Yesterday in 602s bedroom. (clean).

[w3526602]

Hi,

I fell out/off of the bed, very slowly, struggling frantically to get a grip on something. Everything OK, not hurt, but found myself in the 600mm canyon between the bed and an incandecant(sp?)(red hot) central heating radiator.

Problem ... I couldn't get up.

Exhausted, after half an hours struggling, I let Barbara phone our builder, who arrived about ten minutes later. He simply grabbed my circa 100kg body mass, and lifted me back onto the bed. Barbara is organising delivery of a bottle of Jack Daniels. 

Just over a year ago, Barbara fell, which normally means phoning for an ambulance crew with an inflatable cushion. Three hour wait. So she phoned the Fire Brigade (who once-upon-a-time  were renowned for rescuing cats stuck up trees). The Crew Chief was very po-faced, and a trifle abusive, but they got her back into her power chair, and phoned for an ambulance, which arrived within minutes.

Barbara spent three weeks in hospital (no treatment) while they prepared our bungalow for her discharge.

They delivered a "medical standard" 800kg SWL "engine crane", before realising that our 1.5 metre Adjustamatic double bed (not cheap) was actually two divans, with minimal floor clearance ... no room for the hoist's feet to go underneath. 

So they broke the double bed into its component 0.75m wide halves, and delivered a 1m wide, all singing, all dancing, hospital bed.

Barbara returned home by ambulance, and was stretched into her new bed. All was well until the LA Care Workers tried to crane her out of bed and into her power chair. As yet, I have been unable to work out what the problem was, but Barbara was literally screaming at them to stop. Since then, all her "treatment" has been carried out while she is still in bed.

A 5ft (1.5m) wide double bed is plenty wide, but a 0.75m single is considered to be a child's bed, so too narrow for me.

We bought me a 1.0m wide "hospital style" bed. Not being a proper hospital bed, it doesn't have feature like dropping safety rails, nor a button controlled, height adjustable mattress, but was about £100 cheaper. Perhaps yesterdays incident will encourage my "Personal Bean Counter" to review her economies?

Speaking of economies, a bill arrived from the LA, for MY "Care Package" (Watch me take my morning shower, dry my back, and help me don my pants and socks, later, change back into pyjamas, and escort me to bed + plus four hot snacks per day. £2,000. I threw the invoice on the window sill, without checking the length of the accounting period. 3 months? 6 months? 12 months? My black Amazon lady warrior (Carer's Team Leader) has just returned from Africa, so I'll let her deal with it. I was capable of washing and feeding myself, but she insisted on joining me in the shower, and asking embarrassing questions. ("I don't know, I was very young at the time!" I'm C of E).

I am on the lower of the ATTENDANCE ALLOWANCE scales. Is there anybody here knows about such things?