My father is no longer able to stand, and he cannot roll on his side, or he has serious breathing difficulties (he has lung cancer). Do you have any advice as to what we can do? Until recently, we could get the diapers on him standing, but he's no longer able to stand, and we've been struggling to hold him up to get them on, and it hurts us and him. I know there's the standard method, lying down, where you roll your patient from side to side, but my father cannot breathe (because of his cancer), when he's lying on his side. Can anyone please help?
They go around each thigh and have loops on the top. The loops are then attached to a Hoyer Lift. the Hoyer is then raised and that raises the lower half of the body. I found that raising my husbands legs while lowering the bed a bit gave me enough room to pretty quickly change him.
There is a Youtube video that demonstrates how they work. I purchased the straps through Amazon as it was a little less expensive than other places that had them.
Hope this helps.
The only other thing I can suggest is using bed-pans and bottles on a fixed schedule, and plenty of absorbent pads on the bed; but obviously that will only work if your father retains any sense of urgency when he needs to go.
Do you have a hospital bed for your father, so that you can change his lying position easily?
Another thought, using a catheter for urine would help cut down on the number of changes.
If you are trying to care for him at home, it may be time for a facility hospice, were there would be sufficient staff to attend as mother nature calls. The catheter suggestion is very good as well - all this jarring must be very uncomfortable to the patient.
Best of luck
I understand that he still won't be able to breathe when he is on his side, but hopefully this is a quicker method. You could also consider a catheter, which would make all of the above a moot point.
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