1. < Caregivers

Help With Home Supplies

Posted by cyd @cyd, Aug 5, 2020

Hello all, I'm looking for suggestions on how to cut down on some of the costs with incontinence supplies after bringing a loved one home from long term care. He is not expected to make any great improvements with his health. The family simply could no longer afford the $7000 a month care and on top of that he had a total of 3 falls with 2 hospital stays while in that facility so they brought him home. I've tried to research this topic, it seems as there is no help financially through Medicare with the costs of adult diapers. Any information would be appreciated. We live in Florida. Thank you.

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ZeeGee | @fourof5zs | Aug 19, 2020
In reply to @gingerw "@fourof5zs I am sorry to hear you have had to place your mom into hospice. It..." + (show)
@gingerw

@fourof5zs I am sorry to hear you have had to place your mom into hospice. It is not an easy decision, to be sure, and you must be exhausted mentally and emotionally. Your input here is greatly appreciated!

@cyd How are you doing these days? Have you been able to track down any sources that be of assistance for your loved one?
Ginger

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@gingerw Ginger I am tired. So what I write may not make much sense. .. may rattle on too much. My mom turned 92 in March.. her strokes coming closer together.. months instead of years apart. I knew the day would be coming soon for this decision or she would just pass away. I was praying for the latter. She can can only have two family members visit her... no one else, just two. That is difficult on others in our family. So my oldest brother and I are visiting with her. My other brother lives out in Washington State... not advisable to fly to the SW part of Georgia where we still have many hospitalized with covid. I told him no need to come. They are only allowing graveside services. My husband and I made arrangement for her burial months ago before covid hit.

I thought with at least my experience with donating to Easter Seals might help. My mom's diapers have been passed on to my sister-in-law for her mom along with disposalbe pads that keep the bed or chair seat dry. I finally went to cloth on those. My mom's dog lives with us and he sleeps in her chair at night and the seat pad helps keep the chair clean.. he is a paw licker 🙄.

We are trying to decide if we want to sell that chair.. it is a lift chair and is in great shape. Ziggy, a mostly black mini poodle, has slept there since my mom went in the nursing home in January. He misses his mama. He has always responded to her voice on the phone... and he looks for her. Now she is unable to speak. We are trying to get the hospice to let me bring him in just for a few minutes. I think dogs.. or cats and maybe other pets we have.. grieve as we do. We were able to take him to visit her up until covid hit.

I looked on facebook for a group. In search option type in used or leftover medical supplies and click on the option of group. I did not find much, but other terms might find something. It has been 5 years since I had searched for a place to donate my supplies.. so things change. A search of Marketplace might come up with what you are looking for .. which the tab is usually on the home page of your account somewhere in that mix. Where it is at depends on the device you are on. Just regular pc it should be in the options on the far left list. We sold a futon using it with no problems. You might also check your local yard/garage sale groups there or other places on the internet. Many people give away medical supplies as I did or they charge a small price. No one in the group I tried back then was looking for that specific formula or bags.

One more thing... the best diaper and pull-up brand we found in Abri Flex. Their pull-up held mom's output 99.9% of the time overnight. Expensive but changes are less often, so worked out about the same.

Time for me to get going... I am glad cyd asked the question and maybe this post will help others.

Zee Gee

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1 reply
Mentor
Ginger, Volunteer Mentor | @gingerw | Aug 19, 2020
In reply to @fourof5zs "@gingerw Ginger I am tired. So what I write may not make much sense. .. may..." + (show)
@fourof5zs

@gingerw Ginger I am tired. So what I write may not make much sense. .. may rattle on too much. My mom turned 92 in March.. her strokes coming closer together.. months instead of years apart. I knew the day would be coming soon for this decision or she would just pass away. I was praying for the latter. She can can only have two family members visit her... no one else, just two. That is difficult on others in our family. So my oldest brother and I are visiting with her. My other brother lives out in Washington State... not advisable to fly to the SW part of Georgia where we still have many hospitalized with covid. I told him no need to come. They are only allowing graveside services. My husband and I made arrangement for her burial months ago before covid hit.

I thought with at least my experience with donating to Easter Seals might help. My mom's diapers have been passed on to my sister-in-law for her mom along with disposalbe pads that keep the bed or chair seat dry. I finally went to cloth on those. My mom's dog lives with us and he sleeps in her chair at night and the seat pad helps keep the chair clean.. he is a paw licker 🙄.

We are trying to decide if we want to sell that chair.. it is a lift chair and is in great shape. Ziggy, a mostly black mini poodle, has slept there since my mom went in the nursing home in January. He misses his mama. He has always responded to her voice on the phone... and he looks for her. Now she is unable to speak. We are trying to get the hospice to let me bring him in just for a few minutes. I think dogs.. or cats and maybe other pets we have.. grieve as we do. We were able to take him to visit her up until covid hit.

I looked on facebook for a group. In search option type in used or leftover medical supplies and click on the option of group. I did not find much, but other terms might find something. It has been 5 years since I had searched for a place to donate my supplies.. so things change. A search of Marketplace might come up with what you are looking for .. which the tab is usually on the home page of your account somewhere in that mix. Where it is at depends on the device you are on. Just regular pc it should be in the options on the far left list. We sold a futon using it with no problems. You might also check your local yard/garage sale groups there or other places on the internet. Many people give away medical supplies as I did or they charge a small price. No one in the group I tried back then was looking for that specific formula or bags.

One more thing... the best diaper and pull-up brand we found in Abri Flex. Their pull-up held mom's output 99.9% of the time overnight. Expensive but changes are less often, so worked out about the same.

Time for me to get going... I am glad cyd asked the question and maybe this post will help others.

Zee Gee

Jump to this post

@fourof5zs See Gee please be gentle on yourself. You have so much going on right now. I hope you are able to get your mom's little dog in to visit with her. Afterall, he is a family member, too!
Ginger

REPLY
pattyinal | @pattyinal | Oct 16, 2022

Does anyone else deal with resistance to changing the wet pull-ups? My husband has lost his sense of smell and will be soaked through and still be unwilling to change. He’s a sweet, kind man but will get angry and shove or hit me when I try to insist. I have pads on the bed and furniture and he wears Sensi pull-ups which are highly absorbent. Still it seems the washer is going every day and the smell is awful. I welcome any suggestions.

REPLY
1 reply
Mentor
Scott, Volunteer Mentor | @IndianaScott | Oct 17, 2022
In reply to @pattyinal "Does anyone else deal with resistance to changing the wet pull-ups? My husband has lost his..." + (show)
@pattyinal

Does anyone else deal with resistance to changing the wet pull-ups? My husband has lost his sense of smell and will be soaked through and still be unwilling to change. He’s a sweet, kind man but will get angry and shove or hit me when I try to insist. I have pads on the bed and furniture and he wears Sensi pull-ups which are highly absorbent. Still it seems the washer is going every day and the smell is awful. I welcome any suggestions.

Jump to this post

Hi, @pattyinal You pose a tough question for sure. I know each patient is different, but here is what I did for a while. I looked at changing and set it with her as a regular occurrence in our daily schedule. At first it was every four hours. If it was dry, I kept it for later. She soon came to accept that this was just part of her day. After some time doing this, I was able to say we needed to change since it was 'that time' and it helped with the complaining and reluctance.

As to the washer, for years I did at least a load a day. It was just the way it had to be for her. At least that did help keep the smells in check. On the other hand, it did wear out a hot water heater and I had to increase the size of our septic drainfield.

I hope this might help somehow.

Strength, Courage, & Peace

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