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Bathroom downstairs, me upstairs...

Posted , 11 users are following.

Amnesia3637
Amnesia3637

Hi All. Only two weeks to hip hooray day. Sitting here thinking of various things and wondered if anyone else's bathroom/toilet is downstairs when bedroom is upstairs and how I'm going to manage to empty an upstairs commode when left to my own devices. I live on my own and for the first two weeks will have plenty of help but come the day when the help isn't there at night and first thing has anyone any suggestions? 

Thanks loads in advance as always.

0 likes, 24 replies

24 Replies

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  • pjayne549
    pjayne549 Amnesia3637

    Posted

    I had exactly the same problem - bathroom downstairs, bedroom upstairs, and a very curly staircase in between!

    I live in France and the old farmhouse would have been dangerous to try to navigate if busting for the loo so the Dr over here gave me a prescription for a hospital bed which was delivered and set up in my living room.  I used it for the first two weeks after going home and then called them to pick it up once I was confident on the stairs and had had a lot of practice.  Talk to your Dr.  I am sure they won't leave you worrying about it or without the means to have a night time tiddle!

  • juliette39133
    juliette39133 Amnesia3637

    Posted

    Hi, As others have said, the physio will show you how to get up and down the stairs. It's not difficult but does require zen like concentration because it's slow with a rhythm you have to get into.I went up and down several times a day to be loo. It's a good way of exercising and preventing thrombosis.I was also walking to the toilet in the hospital by the second night. Make plans but see how you feel and how quickly you recover. I don't like to be dependent on others, particularly hospital staff. You will be amazed at how resilient and inventive you can be. Best of luck, you sound excited but scared too. That's how I felt with second hip because I knew my days of pain and crippledom were coming to an end.

     

  • Geship000
    Geship000 Amnesia3637

    Posted

    Hi, not sure what age or mobility you have but I had a double hip replacement a few months ago, got out of hospital & was going up/downstairs the day I got out. Also I had a raised toilet seat so no need for commode. You should get this from the occ therapy at the hospital or u can buy one on amazon. 
    • Amnesia3637
      Amnesia3637 Geship000

      Posted

      Thank you Geship000 and everyone who replied. I may not have been too clear in the original email. I will have to have a commode upstairs for all sorts of reasons of house access, age - when you gotta go, you've gotta go in the middle of the night - and lack of bed room downstairs. I'm sure I'll be able to go up and down slowly with crutches - am fine with that. It was the carrying of the full commode pot down the stairs with crutches. I have I think found the solution short term which is a gel into the pot which solidifies liquid. Clever eh. No slopping. You all just wanted to know that! But- anyone with the same set of circumstances may want to consider the above which can be bought from all the care companies on the Net.

       

    • Jodi-France
      Jodi-France Amnesia3637

      Posted

      On crutches I was able to carry a sack in my hand.

      You know the cheap plasitc sacks with handles from the grocery store.

  • Jodi-France
    Jodi-France Amnesia3637

    Posted

    If you think about it, everything you need is downstairs except your bed. Your food, the toilet, your dishes, etc. The solution seems to me to be to fit in a bed downstairs.

    The people who are helping you, maybe they can disassemble your bed, bring it downstairs, and once you feel confident, find help to haul it back upstairs and re-assemble it.

    I am maybe more cautious than most people. Even with the assurances of others how early in your recovery you will be doing this, I would probably feel that living ALONE and going up and down the stairs is a risk I would not want to take until I was far along in my recovery. I can only speak for myself, but it was after 3 weeks that I felt recovery really started to kick in, and it was between the third and fourth week when I did stairs.

    • kaleani75551
      kaleani75551 Jodi-France

      Posted

      That's my opinion as well.  Why take a chance of falling and dislocate or worse, break the other hip.  
  • louise22940
    louise22940 Amnesia3637

    Posted

    I had the same issue but was absolutely fine. Good exercise going up and down the stairs with crutches! You'll be fine, just take it slowly and keep positive smile

     

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