Ok, for some this might be TMI so don't bother to read on if it is. But one of the things you loose as soon as you're checked into a situation like this is your pride. Being stuck in a bed with no possibility of reaching out of it more than your upper body will take you is quite a mind warp. You have to call the nurse if you can't reach your Kleenex sitting on the little side table that has just rolled out of touch. You feel helpless to say the least.
So getting used to having someone clean up your unmentionables is not something that comes easy. It's one thing to have a catheter and have someone empty a bag full of pee. It's a whole other thing to have to do your stuff in a commode and call someone each time to come and clean it up for you. Thank goodness I was never at the point of having to do it all from my bed. For that I am grateful!
When the nurse (whom will remain nameless in case she'd get in trouble for her comment) was answering my embarrassing call once again, with me apologizing profusely like usual mentioned that "We always say if it were us, we'd cheat and take the extra couple of steps to the toilet" it opened my mind to possibilities. Up to that point, the farthest I'd gone from my bed was the three steps it took to get into a chair next to the bed for "bath time".
To get there, I'd have to wrap my arms around the nurses neck and concentrate on standing and stepping. Once I made it, I sit and wash my face and brush my teeth, etc with a basin of warm water and my Arbonne products while they are changing my bed. Believe me, the first nurse to get me to do that was my hero for the day cause it was a major step to learn that my legs did in fact work again (although they feel as if they are stuck in cement)
Now my mind just blossomed with the possibility of actually using the toilet myself! I tried it the first urge of pee I had that day. And I made it! While my head is still in the clouds from the Mag, I know feel pretty steady on my concrete legs and made the huge progress of getting myself & my IV stand in & out of the restroom. When she came back a bit later to check on me, I admitted what I'd done and she said we should ask Dr. T for privileges. She said it best if I ask but she could ask as well.
Later that day, she let me know he had agreed to it. Major progress being made! That's how I looked at it. Who knew something so simple that we all take for granted could be so liberating! What a difference to my state of mind :-)
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