Next to Godliness

July 10th, 2017

Relief in a Jug

This is my second day as a member of a caregivers’ forum, and it has worked out very well. Unlike members of other types of forums, the caregivers actually read the questions, don’t insult me and say, “Google is your friend,” and provide useful answers I hadn’t already thought of.

I made a great discovery for bathroom cleaning. I don’t want to go into great detail, but the product is called “Urine Destroyer.” I apply it with a spray bottle from the hardware store. Works better than bleach, believe it or not. I guess the ultimate solution would be to follow it with bleach.

It deodorized a bathroom and also me. I spilled a fair amount of it on my shirt. The perfume they put in it is pretty persistent. I changed shirts and washed, but I think I’m going to smell like a clean kennel all day.

This product is very expensive, but believe me, it would be cheap at five times the price.

Along the same lines, I can’t praise my homemade shower cleaner highly enough. I haven’t scrubbed a shower in months. In the future, I plan to keep this stuff in my dad’s bathroom as well as my own. It is a miraculous cleaner.

Just to repeat, here are the ingredients:

6 oz. Zep soap scum cleaner
1 tbsp. dishwasher rinse agent
1 tbsp. Dawn dishwashing liquid
water to fill 1-quart spray bottle

I found this on the Internet, and I removed an ingredient which was expensive and unnecessary. You spray it on everything after you shower, and you leave it there. It dissolves all the typical things that stick to shower surfaces (over time), and it leaves a great shine and a fresh smell. It makes me seem much cleaner and more industrious than I am.

It might benefit from more Dawn.

I smell like a dentist’s waiting room. I can’t wait for this stuff to wear off.

It would be pretty neat if I managed to take good care of my dad instead of having the county come out three times a week and threaten to take him away because of the filth. With these two products, I am halfway there.

Generally, it is very hard to control other people’s behavior. When you can control things from your own end, it can save you years of banging your head against the wall. The right cleaners and precautions should bring me a lot of peace. We can hire someone to come in weekly and deal with whatever I don’t want to handle.

I am now five weeks from the blessed event. Can’t wait.

Posted in Main | 7 Comments »

7 Responses to “Next to Godliness”

  1. Stephen McAteer Says:
    July 10th, 2017 at 6:11 PM

    I did a lot of different jobs in my time and I found the people in caring professions (Nurses, carer assistants, doctors) to be far and away the best sort of people I ever worked with.

  2. Ed Bonderenka Says:
    July 10th, 2017 at 10:26 PM

    I’m sorry about your dad.
    My best friend (and best man) is a victim also.
    His wife cares for him.
    Honors to you.
    My wife said to tell you she wipes down our bath/shower with Gordon’s Micrell antibacterial soap and it prevents mildew and removes scum immediately.

  3. Elizabeth Says:
    July 11th, 2017 at 8:51 AM

    A suggestion for you (if you choose to accept it): tile your father’s bathroom and his facilities halfway up to the ceiling. Less damage, and will make cleaning much easier.

  4. Steve H. Says:
    July 11th, 2017 at 10:40 AM

    Thanks for all the help. Ed, that spray I use is incredible. No mildew, no scum, no scale, no nothing. And this area is famous for limestone scale.

    I keep praying for God to help me treat my dad better, and it’s working. The last couple of years have been very tough in that regard, because I was managing the restoration of a house he owned, and I was caught between contractors and my father. Everyone rained criticism and blame on me during that period, and I wasn’t the one who allowed the house to be ruined in the first place. I did everything right, and everyone around me failed, but I was inundated with abuse and obstruction from every quarter. It was not good for our relationship.

    Now that ordeal is done, and we are on the same page about getting out of Miami. The knots in my stomach are gone, and I no longer dread seeing my dad approach. I find I can focus on making his life easier and getting everything organized. Big relief.

  5. Jonathan Says:
    July 13th, 2017 at 9:37 PM

    Best of luck.

  6. Ken Says:
    July 17th, 2017 at 3:53 PM

    I got to care for my dad the last month or so of his life.

    He had congestive heart failure and there are all kinds of interesting ways that messes you up.

    Like eating and having the nutrients stay in the food because there was hardly any blood flow in the intestines.

    So what he ate didn’t get digested and shot thru him like the proverbial ‘**** thru a goose’.

    He’d be 30 feet from the bathroom and only get half way there. And then the explosion in the pants. One time he tried to dump into a waste basket; only managed to fall down and waited 15 minutes for me to come back from the store and get him cleaned up.

    I got real practiced at getting him in the bathroom, get all the soiled clothes off and get him in the bathtub in a chair and hose him off.

    Went to CVS and got $50 of adult diapers, which were better, but it still was imperative to always breathe thru your mouth….

    I’ve been saving Percocets, Oxycotins, Vicoden so when the time comes for me, I’ll go to a park, write a note, and start swallowing. 80 year old told me this was his plan.

    I’m not going to experience what he went thru if I have options.

  7. Ken Says:
    July 17th, 2017 at 3:57 PM

    I got to take care of my dad the last month of his life.

    Had congestive heart failure, so the food he ate wasn’t digested from a lack of blood flow in the intestines.

    So he had explosions in his pants; get him in the bathroom, strip him and hose him off in the tub.

    Got $50 of adult diapers; better, but you still had to breathe thru your mouth….

    I’m hoping for a heart attack, not CHF….