In Part 1 of this series, I explained how we managed the first stand up shower for my husband – 8 months after his stroke. Up to that point, he was using a transfer chair in the bathtub.
The point of that first post was to show you how you could “try it out” before making any significant changes to your shower setup – that way you would know if it was time to invest in some things to make the process easier.
If you haven’t read that post yet, go here and check it out.
Since we had success with the first shower, we continued with that routine for a few days and each time I paid attention to the things he needed help with and focused on finding solutions to those things.
I’m going to share with you how we set up the shower so that he was able to do his shower routine 100% on his own!
First thing is getting undressed. This was a simple fix that I should have thought of way before now!
A chair. A chair with arms so that he is able to easily get up and down on his own. Sitting in the chair allows your IS (injured spouse) to bend to remove socks, pants, etc. without the fear of tipping or falling.
This is a picture of one of our dining room chairs that we brought into the bedroom for him to sit in. We had to rearrange the furniture somewhat, so you may also need to do that to fit a chair in. The important thing is that you look at your space with determination to make it work.
Now let’s get into the shower set up. I don’t know about you, but our shower stall in our master bedroom is tiny. We have a giant garden tub that never gets used and a tiny shower stall…I wish builders would stop doing that!
Here’s a pic of our shower:
First, we had to make sure he had grab bars to hang on to as he was turning in the shower.
That meant we needed 2 of them.
These grab bars are easy to put up and re-position as needed – they are also small enough to fit in a tight space while still being strong.
We also needed to make sure he would not slip in the shower. I used this shower tape and it’s working great.
Make sure you dry the floor of the stall before installing them so that they stick and stay in place.
Getting the roll of tread tape means you can make them any length you want to. I purchased the individual treads and then ended up buying the roll of tape so that I could customize the size in a couple of places, so learn from my experience and just go with the roll.
Next, we had to make sure he could open, squeeze, and use the soap and shampoo himself.
Put that way, it wasn’t possible. He is not able to hold the washcloth in one hand and squeeze the soap in the other. Bar soap would not work either.
So how to solve for that challenge? A soap and shampoo dispenser!
I did some research on different ones and decided on this Simplehuman one. It works well and was easy to put up with 2-sided tape (although does come with screws as well if you want to do that).
He is able to hold the washcloth in his hand and pull the lever forward so the soap falls on the washcloth. And he can do the same thing with the shampoo except he lets that fall directly in his hand. The dispenser is working very well and I highly recommend this!
FYI ladies – the soap holder has the bonus of a side hook to hold your razor!
Next was making sure he had a way to wash the lower part of his body without the need to bend much since the stall is so small and without the need to raise his legs up as he might lose his balance doing that.
The sponge with a long handle solved that problem and we hung it on a suction hook within easy reach.
Making sure you have a removable shower head is also necessary so that he is able to rinse himself well – and without your help.
The shower head you see in our shower was purchased prior to his stroke, but we absolutely love it so I want to share that with you as well.
This shower head is not expensive and the spray is strong. I personally do not like the shower heads that do a “rainwater” spray or are so focused on water conservation that you don’t have any spray power.
If you prefer a stronger spray, this is for you!
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