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I bought a transfer bench for my Mom to take a shower. The shower is a full bathtub/shower combination. She was sitting on the side of the tub and swinging her legs in, then standing, but we're hoping she can sit and shower, now.

I have the bench in the tub with it right under the shower head and I realized that I don't quite know how to arrange the shower curtain.

With the transfer bench, there, I can't pull the shower curtain along the tub to keep the water in as we did when Mom just took a shower.

Or, to soak it up from the floor? Or, whatever ideas you have on this are helpful.

Before someone suggests a fancy bathtub, this is what we can afford AND we need something, right now for her. So, waiting to install a fancy tub isn't ideal plus there's just not the money for something like that.

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We have a transfer chair...we closed the curtain and cut slits where the bars are, now once my dad is in he can close the shower and put the flap in between. When my mom uses it I am helping her so we don't close it.
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It's a lot easier with a hand-held shower. The patient can control the spray direction. Take a scissors and slit the vinyl curtain to make a "door" that folds up where the bench is and will drop back down for other users.
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She can't use the hand-held. We do have one shower with the type of head with a hose that you take down. But she tried it and it doesn't work well for her. It's partly because reaching all over with it makes her feel dizzy. But she also has so little strength in her arms that she has a hard time handling it. She really needs to sit and have very little in her hands to manage her own bath.
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My mom won't let me help her, either. For the first few showers, she insisted on doing everything herself, couldn't quite figure out the "fancy" plumbing (we have the single knob for hot/cold, not a separate hot and cold like she had) and ended up with a cold shower, each time. She finally gave in a tiny bit and let me show her how to get the water the right temperature. I shouldn't laugh, but I knew when she was showering, even though she was a bit stealthy about it, because I'd hear a loud yelp when the cold water hit her, plus she'd look so surly the next time I'd see her, as well as her griping that "these modern houses don't even have hot running water!!!"
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Bench buddy shower curtain?!?!?! It just goes to show that whatever you need, if you wait long enough and have the money for it, you can find it. Good to know about for when I next need to buy a shower curtain.
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Hand held shower head is the only way to go. No shower curtain is how it was done by the professional bather that came to the house.
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Thanks. I didn't even think about cutting the shower curtain. I hope I don't sound to dim, but it just didn't occur to me. I've been bunching it and not getting as much water as I thought (that, or Mom is carefully wiping it off the floor).

Also, now that we've had the transfer bench for awhile, Mom loves it, plus her occupational therapist thinks it's the right choice for her, so we really do want to make it work in every way possible. It allows her to shower 100% independently. It took a visit to the occupational therapist to get it out of her how she washes her bottom as she doesn't like to talk about it, but she kind of scootches around and pushes her butt up a little by grabbing her bench.
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I got a great shower bench from Home Depot for a bathtub. We don't have the money to renovate the bathroom for a handicap person. Mom is able to sit on the bench and I help her get her legs over the side of the tub. I use 5 towels every time she bathes. One goes on the bench because she says it feels cold, 3 go on the floor next to the tub because no matter what I do she gets water on the floor and the 5th one she actually uses to dry.I have so much laundry to do anyway whats 5 more towels as long as she is clean.
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Ok I feel like an oddball here. I just hung another shower curtain like drapes, pull together and haven't had an issue.
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Hi! I would like to share this great online resource for anyone seeking a transfer chair : medicalexpo
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