I submit this question simply with honesty. After caring for both MIL and FIL for two years..........the thing that gags me is "teeth." Yes, worse than poop for me. My FIL (now deceased) had false teeth. He would pry them from his mouth dripping with saliva and hand them to me. Sure, I put gloves on, etc...but for some reason those teeth really triggered my gag reflex.
Now my MIL is unable to brush her teeth and I have to do it.. or things get really stinky. It is the hardest thing I do. Anyone else comment on one particular thing that she/he finds "stomach upsetting"?
I have a very keen sense of smell, and it's enough to gag a maggot. If MIL ever decides to marker her own personal line of perfume, it should be called Eau du Nuit du Mothballs and Urine.
I have a horribly keen sense of smell too, Sodonewithsal1 - and I think sometimes it's a curse. Mom can't smell her own odors anymore, and will go days without showering (we're on day 5 now, and it's been an all-day thing so far - "Mom, how about getting in the shower?" "Mom, when are you going to shower?" "Ready for that shower now?" - to which she replies, "Later, I want to lay down", "not now", "in a bit, I know I need to".) If I'm *lucky* she might shower by tomorrow. Mom is not a small woman by any means, and she develops bacteria growth in her skin folds if they are not attended to properly, which is a health hazard - the skin breaks down and actually opens up, which is a huge infection risk, and she can't afford that kind of hard-to-heal infection at her age.
She has her good days - even good weeks - where she showers every other day without being asked, cleans up after herself (taking her plate to the kitchen, throwing her own trash away instead of leaving it sit for me to pick up, etc), but the bad days/weeks are starting to run closer and closer together. Since we came back from vacation 3 weeks ago, I've had a hard time getting her to do anything at all - she won't walk up and down the wheelchair ramp for exercise, showering is a struggle, and she pays no attention to the fact that she's not changing her incontinence pad or cleaning up after herself in the bathroom, etc. I think she got a little irritated with me today for telling her (many times) she needed to shower, and finally gave me "the look", which means "back the heck off and leave me alone", and said, "I'll shower - I'll do it - but I'm going to lay down now" - so I guess we'll see....I'm just trying to roll with the punches.
We went to visit our pastor from way back one day in his facility in our hometown. OMG, his breath permeated the room. I was looking at my dh, my eyes were watering and I was trying not to breathe. OMG. It was just horrible. We just couldn't stay long.
My granny did the teeth thing, so that wouldn't bother me. ;)
Sharon
OMG if my husbands feet touch me while in bed!!! I can't stand it.. He knows not to put them near me..
But when it comes to ANYTHING from my mom - here comes the hairball! It's psychological. I never could stand for her to touch me ever. Her hands are hot. Now, I can't handle it. Hair brushing, butt wiping, the whole thing.
Of course, when we visit, all she wants me to do is get her clothes off and look at every little spot on her body that has itched since the last visit, and to clean out her ears, and stand in the bathroom while she spends half an hour farting and pooping and stinking up the entire wing of the place. I'm not there to steady her or anything functional. She just demands I go in there with her, which I will absolutely not do.
Her feet gag me. Her hairbrush gags me. Being asked to scratch her back gags me. It has to be with my bare fingers, not a back scratcher, of course. "Come look at how long the hair on my legs is!" gags me.
In the past few years she has lost any and all sense of personal hygiene and decorum. She used to be neat as a pin, super private with anything body related, and could hardly bring herself to talk about the birds & bees when it was time. She wouldn't recognize herself now.
I have found them in the most bizarre places and lets just say i have my OWN MUG yep dont trust picking up a cup here her teeth are bound to have been left in there a few days!
oh really feel sick now! has put me off my tea and chocolate biscuit!
She must suck the life out of the steak? she says her teeth hurt so fair enough i just dont know how you can eat a steak with no teeth! I told my brother to shoot me if i ever eat like this!
id have a hard time doing anything remotely intimate for a man . not interested in seeing a male body .
this is out there but one of the worst gag moments i ever had was while having china buffet dinner with a woman she reached over with glazed eyes and droolling and forked the last remaining mussle on the halfshell so hard the saucer rattled -- without asking if anyone else wanted it or if wed like to get more of them .. really ? this sob was a prescribing phsyc doc . if shes stalking me and reads this , tough s*it . thats some messed up personal manners ..
You would need a belt sander to start fixing it. She is in complete denial about it. She likes to pick at her feet with her bare hands and any kind of clipper/pointy thing she can get her hands on. She won't let them air out.
When her blood sugars are better controlled, it starts to recede a little bit, but most of the time it's just revolting.
No my mum has lovely feet small and petite but she sees a chiropodist regularly as she knows a chiropodist isnt going to put her in a home so she dosnt mind going to her?? yeh they are clever!
When my mom eats, she makes these grunting noises. Is it due to physical problems: reflux, or is it a bad habit? Who knows? But it's gross.
Sorry to tell on ya, Mom!
Sharon
I keep a pack of the disinfecting wipes by the toilet. Every time somebody goes, just get a wipe and rub it under the set all the way around. It really cuts down on some of the yuck factor. I have 2 teenagers & wonder how on earth "that" gets up under there. When mom lived with us....it just defied physics.
I also wipe the inside of the toilet lid, since it gets misted when the toilet flushes....if you shut the lid first.
I can't even type any more about it - ugh.....................................