brilliant help from Age Uk

[tre]

My husband's new profiling bed arrived last Friday. We were given only four days notice and as he cannot sleep on his own as I need to be close to re-assure him if he wakes as he gets really anxious furniture needed moving. Our double bed needed moving into the spare bedroom and the single bed needed moving into our room so we could still be together. I could not move the double bed- even the mattress is too heavy as I have osteoporosis and my grip is not what it was following two broken wrists prior to my diagnosis . There is no local family to help, but the district nurse put me in touch with Age UK. We had a time for bed delivery between noon and 2.30 pm so beds had to be moved a.m the same day. Age UK sent two chaps who arrived at 10.00am, moved everything and even hoovered the dust from under the double divan. I could not have managed without them.
New bed is a great success. It goes up and down and you can raise head end and under knees. It also has cot sides with bumpers and a pressure mattress which runs on a pump. My husband has slept better in this bed than he has since Christmas and I am not running around several times a night to put his feet back in when they fall out. We have the two beds side by side with the cot sides up on the outside only so I can still reach to hold his hand when he needs reassurance. Only downside is that the pump is a bit noisy and cuts in and out so I need to get used to it. It also has a very bright blue light when it is on but I have draped a bit of blackout curtain lining over that which has done the trick. Also, there is not much space in the bedroom now.
So I just wanted to say a big thank you to Age UK for helping me. Apparently the equipment service who delivered the bed could not move furniture as they would have to do a risk assessment visit first and they do not have time to do this.
Tre

 

[Perdita]

Lovely to hear that Age UK helped you tre . The lady from Age UK was a great help to me and mum in the past.

My mum has a profiling bed and the pump on the mattress does take a while to get used to but you don't hear it after a bit.

 

[Kjn]

That's good to hear x

 

[lin1]

Hi. I'm glad Age UK were so helpful, I found them good too.

I'm thinking the pump is faulty, mum had a couple, one I could just about hear in the night, the other started out quiet then got noisy. the Loan store either repaired or replaced it
They should have left you info, with their telephone number, they may need the number on of the devise , this may be on the paperwork as well.

Hospital beds are brilliant aren't they,
You can clean underneath them so easily and have them at the right height to work at. That's without being able to put the person into various comfy positions so easily.

I used to have my bed against mum's hospital bed, just like you do.
I suggest you either put the other cot side up when u are not in the room or try and jam your bed with something so it can't move. The reason I say this is, I left mum to sort out dads n my dinner and have a wee break , when I checked on mum I found that she had tried to get out of bed, and had nearly fallen between the two beds
I didn't think she had the strength to be able to move my bed but she did.
I used a chest of drawers .

 

[tre]

Thanks for the tip Lin. It is wedged in as the room is now so full of stuff everything is crammed in. My husband's side is clear so there is nothing for him to fall over but other than that it is all chock a block.
I am getting used to the pump. I think it was noisier one night because the tube was pinched by the mattress but I now check this.
The past couple of nights when it has been cooler it has been OK but prior to that I noticed my husband was quite hot and sweaty in the morning although he did not complain. Have you encountered this problem. I wondered about different sheets. I found some on the internet which are supposed to keep you cooler but they are very expensive so I wondered if anyone else had tried them. There were either ones with a wicking effect or special wool ones. He has got the thin quilt on. We did not have this problem before but then we did not have a wipe clean type mattress. Any ideas?
Tre