Making the House a Home

My caretaking ideas are NOT just for the caretakee but just as much for me, the caretaker.

When the decision was made to bring my husband home I had to think about making the house livable for him and his needs. Whoa - Lets step back a bit.

I am 65 and have all the aches and pains that some 65 yr olds have along with a bad back because of osteoporosis. I have been unable to sleep flat for some time and have even spent some time in the recliner. So when my husband went into the nursing home, I tried out his hospital bed – yes the hospital bed ! I adjusted it to the comfort of my back and found that I slept pretty good.

Okay back to my story!

When preparing for Jim to come back home I had to make room for his necessities, wheel chair, walker, etc. I had a king size bed in our bedroom and the hospital bed. Jim often would comment about coming home and sleeping in his own bed and sleeping with me because that would help ME sleep better. Since he could not sleep in the King Bed (neither could I) I searched Craigs List and bought another hospital bed. Thanks to the strength of my son Dean and his girl Katie (hospital beds are extremely heavy) they helped me move the bed in, set it up while removing the king bed. I moved them next to each other and outfitted them the same and now my husband thinks we are sleeping together. He doesn't really know it's not our King bed. Sometimes we even hold hands before drifting off to sleep.