Daily Life with a C4/C5 Spinal Cord Injury

We’ve reached another milestone! 4 years ago, the renovations to provide a suitable bedroom and wet room for dad, were completed.

It took us some time as a family to accept that renovations were needed. We lived in hope for a few weeks, even a couple of months, that the doctors were wrong and that this paralysis was temporary.

Once we figured out our permitted development rights, a budget and found a building company with knowledge and experience of disability adaptions, we got to work. We were slightly hampered by the works starting the same day as the first covid lockdown but we persevered and worked in such a way that all rules were maintained.

We were lucky we had the space to add an extension – this would house only a large bedroom. The existing downstairs bedroom was transformed into a hallway with built in wardrobes and a spacious wet room. Working on this during lockdown meant we didn’t have the input from occupational therapists but most things we found online!

Using PM Builders, we found everything a breeze. They knew what we wanted, they met with dad (at a 2m distance!) and updated him regularly as he couldn’t get around the house to see for himself. Dad was living in one room for the duration so time was of the essence.

We opted for a minimalist look to provide open plan space for getting around in the wheelchair and to allow carers the space needed. We added a built in daily use area which houses everything carers will need on a daily basis but only keep enough in there for a week at a time. This helps to stop it becoming cluttered.

Dad didn’t want the room looking like a hospital – not easy when you need a profiling bed and hoist! But we did our best using delicate colours and having a place for care products to live.

4 years on what did we learn:

• wet rooms can never be too big, go with the biggest space possible
• wheelchairs bump into walls, corners and doors – expect bumps everywhere!
• how ever many plug sockets you think you need, double it!
• h frame hoist is amazing and allows for flexibility
• hard floors will need replacing much quicker due to the stones coming in on wheelchair wheels
• we wished we had the budget for electric doors to the garden
• we should have given the project more time and applied for planning permission to go bigger than our permitted development rights
• never underestimate the amount of equipment needed – space is crucial

We have maintained a fantastic relationship with PM Builders and they’ve recently come back to refresh the rooms by touching up the numerous bumps and scratches on the walls, refresh all the silicone and repaint everywhere – this was easier done whilst dad was on holiday and was lovely coming home to a freshly decorated area.