Looking for tips handling toileting needs for wheelchair bound

Greetings @jzs. Welcome to Connect. You have presented a significant concern, I began my relationship with Connect as a Caregiver for my life partner through his battle with prostate surgery and follow-up 30-day radiation. As I recall, there were staff members to help him throughout his time at the hospital. They also provide you with a team member by phone 24 hours a day when you need some help from home. I required help to understand and be able to handle a urine blockage or other post-surgery issues.

Have you asked for assistance during your visits? After the surgery, one of the nurses was starting to show him how to give himself injections. When I heard him screaming..........from his room, I walked in and told them that I, too was giving myself daily injections so I could help him. They then included me when instruction was necessary.

Actually, the magic was the way in which our relationship developed during the surgery and treatments.

May you and your husband be safe, free, and protected from inner and outer harm.
Chris

When I was in a wheelchair for 6 months, toileting was about the most humbling part of my ordeal. In just 10 days, my sudden Neuropathy took my legs and my hands, so I had to be lifted onto the toilet and wiped when done. I have never been so appreciative of medical assistants in my life for doing that! But I was in a rehab home. These people were trained to do the job, and sometimes it took 2 people and they had belts/tools to help. It was the extensive PT over 5 weeks in the facility that made it such where I could safely transfer myself (with bars) from wheelchair to toilet. PT was able to help get wiping ability back too to a manageable degree. At home, I needed to continue PT (and have a caregiver present) to regain as much more strength and ability that I could. Toileting by myself was my #1 motivation, even before feeding myself. I can only guess your husband would love to be independent as possible too. Is in home care and/or PT an option to help bridge the gap while he gets through this challenging period and work to maintain and improve strength & balance? Thinking of you both and praying for quick recovery.

@jzs
I don't think there are any magical answers.
Although not always ideal, he might try a condom catheter with a leg bag when out or sitting in a wheelchair at home. Indweling catheters another option but they often cause infections if sterile procedures aren't observed.
They also have single-use indwelling catheters when needed. I don't like indwelling catheters because they may increase bladder cancer as happened to my dad between the catheters irritating the bladder and risk increasing if an infection is present.
Toiliting wheelchairs are available and can are wheeled over the toilet if able to transfer to one. If unable to lift or transfer, a lift like a house lift with a sling with a hole is available.
The options I mentioned are from many years back when my dad was paralyzed from the neck down.
Perhaps an Occupational therapist may have other options. Have you sought advice from a Urologist or other specialists who deal in bladder and bowel care?
Take care,
Jake

That’s one of the most degrading issues I have had in the past.
Being unable to clean yourself after having a bm was very hard for me.
I was embarassed even with my husband doing it.
I could sense how repulsed he was when I would have a very messy stool or diarrhea.
The best thing I did was get a toilet seat that cleanses you with water and even has a dryer mode.
I bought it on Amazon and it’s the best thing I ever did.
Lately I’ve been having severe cramping and diarrhea episodes after eating dinner sometimes.
I never know what the culprit is, and when it will strike.
As a result I’m afraid to go out and eat too far from home for fear of an accident.
I can’t imagine being out somewhere and having an episode.
I have done some testing for celiac disease, and some malabsorption diseases.
So far they were negative, even stool testing I did.
I do have an appt at my gastroenterologist next week to discuss results.
Hope she has some answers for me.
I did have emergency surgery last Nov for a tear in my intestine, and this was when this started,months after the surgery.

Neuropathy can have an impact on your bladder, and digestive system. They have nerves that are impacted too, depending on what type of neuropathy you have. You can read about autonomic neuropathy.
I have unpredictable bowels these days. So I carry that “poo-pouri” deodorizing spray in my purse, and sometimes remember a small pack of wipes.

Thank you soooooo much for your comment. Have been seriously looking into the bidet addition for months now, wondering if the toilet seat versions might work as well as the standalones available to us when growing up in Europe. Am told eventually may be in the same boat, and not all bathrooms in the US are large enough to accommodate the standalones.

I got the VOVO Smart Elongated toilet seat with many options
Look up VOVO site, mine was $399.00 and came with a remote control.

Me too, I always carry wipes and baby powder plus pads.
You can never be too safe, especially when I can’t feel the need to go at times due to my neuropathy.

Reading the above and sympathize - I thought my situation was bad but being in a wheelchair and having to use washroom never occurred to me how difficult it would be. I had radiation damage to bowel then IbsD and then 2018/19 too many antibiotics or utis and c.diff and since then fecal incontinence.... stools are “mushy” and clean up is a task and I rarely go out, shop etc. Also get a lot of UTI’s have one at present but hard to keep area soil-free! And glad we have washer and dryer...but reading how much harder it is and would be, being in a wheelchair, or paralyzed!! What worries me is the future and if moved to a home for aged or such and lying in excrement until the next shift of nurses aides - reading a story of a man left for hours - the aides were fired but in their defence they were swamped with the number of other patients/residents needing help. We still have to eat so we still have to poop - and disposable underwear may sop up urine incontinence it doesn't work for fecal - also the smell, the mess, the cleanup - no magic solution for sure and although I feel upset for myself (and have other illnesses) I feel very much for those in wheelchairs or unable to even clean themselves... I never gave that a thought, sorry. (My daughter has an automatic toilet, with water spray etc but as a person with a vaginal and with frequent bladder infections I am concerned about, and have read about, the water spraying fecal germs into those areas for a woman..... ???

I agree about the humility and gratitude involved in needing help toileting, in getting on a toilet from a wheelchair and back again.
Some “accessible” stalls are still too tight for an easy transfer. However, an inexpensive wooden slide board, recommended by a PT, was very helpful for months in helping me transfer from a wheelchair (with movable arms) to a toilet and back. I still needed help from my husband in getting pants up and down, but have managed more on my own recently—without the slide board or my husband with me. This is where PT and upper body strength have helped me as well.
Thanks for opening an issue that is most often hidden in dealing with a loss of mobility—the need for a wheelchair for managing distances, and then needing help with what used to be a private bodily function.