Brought DH home from AL

Loretta, welcome to the forum. Sorry you need it. Does your husband have dementia? I think you should ask yourself why he was in AL in the first place. Did he get to the point where you could not give him the care he needed? If he has dementia, and there is a Memory Care facility that he could go to, that would likely be better for him if he is accepted as a resident. Please give us more information so the members can better help.

Agree with the above Loretta. For whatever reason it sounds like he needs a much higher level of care. So sorry it's such a struggle.

@loretta1835 I am so sorry you had this experience, but you did exactly what I would have done. I agree with all of the above. While you care for him at home, whether temporarily or for the duration of this journey, you can get help from a range of resources.

I encourage you to cal the AlzAssoc free 24/7 helpline and ask to speak with a Care Counselor. They can provide you with some immediate encouragement and also help identify home health aide options and respite resources to give you the hands on help and self-care breaks you will need.

They sent me a list of contacts and programs in my immediate area, and I have accessed some of those for my DH including free meal delivery (we got the prepared lunches for a while, and then I opted for just a 1x monthly staples and fresh produce box now that he is on pureed foods and I do all the meal prep). They also helped me identify the Age Options, Area on Aging, companion care volunteer organizations and contact numbers for all, and the local as well as State grant programs for seniors and people with disabilities and/or dementia (PWDs). It was an excellent start and you have only to call. Scroll down to the very bottom of this page for the 1-800#. In the meantime, here it is: Call Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Helpline at 800.272.3900

Good luck to you. You have a good heart and are in good company here on this forum. Good info and good people.

As an afterthought, do a search for car handle assists. It is a handle thing that you put in the car door latch for leverage getting in and out of the car, and give an added boost. Works slick when he uses it.

Kathy

Can someone tell me the best pull-ups or diapers to use for my DH? Every night I take him to the bathroom before I place him in bed. Every morning he and his bed are drenched with pee. Luckily We are using a hospital bed and I use several chuc pads to absorb his pee but it still is not enough😰

Gandy, we use pull-ups plus pad inside, but poke a few holes in the underside of the pad with the sticky waterproof barrier. I’ve found that booster pads don’t usually fill completely before flowing down into the pull-ups. The heavy duty pads that we use are the kind designed for women for after childbirth. They are wide and long length and absorb more completely while wicking away moisture before seeping down to the pull-ups. The number and size of the holes depends on the time. During the day, I don’t usually poke any holes and can change just the pad much of the time. I change the pads at least 8 or 9 times during the day, even though they aren’t always very wet. I do that to try to keep bacteria down that could cause UTI’s. We probably change the pull-up underneath only 3 or 4 times a day when the flow seeps around the edges of the pad. I check the pad every couple of hours. At night, with several holes poked in the underside of the pad, we usually make it through 9 or more hours with no changes with very little, if any leakage. 

The brands of pull-ups are whatever is soft, absorbent and fits the best. Everyone is different. And they aren’t necessarily the most expensive. Even the premium brands I’ve purchased don’t hold as much as advertised, hence the “booster pads”. There are many in between brands that hold just as much.

We use an extra large puppy training pad on top of a washable, soft waterproof pad that is large enough to cover half of a king size be from his shoulders to calves, or a goo part of a hospital bed. There are usually a few spots on the training pad by morning and we change that daily. The waterproof pad underneath that very rarely gets wet. I wash it weekly but not because it’s soiled. We have never had wetness on the bed sheet.

Brought my DW back from MC last August, she's been incontinent for about 3 years now, I bought waterproof mattress covers and have Mckeeson Ultra Underpads 30x36 (big kind) and layer the bed thus, underpad on the mattress, waterproof mattress cover, another underpad, then mattress sheet and another underpad. She wears adult pull up diapers as well, works well for me thus far and most days I usually change the sheet and top pad, if it gets to the waterproof cover, change that out as well. Good you're staying on top of rashes, those can develop into nasty sores if left unattended and be a source of increased agitation. Every time I change her diapers, I use Prevail wet wipes, if a rash appears, diaper rash cream usually clears it up if you get to it early.

@ImMaggieMae

I didn't, but a couple folks from our local support group used them successfully.

HB