Daily Life with a C4/C5 Spinal Cord Injury

 

A short notice trip to Torquay to spend time with friends. 

I booked the parents into Premier Inn. Having already had a 5 ⭐️ experience in Wembley, we thought the same experience would be ahead. 

As Power of Attorney for dad, I tend now to do any admin that he needs me to do, hence me booking the hotel for them. The website when booking explained that I should call ahead to arrange bed raisers. Recalling being advised about this in London too. Unfortunately, even with almost 20 attempts to speak to someone, the staff we busy each time and the line cut off. This was tried over several days. Mum and dad arrived early so they could arrange for the bed to be raised. They were told, the room had new divan beds which were unable to be raised, making it difficult again for dad to get in and out of. 

I employ two Personal Care Assistants for holiday cover who live in Torquay, so I arranged for them to attend the hotel and assist dad with bedtime routine and again in the morning to assist him getting washed and dressed. With the bed being too low, this put added strain on the PA’s, something we’d already experienced in London. 

Since then, I have tried contacting Premier Inn to discuss the stay and in particular their beds. An email response advised they wouldn’t engage with me as I was named on the booking. I then sent the same email from mum and dads email in mums name, only for the response to come back advising they wouldn’t correspond with that email either as it wasn’t in the name of the lead name on the booking. As they share an email account, I had no way of corresponding with the accessibility team. Ironic really that the accessibility team is inaccessible on this occasion. So we still had no answers as to whether the bed could actually be raised and if not, why they advertised that it could. Not sure we’ll be able to book this hotel again. Other than that, it was a pleasant stay. As with the previous trip to London, dad had no option but to go without a shower. 

What’s the importance of the shower – having a c4 spinal cord injury means dad may be unable to feel if anything is aggravating his skin. Dead skin and constant sitting in the same position can cause skin marking and break down the skin integrity. A shower also gives opportunity for careers to inspect all the skin to ensure to red marks etc. It’s so easy for a little skin redness through rubbing to cause a pressure wound and potential infection.