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2 June - Taking a bath!

Today I decided for the first time in several months that I would have a bath instead of a shower. Showers are all very well but with my lack of agility and problems with balance I don't find it very easy standing on one leg to wash the other foot. I really need a shower I can sit down in and ours isn't big enough.

I ran a bath with no problems and managed to get in. But when I crouched down and tried to get into the sitting position my left foot slipped and I fell back into the bath. Miraculously I didn't create a tsunami and flood the floor below with bathwater, but this didn't augur well for getting out again. Well, I'd worry about that when the time came.

Sure enough when I tried to get from the sitting position to a crouch with both feet under me I couldn't. I didn't have enough strength in my steroid-weakened arms to lift my overweight body. I sat back in the bath while I pondered on what to do.

Fortunately it wasn't long before Olga came up the stairs. She gave me a stern ticking-off for having a bath without telling her. After a couple of abortive attempts to get out Olga suggested going and asking one of the neighbours for help. I had momentarily considered calling the fire brigade! But I think I would have rather lived for the rest of my life in the bath than incur the embarassment!

Olga's engineer's brain went to work and she rolled a bath towel into a thick "rope", wound it round my chest under my shoulders, then pulled on that while I pushed down with my arms. That got me to the crouching position from where I was able to stand up and climb out. Phew!

We had a good laugh about it afterwards, but this episode has made me think that it will be difficult to cope in this house unless my strength and mobility improve. I am determined not to end up in a wheelchair but I may not have any say in the matter. Read the stories of other people with brain tumours in cancer forums and they all seem to end up wheelchair-bound eventually.

4 comments:

  1. I am the opposite I struggle in the shower with balamce but I know what you mean about getting in and out of the bath.
    I had my scan results on Friday they said there is no recurrent and tumour is dormant. I have a 6 month scan in November, I did ask if this was the normal and he said yes but if I feel in anyway out of sorts to ring for an apt and a scan will be booked!
    I am still on 3 epilim tablets for fits and still having trouble coming off steroids, I am on 1mg and 500mg every other day!
    Just got to be positive I think and have no stress!!
    Take care
    Karen

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  2. I had the same problem some time ago when I was ill and found a simple solution that worked for me: turn over in the bath, so that you're crouching on your knees, and get up from there with your arms pressing on the sides of the bath to provide additional lift if necessary. This mainly uses your leg muscles, which are stronger than the arms.

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  3. There are special bathing-chairs sold in medical supply houses that would work perfectly well. Properly installed, with extra grips, you would be in a seated position, able to wash yourself (using shower) and able to raise yourself. You must take every precaution. Good luck.

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  4. I have also put on 10kg of weight from 82Kg to over 90Kg and I am not taking any medication. In my case it is the effect of sitting in a chair all day or lying on the couch. I do not go to work anymore, or to the gym, so I get zero exercise, all we try to do is to go for 45-60 mins walk once a day and not always. I do not think I am eating for two, but I do eat more than I used to. I would love to lose the excess weight but in my case, any kind of exertion brings on the seizures, so it is between a rock and a hard place.

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