Getting out of bed

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Bestfriends14

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I have searched through previous threads and cannot find an answer pertaining to my husband's specific needs. We are not in our home country, so cannot access anything from the ALS Society. My husband can no longer get out of bed with ease. He struggles for several minutes to sit upright, and I help him swing his legs over the edge. Does anyone have any suggestions on what can help my husband make things less work getting up in the morning? PALS, what has worked for you and CALS, what have you used that helped you get your PALS out of bed? I know it is only a matter of time before he can no longer sit up and I will not be able to lift him upright as he is too heavy.

Thank you everyone.

J
 
You do not have the option of a hospital bed I gather? If he has some arm strength a bed cane might help
we also had for a short time something called mattress genie ( it goes under the mattress for the top part to about shoulders). You can inflate it. It is slow but it would get him up part way with no effort from him
 
No option for a hospital bed, unfortunately. I have never heard of a bed cane so I will look into that. We have an adjustable bed at home and wish we could have one here, but with the cost of one, that is not realistic.

*Just looked at the bed cane and it looks good, however, he sleeps on his side facing away from the edge of the bed. It is rolling back towards the edge of the bed and then sitting up that is problematic. Thoughts?


Thanks, Nikki.
 
For a long period of time, I used a rail that went under the mattress. It was a barrier when I rolled over and I could grab it to sit up. I don't know if it would help but it looks like this :
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Thank you, Nona. I looked at a youtube video on using one of these and unfortunately, I waited too long for an aid. My husband is past this phase and I think we will need to start using the hoyer lift to get him out. I finally found a video to get me on the right track of getting him out of bed using the lift. I'm usually so on top of things (or try to be), but I left this one too long due to ignorance.
 
We had a thick rope attached to the bed (in 2 places) so that PALS could pull himself up...somewhat. It worked for a while. But then we needed the hoyer and PALS decided sleeping in a lift chair was more comfortable than any bed. I believe he felt more supported on the sides and he could change the positions of the back and footrest.
 
We used a no-friction transfer sheet under the top sheet, with handles. In the morning, we popped the top sheet corners up and used the handles to pivot him 90 degrees, then lifted his back to sit him up for the Hoyer, with his legs dangling over the bed. Less than a minute in all because you actually want to do the pivot fast, though Larry liked to rest for a minute before sitting up. But it takes two people, one on each end of the slip sheet.
 
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Thanks so much, Regina and Laurie. It's just me doing everything, with no help at all. The easiest is the hoyer lift but Wayne is pushing back on that extra help. He said that if he's not rushed, taking 5 minutes to sit up in bed is OK with him. To me, I think it's wasting energy that he needs desperately. 🤷‍♀️

I guess we'll keep the status quo for now and see what happens from there.

Thanks again, all.
 
Dear Bestfriends14 - good for you. It is unimaginable to me how it really feels to lose one ability after another. Whatever Tom wanted he got. He would get his way and if he still could do something and wanted to do it that was fine with me as I did not want to be the one who would curb the things he could still do - whatever it was. ALS was doing that already to an unnerving degree. Luckily he was careful and he did not get himself willingly into dangerous activities that would cause a fall!
 
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