Mom (91) has had huge decline in last month, both mentally and physically for years. Due to torn rotator cuff on right side she can’t sleep on right side and becuase of heart failure she can’t sleep on her back. She can only sleep on her left side. Now she is weaker and needs assistance getting into bed but can’t keep her legs straight (ie uncomfortable) so they start off near the edge (only way comfortable) and ten minutes later they dangle off and she calls me to adjust her. This happens all night long. If I hired an aide would they adjust her every 10 minutes?
Try pillows to support leg that is not on mattress. Sometimes one between knees helps. Pillows also help to maintain side positioning.
She will never get 10 minute interval help in a NH, so if you have funds to pay for overnight care, by all means pay for it. You need sleep for the daytime hours.
Be her advocate and make certain that she is not over-medicated for this issue, but meds will be required. to keep her from falling out of bed and for sleep. Maybe pain meds are in order.
I've had 2 extensive repair surgeries on my left shoulder and the only bed in which I can sleep on that side is my adjustable air bed. Otherwise, while my shoulder was painful, I had to sleep on my right side with a large pillow propping my left arm to avoid the pain of weight pulling on my shoulder.
Please start looking at having your mom placed, for both of your sakes.
Best wishes, this is not easy feet!! Take care of yourself too!
i bought my Mom a large and small wedge pillow to sit up in bed and we put a pillow under her legs so her feet dangle off as we try to prevent sores on her ankles.
The company we got the wedge from is called Cuddledown.
try elevating her legs slightly and see if that helps keep her from riding down. My mom has a hospital bed and we put the foot of the bed up a little as well.
If Mom can afford and Aide try it out. You must be exhausted and yes, they will adjust her.
there are all sorts of huge pillows that take the shape of the body; comfy, you press into it, like a foamy cushion.
https://www.etac.com/products/patient-handling/campaigns/immedia-leanonme/
can be soft and nice; and act as a barrier against her legs dangling off the bed. (i'm guessing you've already tried a bed rail).
My mother did not like her mattress on her hospital bed and we went through several toppers and the air filled ones before she decided to accept one. She used small support pillows but amazingly managed on her own. She liked the height of the bed and that she could get in and out of it with the side rails for support. She did use a lift chair during the day and sometimes napped in it but went to her bed each night. I wonder if your mom is sleeping during the day and not sleeping that well at night? I was always amazed that my mom would get up to use her bedside commode so often and go right back to sleep. Each morning after using the commode she would weigh herself and jot down the weight. Then make her way to the kitchen to have her breakfast. I don’t know how she did it. Amazing to me when I look back on it.
That would be a whole lot cheaper than having to hire someone to come in to move her, and realistically, how much sleep would she get when someone is moving her every 10 minutes?
Also as has been suggested, it may be time to bring hospice on board.
It is a gentle movement so it should cause no pain as she would not be physically moves by someone the mattress would move.
Is she on Hospice? Hospice will provide a bed like this.
You might look up “positioning a patient on side” on YouTube to see if what I’m describing might work for your mom. Here is a video I watched produced by hospice RNs with the title “Positioning for Comfort to Lie on the Side” that could be helpful:
https://youtu.be/6M5_eTPUWpo