A bed I hope you never need. But if you do...

I recently had bypass surgery at 43. I had a heart attack in February due to a birth defect in my left main artery. Instead of being the size of a garden hose, it was the size of straw, so to speak. The doctors tell me it is just the way God made me. Fortunately for me, God also got me to the ER in time for the wonderful doctors at Memorial Hospital to save my life.

When I came home, due to the fact that my sternum had been split in two and I could not turn on my side, I had no choice but to sleep sitting up. Everything hurt. They only way I could sleep was to take a lot of drugs and sleep in a bed that allowed me to lean back and prop my knees up.

My mom is a nurse and thank goodness she knew what I needed better than I did. She ordered me a hospital bed and had it delivered to my house. Our bedroom is on the third floor of our home. She ordered the hospital bed through the Harbin Clinic here in Calhoun, and they delivered it the next day complete with a brand new, NEW mattress. She knows me better than almost anyone. I have a lot of strange thoughts about strange things and sleeping on a rented hospital bed is one of them. To me, and I don't mean to sound like a terrible person, but I had it in my head that these beds circulate in hospice homes and so many people have died on them and it just makes me so sad that I can't deal. I worked as an aide in a nursing home for a very long time in high school and college and saw a lot of death. I think it resonated in me when this happened. Those beds just got wiped down and reused and that stuck with me. I was not in a state of rational thought to start with and this was not something that I could reasonably deal with, it was just too sad. The thought of sleeping on a mattress that someone had passed away on just made the sadness of losing all those people come rushing back and I could not deal. I kept thinking back to my nursing home days and the resue of those mattresses. It is a mental block in me. I know it isn't logical, but I can't get past it. In fact, I'm shying away in this review just how emotional this conversation really was. I was adamant that I would sleep in our recliner before I would sleep in a hospital bed at home. It may sound trivial and silly, but trust me, things like that get way out of proportion when in the moment of a life crisis.

But mom (and Mark) understood when no one else did and assured me that I would get a new mattress. And they came through. Along with the bed and mattress, they got me a nice comfortable very soft memory foam mattress cover, dust ruffle, twin comforter set, two really soft pillows, one to lay back on, and one to support my coughing. The delivery service even took the bed rails off after carrying that huge heavy bed two flights up the stairs and setting it up. They placed it right beside my husbands bed so I could still hold his hand before falling asleep.

It worked beautifully. It was the most comfortable bed in the world and didn't even look like a hospital bed.

It was two months before I was able to sleep in my own bed with Mark again. And even though I was thrilled to be back in bed with him again, I kind of missed the adjustable one. I have to admit. The same guys came back and broke it down and took it away. The friendliest people in the world. I can't recommend them highly enough.

If you ever need a hospital bed, and I hope to heavens you never never do, you can't go wrong with one like this. It has a controller on the side for your head, one for your knees, and one for your feet. Another set raises the overall height of the bed. It has side rails for safety if you need it. It is easy to raise and lower both in height for eating and getting in and out. I was able to get a rolling tray from Office Depot for $19.99 for keeping my book, a night light, my meds and water very handy. I could be pretty self sufficient with it.

Although, that didn't keep me from calling out for help just because I could. :)