We are getting new living room furniture because of my husband's stroke
By suspenseful
@suspenseful (40192)
Canada
September 28, 2008 9:21am CST
Anyway he has a hard time getting off the couch and we have one of those rockers that are wood with the cushion on, but it keeps moving back to the couch and he has to use the couch front as a stabilizer. So we were searching for another couch and a lazy boy chair that had high arms and a not so soft cushion, plus was high enough for him to get off of -- in the right colors of course. We were going to wait for a while until we got the basement finished, so we went to Bricks, Dufresne, and Sears, found some we liked but it was a bit too soon and even with off, the prices are a bit too high. Then last week's flier showed that yesterday and today there was a sale at Sears, no interest until --so my husband took me down there, rather than to the bank. Well the offshoot was that we bought a sofa and easy chair, and they will be delivered on Reformation Day or Halloween -October 31st.
So has any of you had to replace or buy new furniture because of health issues?
3 people like this
12 responses
@snowy22315 (208846)
• United States
28 Sep 08
I havent but if my mother was living with me Iwould probably need a ramp because i dont think she could make it up and down my stair to get into the house on a regular basis. I guess that there are many things that someone could do if they needed to to make their house accomodating their loved one's disability.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
We are also thinking of getting a banister for the two stairs at the end of the kitchen. We have two steps leading down to the step before going our the house and we are also thinking of getting a railing for the front steps as well. There are new houses in our area who have just one step leading into the front, but when our house was built no one thought of what would happen.
1 person likes this
@LouiseKnittel (4764)
• United States
28 Sep 08
I am happy that you are getting new furniture!
My mom has a Lift chair. It raises up and down and it reclines.She loves it and never needs any help getting in or out of it. This is her second one the first one had a malfunction. It was replaced right away! I think that you husband would like a chair like that.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
He would. This one does have a button on the side where you can make it into an easy chair, and it does lift up a bit. He is not that far bad yet. I would not be surprised giving the history of strokes in his family that it will come to that. We do have a rocker and I guess that will have to go and we can always replace that. It is just that we have a small living room and can only put so much furniture in it.
1 person likes this
@marciascott (25529)
• United States
1 Oct 08
That is nice! sorry that your Husband was sick, I hope he gets well real soon1 I hope you get a good buy on some furniture. Have a good day. Haven't seen you around much, but I haven't been on the Mylot much, I don't have the time these days. I wish I could get some new furniture, I am going to just get mind cleaned.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
2 Oct 08
I have been busy responding, did not start that many new posts. He thinks he is not getting better. And now I find I may have something wrong. With my sort of luck it is very bad. That furniture is going to cost us a bundle. At least we have the money saved for it and we do not have to pay it for a couple of years.
@deebomb (15304)
• United States
28 Sep 08
I have Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. Is is very hard to get up from a normal couch or chair. So What I did was buy a recliner rocker which raised the seat some but not really enough on bad days. My sun add a couple of 2x4 to the base which made it so much easier to get up and down. We also add a brick under the legs of on normal easy chair. I also add about 3 inches to my bed wight blocks of wood with those furniture casters to keep it from rolling off. These things have helped me a lot.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
I am not much of a carpenter, but the seat of the new chair will be going back too far even if it does have arms on the side, so we are going to get some hard cushions to put in the back so my husband will be able to get up easier. We did get a miracle foam mattress for our bedroom and that makes it much better. My husband also had a bad back to begin with. We did have to really look around to find the ones that were good. We could have had them custom made, but really could not afford it on our pensions.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
6 Oct 08
It would still look home made or home fixed. And you have to consider the weight of the person sitting on the chair or the sofa or laying on the couch. And it depends on where you live or how to live. You have to put a skirt around the sofa to hide the base or else everyone who comes in the room will notice it.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (64169)
• United States
28 Sep 08
When I had my rotator cuff surgery, EVERYONE said I would sleep the first month or more in a recliner and needed one. So, I got one, with the electronic lift and reclining because ALL the mechanical recliners required using either the right arm to work the lever or to use your arms to push back - and it was my right arm getting surgery. I still have it, and its buried so I can't use it - but I hope I can soon.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
My husband's stroke was on his left side, but the physiotherapist told him that he has to work his left side. So she has told him to pick up coins, used weights, do those puzzles that my one year old plus grand daughter is ready for so he can increase the strength of his left hand. Maybe I should call Sears and tell them to put the lever on the left side, but really I am not that mean. 
