One-armed showering

[allenuk]

Hello.

No, not for me - I haven't had more bits drop off!

My dear wife has broken her arm, thus can't use her arm/hand for the next n-weeks.

Any useful easy tips on things like showering? She's just realised that there are bits of her body that she can't reach with her one good hand.

Any sites for showering-type aids would be handy (forget cooking, that'll be me for the time being).


Thanks.


Allen.

[ann58]

Now come on Allen....you have two good arms to help the wife don't you?? Hope my answer isn't to rank for anyone LOL

[mitchee]

Hi Allen.

If your wife needs to keep her arm dry...

My mom had a cast on her arm last spring. She covered the cast with a plastic bag and a rubber band for showering. Just be careful that the rubber band isn't too tight. The rubber band should be snug enough to keep the water out of the plastic bag but not tight enough to cut off any circulation or cause pain. I know that there are cast protectors made specifically for showering. Try... www.xerosox.com/index.html or ebay.

My mom also used a sponge that was attached to wand so that she could shower easier. It was similar to the one pictured below. We ended up buying one at the grocery store. It was designed to wash dishes but it worked perfectly for her. lol

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0007PCHIG?ie=UTF8&tag=focusondisability-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=B0007PCHIG

The hardest part for my mom was washing her hair. I don't have any suggestions for that one. It just took practice.

Good luck and I hope her arm heals quickly.

Michelle

[allenuk]

Thanks for the Xersox, Maggie's had one delivered, and it is a handy thing.

It's things like hairwashing, where (apparently) you have to use two hands to squeeze the water out after washing it - never got involved in that myself...

Does anyone (Helen?) know of any arm amputee websites, on the lines of our one, where she might get help and advice?


Allen.

[bluedogz]

Sept 19, 2009 4:45:49 GMT -7 allenuk said:

Does anyone (Helen?) know of any arm amputee websites, on the lines of our one, where she might get help and advice?

Why do you think we're here on this site, Allen? Groups like this are the best we've got.

That said, I found lots of good ideas at sites that supply for the senior market; i.e.-stroke victims. One good one, although a tad pricey, was www.sammonspreston.com. Although, most stuff in their inventory is for people who WANT to get wet...

[allenuk]

Hello bluedogz.

GROVELLING apologies. I don't know what I was thinking about...

Maybe I was making the assumption that we were all leg amps, rather than a mix - it's just that arm-amps seem a bit under-represented out in cyberspace. But perhaps we are ALL a bit under-represented!

Thanks for the reminder.

A.

[bluedogz]

No grovelling, please... I have to turn my snark-meter down and sometimes I forget.

AFAIK, upperex amps represent less than 10% of the amp population as a whole, which is kind of a subset to begin with! So, there's not a whole lot of us out there. I expect this has something to do with the troubles at such groups as UNOC and UpperEx.com.

Anyhow, the shower question might be answered by a handheld. Not the kind a plumber has to install, but the kind that just screw on the showerhead by hand. They can be had over here at any hardware store- perhaps B&Q might have one? That way she can point the water wherever.

[ampgk]

Sept 22, 2009 6:39:15 GMT -7 bluedogz said:

AFAIK, upperex amps represent less than 10% of the amp population as a whole, which is kind of a subset to begin with! So, there's not a whole lot of us out there. I expect this has something to do with the troubles at such groups as UNOC and UpperEx.com.

My understanding is that the upper extremity population is likely closer to 15%, although ACA has cited the less than ten percent figure on occasion, with a (USA) total population estimated perhaps as as low as 50,000. I think NHS in Britain typically reports a little over 200 new arm amps annually, added to a population of...I don't know.

Numbers for the USA are no better than gross estimates, and CDC, which should be providing these statistics, publishes their methods but not their results (it's great to be a CDC statistician). CDC is allegedly in partnership with ACA's National Limb Loss Information Center to provide these figures, but ACA bases their numbers on an unpublished study by Johns Hopkins because they can't get anything useful from CDC.

UNOC/UpperEx seriously overestimated the size of their target demographic (they probably missed the average age as well), but I believe other problems led them to close the doors.

[allenuk]

One other random thought about arms/legs, is this. It struck me when I was waiting for my below-knee amputation a few years back that if I had a choice in the matter, I'd rather lose a leg than an arm.

And watching Maggie, who has only lost the use of her arm for the next couple of months, my opinion is confirmed! I know arm-amps do amazing things, and I salute them, but losing a leg is far less of a problem in 'real' terms.

(Don't all shout at once, you fellow leg-amps).

Allen.

[bluedogz]

I believe ampgk is right re: UpperEx/UNOC, but as I've said before I'm not gonna spread or confirm info where I've got no facts.

Thanks for the props, there, Allen. Often it feels like nobody at all recognizes the challenge of being an amp overall. I'm often thankful that God left me my legs, but sometime I think a leg might have been an easier road.

Re: wringing out hair: Mrs. Blue drew my attention to a towel with a elastic sewn in one end that she found in the Sammons catalog. This would allow one-handed hair drying the old fashioned way. I might suggest warning Maggie not to wash her hair 15 minutes before she has to be somewhere, though.

[armamp95]

There are special hair drying towels/turbans, made of extra absorbent stuff, that work quite well. The bigger problem, though, can be styling ... blow drying effectively, putting hair up in curlers, fastening a neat ponytail, etc. Whenever the conversation turns to hairdos, we female arm amps pay extra close attention to helpful hints!

[snowyh]

Sept 19, 2009 4:45:49 GMT -7 allenuk said:

Does anyone (Helen?) know of any arm amputee websites, on the lines of our one, where she might get help and advice?

You know, Allen , I don't know of any. But, as Maggie's situation is temporary, I think by the time she ordered anything she'd no longer have a need? Ann's advice is the same I would have offered had she not beaten me to the punch--I think it's a great opportunity for you to lend a helping hand in the shower, or washing her hair.

I'm pretty lousy at giving arm-amp advice, as I have adapted very well to living in a two-handed world (I've had 35+ years of practice, mind you). Any assistive devices I ever had were not used for long before being discarded. I just found it easier to figure out how to do things with one hand than to depend on a device. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Helen