Oh no, so sorry. You do make it sound funny but I'm sure that wasn't going through your mind at the time. Every day of all the things I do for my mom, I thank God she is not bowel incontinent....yet. Each day I keep waiting. I can hardly stand the smell when she forgets to flush after a poop. What will I do as it gets worse....

Who was it in an old post that said they took the pooped up bed sheets out in the yard and hosed them off.

What is the BRAT diet? I need to makes notes and put them in my file of things to come.

Thinking of you.
Linda

The BRAT diet is suppose to help with the bowels. I think the B stands for bananas and the the R for rice but I don't remember what the A and the T stand for. I'm sure Judy will tells us the next she posts.

Linda, when it happens, you will pull up your big girl panties, put on gloves, get the bleach spray, the paper towels or whatever you need, and get the job done.

I have done so many things that I said I couldn't do. So now, I don't say I can't anymore, I say, I will if I have to.

Have a good day you all
Love you
Mary

Linda I actually done that I got a hose and some bleach and took her mattress outside and wash it!
Wow! I know God is going to reward us at the end!
GOD BLESS!
pina.

Oh Deb.. I'm so sorry you are faced with this horrible stuff. It gets worse... then doable. I hope Rollie doesn't want to decorate or do finger painting ... EEK ! I ruined a bunch of clothes with bleach in the beginning.. but turned to ODO-BAN later... big help.

Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast is supposed to help with loose bowels. I, also, got the yogurt with the pro-biotic stuff. Ron waffled between loose messes to terrible constipation. What an ordeal.

You have my sympathy, sister. Whew !

I took messy sheets and blankets outside and hosed them off. Thought the backyard looked like a bunch of hillbillys had moved in. I just couldn't put that mess in my washing machine. I, also, tossed some that were just too, too, too icky to deal with. Poor trash guys :-(

Deb, ask the VA for gloves.. they will send you huge boxes of them.
Hugs !

Another thing... I asked friends and family members to donate any old raggedy towels they might want to get rid of. I used them under the top sheet where Ron layed. I bought some real cheap $5.00 fleece throws at Wal-mart and used them right under him. They were easy to clean and I did not feel too bad if I had to toss them.

Deb, I am sure I am not far behind you. Thanks for the post. It brought out much that will be useful to me as well. I think I will start saving old towels right now. Also, I am going to start using some plastic mattress pads right now. I have a new mattress and I hope to keep it that way. I may need it for a very long time. I am going to start stocking up on the rubber gloves, diapers, wipes,etc immediately.
One question, does this just happen all of sudden, out of the blue, or are there signs that the are becoming incontinent?
Sharon

It kind of came out of the blue. One of friends is a nurse and she had told me that it is better to hold off on Depends as long as possible and encourage them to go in the toilet as long as possible. We have all been really vigilant about looking for signs that he 'has to go' and then guiding him there, but he slipped through this time and just went on his own.

I'm was getting ready to read the post this morning and mom comes through the house with a handful of shit filled underpants and incontinence pad, heading to the garage and laundry sink. Alarm bells in my brain. Well it's nothing except the pizza I fed her for dinner last night. My fault. I realize I have done pretty good on the odd occasion of poop days. But it was food related. She won't tell me and one time I had to even clean her shoes which had poop all over them.

I bought a really nice fairly cheap plastic mattress pad from QVC online. Theirs are soft thin plastic with a little felty top so they wash and dry really fast, not bulky. I bought 2 so I always have one on moms mattress. When she peed the bed the next issue was the top blankets. I had a big comforter on her bed and realized it was a nightmare to clean so ran to WalMart and bought a bunch of cheap thin blankets. While there are more of them to clean at least they wash and dry fast and cheap enough to throw out if have to.

I found that Oxy Clean removes any and all stains and smells. I haven't tried it on carpet but mom's poop stained underpants were stain free in 10 minutes soak. No smell left either. I have clothes she messes up every week in a soaking pail until I do laundry.

Next I was thinking if it got bad rather than towels top and bottom, why not just take that same soft plastic (the QVS are so soft they don't make noise) and use it on the top as well as the bottom. Do a sheet for comfort, plastic mattress pad and then blankets layered on top. Has anyone tried this? A thought.

