Friday 24 July 2015

No. 217. 'The holiday begins.'

The trip up started with a diversion just a mile away from home, then when we hit Truro it was grid locked and it took about 3/4 hour to get through the town. Most of the main A30 in Cornwall is dual carriage way, but there is a section at Temple near Bodmin which is single carriage way and it is being upgraded to two lanes. Well we were bumper to bumper for miles either side of Temple which added about 1 1/2 hours to our journey. The rain followed us up all the way from Cornwall too.

The Traffic wasn't too bad after that, a few hold ups along the way, but nothing major. I think we got off rather light on the A35 going by the traffic reports on the radio. The trip took 7 hours altogether when it should have only taken about 5. Chris coped with it OK and the convene sheath and bag made toilets stops easy for him.

The bungalow is very nice, tucked down a side street on the out skirts of Lymington. It had one of those puffy air fresheners though and I hated it. It reminded me of a care home I worked in once, very sickly, so I switched it off.

The wheeled shower chair that was provided was pretty unsuitable really. It was large and self propelled and I had a hell of a job moving Chris in it as he can't lift his legs. We gave up in the end and he transferred with his powered wheelchair instead. The wheeled shower chair we have at home is brilliant, I can just take Chris from toilet to the basin to the bed with out him having to change seats. We then attempted to transfer him to the bed from the wheelchair, although it is a riser bed it is lower and the mattress softer than ours. Chris fell back on his back, which hurt him plus he couldn't breathe and then I had to pull him back up. We then had to come up with something to support his feet as I mistakenly left the blow up leg supports at home. I used pillows and one of the nest of tables to make a bed cradle, not ideal, but it has sort of worked. Boy it is amazing how you get used to your own equipment and way of doing things. If a purpose built bungalow doesn't meet Chris's needs then what will? There is nothing wrong with the bungalow, it is laid out well and everything thought of, but I guess the needs of someone with MND are quite unique. I am having to sleep with only part of the duvet as Chris was cold so I wrapped him up in more of it. What fun.

Guess I had better see if I can get some sleep. Chris keeps choking on mucous build ups, so we'll see on that one.  Off exploring tomorrow, at least the sun should be shining.