Female Parapelegic/Foothills Hospital/Calgary
I was happy with my care up until just recently. I had to begin doing self-catheters and was not provided all of the tools that I needed, the spinal unit had no mirror to help me, it had been stolen and it seemed that no one was in a hurry to buy a new one. I wound up using my cheap Dollarama make-up mirror which kept falling down and then a nurse accidentally broke it. I had a feeling that it would not be replaced and I luckily had another make-up mirror that my husband brought in for me to use. We also decided to order a self-catheter mirror from Amazon. I plan to strongly voice this in the future so that other women after me will hopefully be provided with a much needed mirror to use. Next, I have been experiencing urinary incontinence for several weeks only in my wheelchair most likely due to gravity, however staff believe it could be a UTI that I had, and yes my bladder is being trained after my spinal cord injury. I am at my wits end, because urine has gone through the edges of my Tena and through my pants 5 times now. There are no laundry facilities until I enter the rehab unit, so I must send home lots of pants and have now bought more pants. My husband and I have decided to purchase adult “diapers” with a higher absorbency as nothing else has been done after much of my complaining. Lastly, although we have up to date patient lifts and a stretcher shower, the unit is dated and not very wheelchair accessible. I can’t even access the kitchen and hate having to ask the “busy” staff . Good luck to future “long term” paras and quads especially women who find themselves here.