My third Hoyer Sunday

I think this series of Hoyer articles is probably larger than a pamphlet and getting closer to the size of a dime novel. To me, there is nothing novel about using the Hoyer. Novel means "new" and there's nothing new about using it. I did six weeks of this Hoyer thing at my previous nursing home and I know how awful it is up close and personal.

This morning we had the same ineptness occur when I was transferred into the shower chair. AM/aide did not do her usual Hoyer transfer for some reason. She was not my aide but that should not matter. The results matter. Getting me comfortable in the shower chair so that I can sit there for almost an hour is what needs to happen.

So I was in it again crooked. My poor right leg and hip were hurting because they were hanging off the shower chair. There is nothing that can be done. I cannot be re-stood since standing is not allowed. I should have asked them to re-Hoyer me, but that would have required that another aide be beckoned to my room to assist.

Instead I sat in pain getting washed up. I should just have asked to be hoyered to the bed. But then getting back to the bathroom would have been in doubt.

No one knows what it feels like to be sitting and uncomfortable. The shower chair seat is made out of plastic and it's hard. There is a toilet seat on it with an opening in the front. Consequently, there isn't much comfort built in. The shower chair is meant for short stays – long enough to get a shower.

No other resident here gets hoyered onto a regular size shower chair like mine. One other female resident is hoyered onto a larger shower chair. But she has use of her hands and she might be able to scoot herself back. Regardless, she is not paralyzed on one side like me, so her situation is not similar. She's 75 years old and I hope they can get her into that larger shower chair in a way that's halfway comfortable. If she has to sit and be uncomfortable like me, I think it's barbaric. There needs to be a way to adjust a resident in the shower chair with a Hoyer.

Nothing can be done very quickly with the Hoyer. I always try to make sure I'm finished with my toileting before I head to breakfast. There is no way I can quickly get to the bathroom in the Hoyer. Having an accident would just happen.

As it was, I had be rolled back into the toilet pretty quickly midway through getting my hair combed for the day.

Luckily K, who is not my aide today, helped my aide get me pulled back into the shower chair properly after breakfast for my next potty run.

Maybe tomorrow, if therapy is here, things will be better.

I certainly hope so.