Hi folks!
My hubbie has advanced Parkinsons and Parkinson’s dementia. His mobility has taken a sharp downturn and it can be a struggle to help him to the loo which is the other end of the flat. My 19 year old son does a wonderful job of this but of course cannot be on hand 24/7
Our wonderful neuro-rehab team came today (I love this team so much - they are the best)… they raised the idea of possiblity geting a hospital bed and commode and turning the living room into hubbie’s room. In our two bed flat, this would mean we wouldn’t have a living room space although I would keep the telly in that room and we would keep hubbie’s recliner and we could also fit in a smaller wicker chair which is currently in the kitchen if we all wanted to be in the room together.
We don’t need to make a decision immediately but the time is coming when it will probably be sensible to do and I don’t want to leave it too late.
I would love to hear from others who have done this - what are the pros and what are the pitfalls you’ve encountered?
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Hi @mscoachbeth, it sounds like a fair idea other than moving house or flats. The two biggest things are cons, is if people are visiting where can you take them and the other thing is costs if the room has got to be adapted, if you got to wait for grants if you can’t get a loan. If it a simple change over then half the worries are gone. Just make sure that you get a free fire check via the fire service and they can make a note god forbid if there is emergency they know where everyone is.
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I think it’s a terrible idea! You need somewhere “normal” where you can invite people in to, discuss things in private etc. They are only looking at things for him without considering the rest of the family.
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When Graham was discharged home after his stroke, I set up a bedroom in our conservatory - we are VERY lucky to have this quite large room leading from the lounge. It worked very well, but was only for a week or two. It meant we still had the rest of the lounge to use “as normal”, but I am not sure I would have liked it long term - even though we do have the space.
I have seen others who have had to cram into one room and it really isn’t good as @bowlingbun says - you need SOMEWHERE normal to sit and talk with visitors or just so YOU can escape for a bit.
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@mscoachbeth Have to agree with Chris and BB. District Nurses at one stage wanted husband to have a hospital bed in lounge. We have another room but this is crammed with his junk and he would have needed to be near to TV. Thankfully he refused but it would have meant getting rid of the Sofa. Ok I do have a spare bedroom so I guess that could have been turned into a lounge for me but given cost of heating an old and drafty house, that may not have been economical. In an apartment, the loss of a lounge would not be a very good long term idea. At the risk of sounding cynical, I think sometimes they are put in place as away of discharging patients back home …as they have a hospital bed set up and waiting.
Thanks all… the problem at the moment is that his mobility has decreased and decreased and decreased to the point where this week the paid carers are struggling to move him at all. I also struggle - the only person who can really get him to move with confidence is my 19 year old son and that’s because Sam is so strong and also my husband has complete confidence in him.
We could turn our kitchen/dinning room into a social space for visitors - I used to have a two seater sofa in there when I first moved in and there are a few things I could shift out of there to make this doable.
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