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
30 Sep 08
I do not know about this one. I do hope it does. He needs the work. *aren;t I a meenie?"
2 people like this
@dragon54u (31633)
• United States
28 Sep 08
I thought you were moving?! Why buy new furniture?
I've bought a couch since I got divorced and moved into my very first house that I own. It is higher than a normal couch by a few inches to accommodate my fickle knees and very firm for my back. I like having furniture that I choose myself and don't have to consider someone else's desires. I like coming first and having comfortable things! I hope your husband and you like the new furniture, it's so important to be comfortable.
3 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
My husband had a stroke and he cannot get up that good from a soft chair and from one that is too low. So we had to get new furniture with firmer cushions and easier to get out of, our old furniture is over twenty years old. He also has a bad back. Now I hate soft furniture as well, and our old furniture would have been all right, but our living room is smaller than the one we had in Saskatoon, and we gave the love seat to our son. So this time, we just bought the easy chair and the sofa. And with the two of us, if someone else comes to watch Tv, we have the lining room chairs.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
30 Sep 08
I thought it was strange us buying a new couch and easychair because my husband kept talking about selling the house and moving into a Senior's residence in a couple of years. I mean if it were for two years, which is the time it would take to fix up the house, we could have not bothered. But he is going to be comfortable and maybe that will delay the selling of the house until at least five years or more later.
1 person likes this
@Lakota12 (42600)
• United States
29 Sep 08
nope not for hrealth reasons.
I picked out what we coulduse easy no matter what.
My mom bought one of the lazy boys that has a control that lifts her up and out of it after her illness in 2004.
SHe loves it can hardly get her out of it very very confortable.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
30 Sep 08
Well I do not like soft cushions any way. And we did a lot of checking. We did need a new easychair anyway, but my husband has a hard time getting out off the couch. He uses the rocker his mother gave him, but it keeps moving back to the couch. We looked at the lazy boys with the controls that lifts you out, and I think this is something like that but not quite.
1 person likes this
@doubleloveyou (2466)
• United States
29 Sep 08
I had to move furnature from upstairs to the dining room when my wife had brain surgery. She was not able to climb stairs easily anymore.
When My dad brough my Grandma to live with them they got her a recliner that she pushes a button and the recliners starts to lift up to help put her out of the chair. That works great.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
30 Sep 08
We do not have an upstairs so we are okay that way. We are getting one of those recliners for the lazy boy. We did not want to get a rocker, because we have to have it steady. And with the sofa there will be a little more room in the living room.
@KUSHANK55 (2437)
• India
28 Sep 08
well dear friend , good to know that to suit your husbands changed requirement, you are going in for change in setting and furniture items. intelligent thinking!!
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
We were going to wait until later when the basement was finished, but now it was such a good sale! And the colors were just what we wanted. Besides the old furniture was over twenty years old - come to think of it, it was close to thirty. Now all we need is to get rid of that crappy carpet and get one to match. 
1 person likes this
@chameleonsdream (1230)
• United States
29 Sep 08
I didn't consider my arthritic knees when we bought our new living room set two years ago and I sure wish I had. The sofa and chair are both very low to the ground, which makes it difficult to get up from them and uncomfortable to sit in them for any length of time unless I stretch my legs out. Since I can't afford to replace the furniture, I've 'modified' it by adding two cushions under the one that I sit on most often so that it's easier to get up.
2 people like this
@Cunning_linguist (104)
• Philippines
29 Sep 08
Personally I haven't, but I do remember the time that my mom and dad bought this NugaBest therapy bed for their house. They said it's for my mom's arthritis and my dad's diabetes. I tried the bed once when we came to visit them, and I found it a bit too uncomfortable for my tastes. Hardly gave me a therapeutic benefit at all, LOL. Last time I checked, that bed's still there with my folks, although I don't know if they still use it as much as they did. And it cost them a small fortune, too.
2 people like this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
29 Sep 08
My mother-in-law had to get a special bed and I do remember it costs quite a bit. They had to have it custom made, but I had no idea what make it was so for me getting furniture that is either larger or smaller or shorter or wider then the average is rather a new experience.
1 person likes this