I know from what you guys say and what I've read that losing bowel control is part of the loss of brain function and has to be expected. Doesn't make it easy emotionally or physically to deal with does it? Such lovely thoughts to start the day. Sigh.

All you ladies with your wonderful hints....I know it is a "POOPY" subject but i am going to print out your hints. I like Sharon haven't experienced that yet but know my time is cming from what you say. God Bless you all that you have found a sense of humor to deal with it. THIS really needs to be in the book...your tips are great. God love you all...i know I do! I am dead serious I couldn't get through this without you . I sign on here and I always feel better. I already have a picture in my miond of each of you and can't wait to see how right (or wrong) I am when we meet in August or September in Colorado.

Hey Deb,

Welcome to the club that no one in their right mind would want to join "the poop patrol". I became a member over 25 years ago so may be the most experienced; but I still get wonderful tips from all of you. Since my hubby is paralyzed from the waist down, he has a neurogenic bowel and bladder so accidents have been a huge part of our lives. He now has a supra pubic tube in his bladder and has a leg bag so one would think that was much better then changing wet pants. Sometimes it is but when he forgets to lock it after emptying the bag he sometimes rides through the house in his wheelchair with the urine draining into his sock, shoe and along the flooring and carpet. Some days are pretty challenging......lol....

I have gotten to the point where it is pretty much cost effective to keep him in depends or the equivalent whenever we leave the house and am now thinking of just doing it on a daily basis. Depending upon how difficult a day it has been I might end up throwing out his clothes if I can't deal with the alternative of throwing it in a pre-wash cycle then an empty cycle with bleach then washing it all over again.

BRAT diet is good if you are dealing with diarrhea. I also swear by the probiotic banana yogart when my hubby has loose bowels.

It has never become easier even though I have been doing this for many years. Hugs to my fellow and future "poop patrol" members.

I was lucky in that the hughest poop occurred outdoors, and JUST as we were about to enter the house this past summer. It was just after dusk, so I stripped all the clothes and shoes off Ron (everything was covered, threw it into the kitchen garden, rationalizing that it would become a new form of fertilizer (or old as the case may be). I held Ron's hand and arms close to him and walked him upstairs and into the shower.

When I got him to bed I went back outside and turned the hose on ful blast and rinsed the H#$L out of everything and threw it all except the shoes into the washer. It can out fine.

Other things have been thrown out if they are not 'fine'.


Also had one indoor paper towel extravaganza, then bleach. Also recovered from.

Now have mattress pad with waterproofing and cotton top. we'll see....

now you have to admit, this is probably where the shitshitshit comes from.....

Ya know my Mom had to take stool softners twice a day, but since she started the aricept I have had to reduce giving her the softners and I looked up side effects of the aricept and that is one of the common side effects! Good God! So is it the mind going or the side effects from the drugs? She can clean herself still, and I am NOT looking forward to the day she can't. Perhaps I will adapt, but at this point I would rather leave the more unfavorable tasks to a facility type setting...if only I could figure out a way to make it affordable! I want her to stay as long as possible, but she will need someone with her since we are not home a lot due to work.

How do the rest of you manage?

Helen

I have the mattress pad........ 2 of them and they're great. Mother won't use Depends but does use a pad at night. It helps. Oxi-anything is the best! She goes through about 4-8 underpants a day. Some I throw out. I buy them in bulk at Target. And yes..... Aricept can bring on loose bowels. Shit!

Well, I haven't had to deal with this, but we struggle daily with chronic constipation from pain meds and years of laxative abuse. I wonder if he will still get to the poopy part? Like Mary said, we just have to get out the big girl panties and put em on and deal with it. Good thing God gave us a sense of humor even though it is sometimes taxed to the point of breaking. Took my hubby for a pain block shot in the spine this morning. He is doing OK. I have a question....when I first got on here a couple weeks ago, I was at that stage when I thought I couldn;t do this anymore. For some strange reason, he has been very good for about 4 days now. Is that a sign of switching stages or does this happen often. I sort of feel like I am waiting for the shoe to drop. He wants to go to Florida for Jan and feb to get out of some of this cold weather. I guess, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise,...we are going to try it. wish me luck!