Question:
How do you attend to personal hygeine when newly post?

How do you take care of business after a BM? I mean you are sore from the surgery and must not be able to bend and twist. So how?    — [Anonymous] (posted on January 6, 2001)

January 5, 2001
I have a small bathroom so I had my husband install a flexable Phone type shower right to the bathtub fawcett( he removed the fawcett and screwed the flexable hose to the pipe that held the fawcett in place). This reached the toilet . The shower head was the type that had an adjustable spray pattern. I would adjust the spray so that it would be more concentrated , and I used that before and after I wiped. It was a great help. I believe I got that idea at this website. So it's not an original of mine! But it turned out to be very helpful , and I hope this will help you.
   — Rose A.

January 5, 2001
Someone on this site suggested using kitchen tongs to hold toilet paper for an easier reach. It works!
   — Barbara S.

January 5, 2001
I have no personal experience with this, YET, but how would a long-handled back brush with a wash mit over the brush work??
   — jane W.

January 6, 2001
These are all good ideas -- however, not everyone is unable to take care of their own cleaning -- it depends on a number of factors. I didn't have a real problem at all, and the pain meds do help you bend and reach further than you could otherwise. Within a few days, it works itself out too. Best wishes.
   — Cindy H.

January 6, 2001
I am thankful that I found the surgery before hygiene was ever an issue for me. I will say that for the first several months post-op BMs were not very frequent. I Had serious IBS before surgery and after I am lucky if i "go" every three or four days. Post op was even longer at times. remember you are not eating much and therefor not much is going to be coming out. Sorry if the picture is painful :) thinner days are ahead. For me 165# are gone and only 25# to go!
   — S S.

July 14, 2002
The easiest thing for me to do was to take an old tshirt, rip it into long strips, buy some baby wipes, tie them around the strip of cloth, and then loop it under my leg and while standing up a little, swish the cloth back & forth and then repeat. It's worked great for me for the past 2 years.
   — TONI L.

July 14, 2002
I am a pre op, but this is a major problem for me. At home, I have an old towel that goes from the front to the back and then I go back and forth a few times. Then I rinse the towel and wash my hands. Works great as long as the towel is long and very soft.
   — Lawrence R.

March 11, 2003
I'm 7 days post op and personal hygine was not a problem for me. Since I did not see this topic yet, I thought I would share this gem....I got my period after moving out of ICU and was prepared in the sense that I had pads and tampons. What I was not prepared for was how to actually insert a tampon. I called my nurse but she was really busy that morning and could not get to me for 15 minutes so I got creative. I took the "pitch fork" holding the card in one of my flower arrangements to assist in insertion....worked like a champ! After two days I was able to bend enough no longer needing a "tool".
   — Liz B.