hated the fact that something so simple like taking a shower or bath could be so detrimental.

Trust me pal, you've been through the worst (your surgery), now you have to concentrate on getting better and taking it easy for those first couple of months. Take care and get well to a speedy recovery.

-Jessy

[jc3]

hi pal
i see that you are recovering from surgery with dr. boachie. My daughter is 4 months post op and dr. boachie did her surgery. She is doing great. We were just there on thursday for a check up and went into the hospital to visit two girls from the message board that just had surgery with him as well and got to say hi to some of the nurses. It was nice to be just a visitor this time.
Hope your recovery goes well and as for showers, i had to help my daughter for a while and we had a shower seat. She wouldn't let the water go on her back fearing it would hurt to much, she still doesn't like it.
good luck
jennifer

[LindaRacine]

Like Theresa, the shower felt absolutely wonderful on my back. In fact, I took 2 showers a day for the first 4-6 weeks.

--Linda

[Mary Lou]

My daugher couldn't wait for her first shower. She wasn't allowed to shower until the 10th day after surgery and the first thing she said to me that day was when can I get a shower. We have a walk in shower with a built in seat and she used that without assistance from the first shower on. She switched back to own shower within two weeks which has a tub and no seat. She is three months post-op and still hasn't taken a tub bath, but then again, she never was one for tub baths.

Like Linda, Jamie loved the water on her back and looks forward to going to p.t. right now just to be able to soak in the hot water with the jets hitting her back. I think the warm water from the shower actually helped relax her so she would sleep better after her surgery.

Mary Lou

[blairf83]

I was dying for a shower too... However, we have one of those wierd old houses and the bathroom on the main floor only had a claw foot tub... So I ended up bathing with assistance until my 2 week appointment when I was allowed to climb the stairs.
Getting into the tub went ok.... My grandmother had one of those step aerobic sets, so we borrowed it for me to use as an extra step to get into the tub. If it's too big a step up for you, see if you can find something like that....

Then we put a medium height stool in the tub for me to sit on...
I was worried about slipping even with those little sticky things in the bottom of the tub, so we just laid an old towel down in the bottom. That did the trick just fine.

I wasn't allowed to lift my hands above shoulder level for 2 weeks, so my mom had to wash my hair for me.

When I got home from my 2 week and was allowed to climb stairs again, I took the LONGEST shower ever. Ran the hot water tank absolutely dry.

I wasn't able to comfortably use a tub (the normal way) and get up and down out of it for probably around 8 months!

[Heathmoose]

shower after surgery

When I had my surgery last April (also w/ Boachie) I was in the hospital for 2 weeks. When I went to rehab that's where I was able to have my first shower...they had a special shower room. When I got home I put a shower chair in the bathtub and had a hand held shower and would sort of just sit there and occassionally stand up. I had so little energy that I would only shower once a week for a while and in the beginnning only when my husband was home. The pain meds made me whoozy, but once I was off of them I was better abel to funtion and shower standing up.
Heather

[HGD24]

Pal,
I am 5 weeks post-op and am also using a shower chair and hand-held shower head for bathing. My husband washes my back and lower legs because we still haven't purchased a long-handled sponge. I took my first shower on day 2 of being home and it was the best shower of my life! Although it is tough to get up the energy to get into the shower, once I'm in, the warm water feels so good and helps to relax my aching muscles. I usually shower 2-3 times a week at this point and am starting to stand for part of the shower.