For as long as I could remember, I would take showers everyday or every other day. While I was married, this was often at night since my ex-wife didn’t want me in bed if I was “dirty.” After the divorce, I usually took a shower in the morning before going to work. However, once I got the first chest catheter put in, all that changed. The main risk to a chest catheter is an infection. Since the catheter goes directly to the heart, any bacterial infection in the heart is serious and hard to treat. So for two years, I did not take any showers or baths. There were waterproof bandages that can be used to cover the catheter site, but I’m risk adverse so I avoided getting the area wet. I did not get an infection using the chest catheter for two years. But for two years, there were lots of towel baths and shampoos in the bathroom sink. I think it also got me into a habit of not showering regularly.
After I got my PD catheter and had the chest catheter removed, I started taking showers again. I did notice that I didn’t jump back into the 1 or 2 day shower schedule; I was taking showers less often than before. It’s like that wasn’t part of my daily anymore and taking a shower became an extra chore. When the second chest catheter was put in, I stopped taking showers again until it was removed in September. The additional 10 months didn’t help my personal hygiene habit at all. Now I’m taking showers again, but the schedule is more like weekly than daily. Kinda gross, but again, it’s not part of my daily routine anymore. I think I have to set reminder alarms for showers so I can pick up that habit again.
Pretty sure I’ll run into this problem again post-transplant while the incision heals.
Life with chronic diseases 