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I really, really want to have a bath

Posted , 9 users are following.

anonymous333
anonymous333

Am now 22 days post-op (non-weight-bearing). Our shower is clogged and because of the holidays we can't get it fixed before Tuesday (without paying exhorbitant fees).

I would really, really like to take a bath. I don't have one of those bath boards and wouldn't feel safe on one anyway. Would it be okay for me to just jump in at this stage after the op? Have a mat right next to the tub so I wouldn't be stepping out onto slippery tiles. We don't have any grab rails, but our towel rack partially hangs over the tub so I could use that.

2 likes, 17 replies

17 Replies

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  • susie74530
    susie74530 anonymous333

    Posted

    I honestly do not think this is a good idea.  This is Christmas Holiday time, and help may not be too readily available should you have an accident.  You are only three weeks post op, so getting into a bathtub with the amount of twisting and bending this is going to involve is highly involved, and therefore not advisable.

    You would probably be breaking the 90 degree angle rule, too!  DON'T....!

  • racingcat
    racingcat anonymous333

    Posted

    I know how you feel about keeping clean but I think you will take too great a risk at this stage. If you slipped and dislocated your hip, particularly over the holidays when you probably wouldn't be able to contact your own surgeon, it would be devestating! My advice for what it is worth is strip wash as best you can until your shower is fixed and don't risk your new hip. Enjoy the rest of Christmas, best wishes for a good recovery😊
  • anonymous333
    anonymous333

    Posted

    Sigh. I love my baths... but I will be good and wait.
    • susie74530
      susie74530 anonymous333

      Posted

      phew.....!

      It will be all the better when it is safer.

      Be good.

      All the best for a quick recovery and a luxurious wallow when the time is right!

  • Lucite
    Lucite anonymous333

    Posted

    Are you able to get to local council run gym or swimming baths where they have walk in showers

    Or friends family or nieghbours you can use

    Good luck

    • anonymous333
      anonymous333 Lucite

      Posted

      There is no gym near me; it's not the shower thing anyway. I am okay with sink-washing. It's, as susie wrote, the "wallow" that I crave...

      Was at my daughter and son-in-law's house for Christmas yesterday and had an outside BBQ lunch. I realised when we were outside that I'd have loved to sit down on the grass where my granddaughter was playing, but wasn't sure if that was okay so I didn't. I am just missing some things I took for granted a month ago...

  • renee01952
    renee01952 anonymous333

    Posted

    Hi Lee, 

    just checking in with you - 

    is your scar closed and are you sure you can already have a good soak ? just asking, cause mine still had little holes (staples) - anyway, as Susie mentions, you will be wallowing when the time is right --- glorious ....

    I used to love to sit on the floor, grass etc. Not sure if I'd ever be able to do that again after 2 THR surgeries - it is more the getting up part, I am afraid ---

    have a great rest of holidays

    big warm hug

    renee

    • anonymous333
      anonymous333 renee01952

      Posted

      Hi Renee

      I had the stitches out on the 18th. Scar looked pretty good. Got some waterproof thingees to cover it now. I haven't been told I can have a soak, but haven't been told I can't either. Haven't been told much of anything. I didn't even know about the "90-degree rule" until I read about it in a thread on here about five days ago ... after I had already broken it many, many times.

      I am looking forward to a good wallow with lots of bubbles in the tub and the glass at the end of the tub; in the meantime, I can cope with a sink wash until the shower is fix although I do still feel a bit grotty. 

    • Rocketman_SG6UK
      Rocketman_SG6UK anonymous333

      Posted

      Lee,

      The 90 degree rule may not apply if your surgeon used a different approach - but certainly it is a rule for those of us with posterior (rear) surgical scars.  Lateral and anterior (side and front) may not have to keep to the rule.

      Graham - 🚀💃

    • renee01952
      renee01952 anonymous333

      Posted

      Interesting .... did you have posterior or anterior surgery .....

      so sorry about the shower/bath problem --- nasty stuff and why always 

      now, with the holidays .....

       

    • anonymous333
      anonymous333 renee01952

      Posted

      I have a side scar. They literally did not give me any advice on anything when they discharged me. I didn't even have exercises and hadn't been shown how to use the crutches or anything. The only thing I was offered was a prescription for narcotic painkillers, which I declined. They got pretty p*ssed off when I turned it down...

      I only found out I wasn't supposed to be weight-bearing when I went to have my stitches out. The doctor was shocked that I'd been discharged with no home-care advice.

    • anonymous333
      anonymous333 renee01952

      Posted

      Oops. Used a naughty word in my reply, Renee and Graham. Will have to see if the mods let it through...
    • Rocketman_SG6UK
      Rocketman_SG6UK anonymous333

      Posted

      Lee,

      That is awful, not to be given any advice on how to proceed.

      I was weight bearing (the physio's advice) on day one, and despite losing 5 stone (70 pounds), I am still not exactly light  -  BMI of 30 now.

      Narcotic painkillers - I had Tramadol, which I hated as I was getting withdrawl symptoms 30 minutes before each dose was due.  I stopped taking them when I realised what it was.

      Side scar sounds like you may have less problems with dislocation than us rear (posterior) scar patients.

      Exercises - there are many online exercise sheets - probably the best being the from the National Orthopaedic hospital in Stanmore's website.  I'll send you the link in a personal message - it'll get through that way.

      Graham - 🚀💃

       

  • colinTN17
    colinTN17 anonymous333

    Posted

    Have you tried unblocking the shower yourself using Mr Mussle bath and drain clear. Ours gets blocked often and a bit of that always does the trick. A lot of shops are open today so you should be able to get some from a hardware store.
    • anonymous333
      anonymous333 colinTN17

      Posted

      Unfortunately, the blockage is too far down; seems to be somewhere below where the shower and small sink both flow into a single pipe. If we run the tap in the small sink, water bubbles up in the shower. So, while we did try to clear with with several bottles of chemicals, they haven't worked and we are now cleaning brown chemical-laden water out of the shower stall every day until we get the plumber in...
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