Since my husband no longer is able to walk, we use a Hoyer Lift in the mornings to move him from his Hospital bed to a Lift Recliner, which, he sleeps in all day. He is only awake now maybe 3 hours a day, basically, just to eat. I have been wondering lately, if he would just be more comfortable in the bed. Opinions are welcome, especially from Caregivers who have experience this stage.
Kadee, My husband is exactly where yours is and has been for well over 2 years. My take on it would be to keep him up, move him to bed in the afternoon, and then back up, that is if you physically can handle this. It would not be good for him to go completely to bed as this stage can last quite a while. Once they are in bed all the time more problems can arise. I used the Hoyer lift with my husband during the two years he had declined to that stage here at home and moved him from chair, to recliner to wheel chair. I know how hard this is for you. I placed him 2 months ago and have them at the Nursing Home lay him down for two or three hours after lunch and then back up again. I still don't want him completely in bed. He has had the disease for 11 years and it finally got so hard I had to place him.
kadee i dont know if it would make a lot of difference since hes sleeping that much. as long as you get a decent air pressure bed to keep him alternating postiions. you can give leg/arm massage to help circulation. once completely bed bound its much harder on them and us. if you can manage the hoyer lift and hes not resisting it probably best to move his positions as long as possible and hes comfortable with it. pressure sores are the main issue at this point. but once the demise is severe enough even the hoyer lift may seem futile.
Jane, I know that everyone is different but, if I may ask, how old was your DH when the 11 years started? That is a really long time. My DH is 73 and he has been diagnosed for 2 and a half years but I suspected something for the last 7 years and he had his stroke 16 years ago. You did a really good job of taking care of him and having him home for 9 years. As far as I can tell my DH is going to be on hospice here at home unless something happens before then.
Even when my husband was near the end I insisted that he not be left in bed. I wanted him up where he might see activity. Of course there was plenty of help with the transfers. You being alone is a different story. I strongly believe that caregivers don't have to die along with their loved ones.
I knew I would receive good advice. Since luckily, we are not experiencing break downs I think we will keep transferring him to his recliner. He doesn't seem to mind the transfer...goes to sleep as soon as he is moved. I just didn't know about sleeping in the recliner so much. I do have a helper who comes around 5:00 to help me change him for bedtime. He is back to sleep, which I don't mind, since he seems at peace while he sleeping. Jane, This dreadful journey started 10 years ago for us. With the last 4 being the worse, however, he did just stop walking about about 2 months ago. I so hate this disease!!!!!
Deb42657, I took care of my husband for 11 years at home, I just placed him on April 27th this year. He was diagnosed in November 2000 and was 60 years old. We will begin year 12 this November.
Kadee, I transferred my husband with the Hoyer, I moved him from one chair to another each time I changed him which was about every two to three hours, I did this by myself, this part of the care lasted two years here at home, and he got to the point where he needed to be laid down for a rest in bed, I could lay him down but had to have help getting him up so we had to place him at that point. I had my daughter and her husband each morning to get him up but no one during the rest of the day. I had the gel cushion for him during the day also. I had an expensive air mattress that his brother had used for his wife, he paid $3,000 for the mattress and it was only one year old. It really helped us and we had no skin breakdown at all. We had Hospice here at home for over a year and we still have them with him at the Nursing Home. I could not have lasted any longer here at home without 24 hour round the clock care. He sleeps most all the time.