RE: [QUAD-L] bowel program/living alone

[Steve Oldaker]

Title: Message

Luke...   Many colleges/universities provide PCAs to their disabled students living in dorms on campus in exchange for room and board for the PCAs.  They actually live in the same dorm and rotate "On call" duties to cover emergency after hour needs.  This was even the case at the University of Kentucky when I was there twenty-four years.  You may want to see what is available attendant wise at colleges in your state.  Vocational Rehabilitation should pay for some if not all of your attend care while you are in school if there are a related expenses.   Another consideration is your type of bowel program.  If you are doing digital stimulus at all, you will get resistance from virtually all of the agency managed assistance.  I cannot tolerate digital stimulus (I get very dysreflexic).  My bowel program consists of lying on my left side and having a suppository inserted into the rectum.  Normally, I evacuate within 30-60 minutes, no longer than 2 hours.  I do this right before going to sleep, so I generally sleep through the process.  I evacuate onto a blue pad and it is usually not as messy as you might think.   The above process has worked well for me for 16 years.  Since it is not an invasive procedure so to speak, agency hired PCAs may go along with this type of bowel program.   Good luck in managing your future education and PCA needs.   Steve - C4 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2004 5:01 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [QUAD-L] bowel program/living alone hi everyone          i've been wanting to move out of my moms house and go to college for over a year now but because of my pain in my hips/back i can't see myself keeping up with a normal school schedule.  plus i was told by my health care provider that i probably wouldn't be able to get bowel care because the nurse that does it would be liable if something happened to me during bp.  right now my mom is doing it.  i don't understand how a person who doesn't have a family member to do their bp and is living on their own, gets the bp done.  am i being lied to by my healthcare provider.  i would get my mom to keep doing it after i move out but she'll be living an hour away.  thats too much gas to burn every two days.        those who live on their own- i need advice on how i should prepare to live on my own.   luke