www.incontinentsupport.org

On Wednesday night I fractured my left pinky. At urgent care they set the fracture and put me in a splint immobilizing my ring and pinky finger and my wrist as well as limiting my dexterity with that hand and arm in general. Luckily the last two days have been days where I haven't needed any protection (the advantage of being up for several hours before having to leave for my classes I can usually get a clue how my control and urgency is that day since it can vary quite a bit from day to day). But I was wondering if anybody had any advice for applying products with my arm splinted like it is? And also generally any advice for how to manage my incontinence while I am stuck in this I am sure there are other issues that I'm not thinking of that having my hand splinted will cause but there is no way that I keep having good days every day

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-full time graduate student with urge urinary incontinence due to an overactive bladder

More than once (due to various medical issues) I too have faced this general issue. What to do with one hand / arm totally useless. Luckily I have a wife who totally supports me and she has always 'been-there' to assist me.

One practical suggestion : Get some high quality (Tranquility, Abena, etc et al) PULL UP diapers. You can also use 'booster pad inserts' with them IF you need additional absorbent capacity. I also use plastic over pants with cotton knee pants over the diaper and under the overpants. You can, I am not saying it will be easy, then work the pull ups up your legs to your waist with one hand. Again, this is not an easy thing to accomplish BUT, you can get protection on and that is for sure. These PULL UP diapers are so good that I am amazed at their capacity.

Off your topic.

I am interested to read that (like myself) you can kind of / sort of 'gauge' what you will need for protection any given day or time. My incontinence (like I believe yours) has a life of its own. I have good days (I still wear protection) and I have extremely wet days. I have good nights and I have extremely wet nights. Why? I haven't a clue. I can be incontinent with 4-ounces in my bladder and I can hold up to 12-ounces and even more other times. Why? I haven't a clue.

I did similar damage to my left pinky the last day of 2015. Dislocated, tore the tendon sheath open. After surgery and PT, it's pretty much OK, although it won't straighten out fully. To deal with my IC, I took to using Abena pull-ups with infant diapers as doublers. Not as reliable as a full diaper, but very manageable when I have only one wing. Not too hard for me, as I am right handed.

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- Tom

I am finding myself in a similar situation, I had a work related accident yesterday that necessitated the amputation of part of my pointer finger. And I'm hoping that the use of the Abena pull ons will work, but with me being home bound for the next few days I don't see there being too much of an issue.