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Ed and Ellie Christmas 2003

My Dad had prostate cancer and they removed his prostate back in 1990. After the surgery he had issues with incontinence. He would often have an accident while we were out of the house at a doctor’s appointment or out for dinner. He was ok if you could get him to the bathroom quickly, but if he got excited or was in a hurry unzipping, he would have an accident or get some urine on his clothes. A great help for you, the family caregiver, is to assemble a backpack that was filled with incontinence clean up items and a few other supplies.

Here is what we had in our backpack:

· Baby Wipes

· Gloves (lots of them for you)

· Adult Diaper or (maxi pad – at one time we used to stick a maxi pad in his underwear to catch the drips)

· Butt Cream – as I call it, most people call it diaper rash cream. I personally dislike calling them baby products because they aren’t babies.

· Clean Underwear if not using adult incontinence products

· Clean Pair of Shorts or Pants

· Clean Shirt (yes, sometimes the pee gets on the shirt especially with our Dad, you know that “thing” has a mind of its own sometimes)

· Clean Socks (again, it happens)

· Baby Powder (this helps with the sweating in the summer from the adult diapers)

It is so much better on him to be able to get out of wet clothes and not be embarrassed. You can also keep these supplies in the trunk of the car, so you don’t have to carry them with you, you can just run out to the car when needed. I know everyone doesn’t have a car and you may use public transportation, that’s where the back pack really comes in handy.

Here is a great video that describes incontinence and how the bladder works: