30Jun08 - House Adaptions

Back in November I wrote a blog about adaptions. At the time the idea of altering our home was an uncomfortable one. It forced me to confront future realities regarding quality of life and how we are going to manage Lucy as she grows. I also feared that the adaptions would mean turning part of our family home into a hospital ward with all the equipment that Lucy will need. However I have had plenty of time to get used to the idea since then. It is clear to me now that it is essential as it won't be too long before handling Lucy starts to become difficult. Dawn is already finding it difficult to bath her.So although it is still difficult emotionally to accept that Lucy needs a "Special" bedroom and "Special" equipment there really is no other option so we decided that we would make sure that the room is as pretty and girly as we can make it. Lucy will still have a proper bedroom rather than a ward. We have already chosen curtains and bedding and are planning to use some really good sensory equipment as well. Watch this space!

It took two weekends and a skip to clear the junk out of our house and move all Joshua's toys out of what was his playroom. It is sad that he is losing that space. Finally on Sunday afternoon the room was completely bare and ready for the builders to start this morning.Joshua was putting a brave face on this morning but I could tell that he too is sad that the playroom he has had for nearly five years is going. I am slightly worried that not having this room on the middle floor of the house will drive him upstairs into his bedroom but then I guess he is starting to reach that age anyway.After the first day we can already get an idea of size and it is going to be cozy although we always knew it would be. The most striking change for me was the cut out in the ceiling where the tracked hoist is going to be fitted. The room is split into a shower room at one end and a bedroom at the other.The plumber arrives tomorrow to start on the shower room basin and shower tray. Overall the whole job is going to take two to three weeks at the end of which we will have to contemplate moving Lucy downstairs. She currently sleeps in the bedroom right next to ours so this will be quite a difficult step.