Thank you for all your answers to my question about getting my husband from the toilet back to his wheel chair. Most of the things suggested have already been tried. Some clarifications:He cannot use his legs at all - cannot standThe strength in his arms is decreasing and he can't use them to hold himself up.Our bathroom is small and there is no room for any type of lift.He can scoot from the chair to the toilet because the toilet is lower than the chair. He can't scoot back because it is "up hill". We already have a raised toilet with grab bars.He does not need a nursing home or day care. His mind is sound, and he spends his days reading and using the computer for news and research.
All I want to do is find a way for us to conquer this bathroom problem.
Forgive me if this sounds crazy.
There are wheelchairs with seats that raise and lower. Would it be possible to have the toilet raised even further, perhaps on a platform, so that it is even with the wheelchair at the lowest position (or maybe a little higher)? Then the chair could be adjusted up and down so that he is always moving "downhill" to transfer. Recognize there would be some cost to this but certainly less than a nursing home. Your husband sounds like a remarkable person. I hope you can find a solution.
That is exactly what I had to do with my late husband who also had no use of his legs and was completely bedridden. The aide that I hired would come and use a gait belt to lift him out of the bed, put him the bedside commode and when he was done, she would hold him up while I cleaned him up and put a clean diaper on him.
My husband had a permanent catheter, so all I had to do was empty his catheter bag once in the morning and once in the evening, so he only used the bedside commode to poop.
This worked really well for us.
So have you tried perhaps using a condom catheter for him, and having an aide put him on the bedside commode so he can poop? And if not, why not?
It sounds like you're trying to make this much more difficult than it has to be.
It is then fairly easy to clean the person, remove the catch basin and the underside of the person in the wheelchair is exposed so you can clean them well.