my husband developed pneumonia and sepsis while having chemo. Got him through that, but three weeks later, while he was still frail, he fractured a hip and had hip replacement surgery. I was doing pretty much everything for him, including dressing him, for a several months. Here’s what helped us in addition to a walker:
Gait belt. His physical therapist taught me to use this to help him up and down stairs. We live in a two-story house, and he wanted to sleep in his own bed. We practiced while he was still in the hospital, so I knew the routine by the time he was home. We also did laps around the hospital floor with me steadying him with the belt to help him gain strength.
A raised toilet seat and a shower chair also helped tremendously.
You could get a portable toilet, but since this isn’t long term, I’d recommend one of those bottle urinals like they have at the hospital. My husband used one of those if he needed to go during the night and emptied and washed it in the morning.
BTW, I got all this stuff at Walgreen’s. The cashier took pity on my frazzled state and had everyone looking for every coupon or discount they could give me plus helped me put everything in the car.
Patience. This isn’t really fun, but it’s doable and rewarding when you see little improvements like graduating from a walker to crutches, then to one crutch, and finally to walking our big crazy dog again (this took five months because of his weakened state).
Take care of yourself while you’re taking care of him. I started getting massages because I was doing so much heavy physical work during that time. If you have a support system that can help with meals, that is a real blessing.
Hang in there. You can do this!
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