Dennis' New Bed

Our new hospice organization already supplied Dennis with a new bed. It is a pressure guard mattress. Since I can't explain it well, I have put the link to the particular mattress that he has right here.

Dennis' New Bed

It is eligible for medicare reimbursement, according to the ad.

I am not promoting this particular model, but I am promoting the type of bed. Dennis slept like a baby. Until last night, he had only used his medical bed twice. Now I am sure that I won't be able to keep him out of it!

As for me, I slept through the night for the first time in months. There were no wake up calls for repositioning because the bed automatically does this for Dennis.

I know that some of you out there are dealing with positioning issues and bed sores. If you are, I highly recommend that you find a way to get one of these beds into your home.

Of course, tonight might be different. Stay tuned.

Tomorrow

I am tired and probably should not be doing a blog entry right now. But here I go, anyway.

This has been a boring Christmas. I have an airport cold, and Dennis is as needy as ever. Naturally there is no help because of the holidays and I have become spoiled. I had to cancel dinner with my nephew and his girlfriend. I just could not get Dennis ready and dinner ready and maintain a smile on my face.

So we are stuck with $100 dollars worth of food that I don't particularly like and Dennis cannot eat.

Yes, I am complaining. LOUDLY.

I will admit that I am unhappy. This is most likely Dennis' last Christmas and neither of us enjoyed much of the day. We did watch Penelope late in the afternoon, and we were able to smile a bit, but it just was not quite right.

Even though Dennis has been pooping at night in bed, after clean up the pressure sore seems to be improving. But I am not a nurse or doctor, so I don't always know what I am looking for in a problem.

Enough complaining. Tomorrow may be better. I mean, tomorrow will be better. It's only a day away.

Ann and Dennis

Pressure sores

Off the topic of travel for a moment.

Pressure sores. They used to be called bed sores, but obviously times have once again called for a new label that is more acceptable. This one actually makes sense to me. Tissue is damaged from too much pressure on one particular area of the body. While this may happen from being in one position in bed, it may also happen because a person is wheel chair bound.

Dennis is beginning to develop pressure sores. What do I do? I call the doctor, I look up information on the Internet, I check out the Mayo clinic site and blah, blah, blah. What do I get?

A bunch of contradictory information.

Keep it dry. Keep it moist. Bandage it. Don't bandage it. Move the patient every 15 minutes (yet another toil on my sleep). Again, blah, blah, blah.

It seems to me that bed sores have been around as long as man has existed. How can it be that there is not a real treatment for such an every day occurrence? Have we, as a medical field and a society, just ignored the pain a patient must be in once bound to a bed or a chair? Why hasn't anyone warned me about this before it became a problem?

Okay, I am frustrated. I am sick myself, and since it is a holiday, I have no help. My sister and brother in law are not here because of bad weather (3 inches of snow) in London and some paper work that the US requires for visitors (Ralph is still considered a visitor). I invited Hamed and Ashley over for Christmas Day, and I feel like shit. So perhaps this is not the best time for me to write about such a common ailment.

Maybe I should just make myself a hot brandy (I actually do have brandy in the house for my "famous" Christmas coffee) and try to go back to sleep.

And, no, there will not be a picture today!

Until later,
Ann and Dennis