8 replies to this topic

[GoldenYears]

I tell you what. It's one thing after another with this "learning experience" for C4/C5. Now it's the dad-gummed bed.

Since May 2010, PawPaw has been sleeping in hospital beds. When he returned home after a very long hospital stay, we had one of those auto turning beds installed that was supposed to be just the thing for quadriplegics. That bed had all the bells and whistles.

PawPaw complained, complained and he kept complaining. The miracle bed went out and we, his loving family, ignored his complaints and had a new miracle bed brought out. And let me tell you, that bed cost way way more than any full bedroom suite ever cost.

Well. Now PawPaw refuses to sleep in the miracle bed. I might add he stubbornly refuses and laces that refusal with loud cuss words. So, one of our sons bought a complete pillow top bed. Another miracle bed. PawPaw hates that bed too and refuses to sleep in it.

PawPaw finally told me, "Goldie, I'm taking your bed and you are going to sleep on that pillow top and that other miracle bed and then we will decide what to do."

Well, now that I've been forced to sleep on the beds he found so horrible, my hip hurts, my shoulder hurts, there's a cramp in my neck, and my thumb and pointer finger on my right hand are numb.

PawPaw literally belly laughed at my condition. Those beds also did strange things to my hair. It sticks up the way PawPaw's does. Moreover, those beds made me sweat like I was sitting in a steam bath and I had developed a REALLY bad morning attitude. Both of the miracle beds were next to impossible to get out of too. My feet wouldn't even touch the floor as I fought to free myself from those dang mattresses. Small wonder we've been breaking out backs trying to get him out of those things.

PawPaw is doing great. He's taken over my bed -- a new bed our sons bought me when my other bed developed a creeping mattress that wouldn't stay on the bed.

I began to wonder who the heck is designing the beds and mattresses that are supposed to be such miracles. Those mattresses aggravate spinal or bony conditions rather than relieving them of pressure. Listen. I felt like I had been trapped in a gigantic hot dog bun and couldn't get out of the thing.

And those with spinal injuries are sleeping in beds and laying with full body weight on top of those spinal injuries. Obviously hospital beds are designed not to break down when hundreds of people are in and out of the things, but somewhere along the line an engineer is going to have to take a serious look at those things and do some rational rebuilding.

Any of you had bad experiences with the beds?

Our bad mojo continues ...

[Quad65]

What exact beds are you talking about? Tempurpedic? Memory foam types? Sleep Number bed? Inflatables? Give us some brand names.

[qbounce]

Quad65, on 15 January 2011 - 07:44 PM, said:

What exact beds are you talking about? Tempurpedic? Memory foam types? Sleep Number bed? Inflatables? Give us some brand names.

I second that!

I just rolled out a $100.00 2 inch memory foam cover over my already existing hard, king sized bed mattress. Then I got rid of the box spring, and inserted a 3/4" plywood board beneath the mattress, dropping the bed to a manageable hight to transfer myself from the bed very easily.

I have to say, when I first got home I was set up with a hospital bed and air mattress that kept me up all hours of the night. It was near impossible to get any sleep over the droning air mattress motor humming 24/7. In fact I gave it 5 days before asking my family to bring back my familiar bed, and I never regretted it for one second.

[rue2you]

I have a 6 inch memory foam mattress on my regular mattress. I LOVE it! It is harder for me to roll over with but, because it is an overlay, I just grab a handful of it on the side to help me. It has been fine.

Q - one thing I didn't think of was to take off the boxsprings!!! My bed was perfect before but now it is high. I can get in it but it is hard - especially when I am tired! I am going to get my hubby on this!! Thanks!

[GoldenYears]

PawPaw's first bed was what I would call a regular hospital bed. Then it went to a hospital bed with an inflatable mattress. Then it went to a heavy contraption bed that turned him and also had an inflatable mattress. These beds were recommended by the hospital and there were all kinds of contraptions that hung from those beds that he had to have. They also cost a fortune and he hated them. Keep in mind he had a lot of gizmos that had to be hooked up to those beds and then hooked up to him -- blowpipes, hanging stuff etc. Thankfully he can have a bed free of what he called "the cage" now.

Now one of our sons made an arrangement with a retail mattress store to bring out various mattresses for him to try. These aren't hospital types. I think there's one now that he likes and doesn't hurt him. My mattress is now propped against the wall just in case we have to put it back on his bed again. He can have that mattress, I don't care -- but he's being stubborn.

I know the Doctor still wants him in a professional bed, for what reason I don't know. But, PawPaw just flat isn't going for those hospital beds anymore. I wanted to get him a foam mattress topper and put him back in a regular bed, but PawPaw I think just flat didn't know what he wanted anymore when it came to a bed. And he wasn't sure what could or would hurt him. I can tell you this -- when we did put PawPaw in a regular bed, he began turning himself without assistance at night, and he's definately in a much better mood now.

My bed now is the bottom of a set of bunk beds I dug out of the attic and the mattress is foam. Don't know where my sons got that mattress. Paw loves that mattress.

Come to think of it, I don't know what happened to our original bed.

How the heck could I have forgotten that bed ...

Oh well. Things are still "Goldie normal" -- whatever that is.

Goldie

[rue2you]

Get a memory foam mattress. A lot of us on here have them and they are great!!

[GoldenYears]

Thanks for the information everyone. I'm absolutely getting him memory foam and getting my box springs/mattress/bed back from him. The memory foam, you are just laying that across the mattress or is it a mattress itself? Also when you take away the box springs and put down plywood, do you have to do anything to hold the plywood in the frame?

You folks are wonderful.

Thank you so much.
Goldie

[rue2you]

You can buy the memory foam mattresses but they are really expensive. I have a memory foam overlay (lays right on top of the mattress) which you can get in different thicknesses. Qbounce said that his was a 2 inch, mine is a 6 inch and I heard of someone having an 11 inch so I don't know all the measurements they come in. You can buy them online at places like www.overstock.com for a reasonable price but I do not know where you are located.

[MountainWard]

My wife has an air bed, medical rented it for us long enough that the rental paid for it and we were allowed to kep it, good thing... the dang thing was nearly $20,000. The only problem we have is that the bed draws air from near the floor and blows it up under the blankets, if it get below about 65-70 deg in the room it freezez her half to death. I have built a small wooden box around her air unit and place a small space heater a few feet in front of it to help warm the air a lil bit.

These beds are not too fun though when the electric goes out, usually in the middle of the night here... I have my bed built next to hers, so if the electric goes out we just move her over to my bed which has foam pads as a mattress.