Beds for PALS

Planning ahead....

It is inevitable that my wife and I will have to quit sharing our king-size bed, and I will need something more 'versatile'.

I saw mention in another thread of the ProBed, which looks to be excellent for our needs, especially as turning moves past difficult and on to impossible.

Other than the standard hospital bed what are folks using?

And how much, if any, did health care kick in to cover costs?

--- Edit ----

There are a few other posts on this (I need to remember to search 'closed' posts, too):

Hospital Bed
Help! How to decide what mattress is best?
Recommendations for beds
Adjustable Bed/Mattress

By the time my husband could not be managed in our king any other bed besides a hospital bed would not work. You can extend using your king by getting a wedge for under your head and back to elevate you and bolster for under your legs. We had a fairly inexpensive alternating mattress that went on top of the mattress so that he didn't need to be turned. But all of this takes a lot of work for the CALS to position you in, and risks their back. Once I got my husband all positioned I might as well have been in another bed as I was at a different level. I bought myself a really good twin bed and now we just have to be content to be in the same room.

Paulette

We got two singles when it all started and pushed them together to make one huge king. Now we've separated them a bit and he either sleeps in his w pillows or his sit to stand. Figure when we need a hospital bed we'll be able to easily remove one single at least and hopefully be side by side still. Hate not being able to cuddle anymore : (

I just want to clarify, since this term is used a lot here, that the "standard hospital bed" may not be adequate, if it does not have 4 buttons on the control:

head up/down
feet up/down
tilt up/down [e.g. Flex-A-Bed models don't have this, yet I see they are trying to compete in the home health market]
height up/down

For example, using a male urinal is much, much harder if you cannot tilt!

Also, a lot of "standard hospital beds" are 75-76" or 80" whereas if you are tall, the bend in the bed, the tilting "slippage" and placement in bed (not an exact science w/ sling transfers) suggests you need 84" for your feet not to hang off. IMHO anyone longer than 5'10" or so should consider 84". The rule of thumb for the 75"-ish one is supposed to be 5'3" or so but again I would size up in this disease.

We use positioning boots and the bed has no headboard nor footboard; the head is against the wall.

My point is, don't just get a bed that supports your existing sleep positions; get one that will accommodate disease progression. Medicare and other carriers will reimburse in part for a powered hospital bed and powered mattress. Unless your progression is atypically slow, I would buy a hospital bed of some kind (from ProBed on down) if you are going to change beds.

If you don't get an alternating pressure or static air mattress, you have two layers to play with, e.g. a medical grade foam mattress and a foam or air overlay. I have previously mentioned what we settled on. The advantage of overlays is that we have changed them out as my husband has progressed/ they lose their supportiveness. You can do the same w/ mattresses, too, but it is pricier.