Author:
LIz (Higginson)
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Date Posted: Saturday, July 31, 2010, 10:32: pm
I should begin by telling you I'm an Australian in Australia.
During a few years I lived and worked in the States I developed a good friendship with one of the women with whom I worked. I had known her almost two years when she happened to tell me sheād had a chronic problem with constipation. I remarked that it seemed we had something in common ā something we wished we didnāt have in common! We compared notes and found we both had the same experience with the common American laxatives and I asked if sheād gotten any good results with enemas. Donna told me she took as few enemas as possible and would take one only as a very last resort. She told me her mother had given her enemas as a child and the experience was awful. She continued and, by telling me about her mumās technique, clearly explained why the enema had been such a negative. She told me that, the times she did take an enema, she was barely able to take enough to get some relief.
I asked her if sheād ever tried a Higginson. She knew what it was, but hadnāt tried it. Maybe, she said, it might be a good idea and, perhaps, sheād contact her pharmacist and buy one. I told her she could use mine or, what might be better, let me give her an enema with the Higginson. That sounded to her like a good idea and, a few weeks later, she told me she was āstuckā again and would I āhelp outā?
The Higginson enema went remarkably well. I had Donna lie on her left side and I used a colon tube which I smeared with KY and inserted seven or eight inches. About that distance from the tip of my colon tube I have a baby bottle nipple which serves somewhat to help retention. I had made up an enema set with a three-litre plastic pitcher. I made a two-quart solution with warm water and very little soap. I very, very slowly squeezed the bulb; it took over ten minutes to give the first quart. I did stop a few times so Donna could take some puppy-dog breaths but, overall, that quantity went very easily. Continuing, I was able to ease the better part of a second quart. My patient felt sheād taken all she could and I stopped and got her to hold the enema for five more minutes. The results were great! Donna couldnāt get over how easy it went, she said she hoped I might āhelp outā again and offered to return the favour. While Donna and I had been pretty good friends, we added a new dimension to our friendship.
A few months before I was to return home (to Australia) Donna hooked up with a really nice guy whom she eventually married. She told me she had no trouble getting her man to give her the necessary treatment:) We corresponded for a few years but eventually our contacts dropped to zero.
I learned from this that the Higginson's not common in the States and I think, if more Yanks would use it and give the enema as most nursing texts probably teach, the enema could, parhaps, regain some popularity that it had some decades ago.
Cheers!
Liz
Liz
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