My boyfriend is in hospital due to hypoxic brain injury. Long story short we have been offered the chance to buy a house to help suit his needs.
I was wondering if you had a chance to have the perfect house on discharge following brain injury, what sort of space would you feel would have benefitted you?
For example I had thought a bungalow would be better but then I don't want to take stairs put of his life and he struggle in the real world with the cognitive side of them etc. (if that makes sense)
His impairments will mainly be with cognitive planning but any advice on anything would be great
Thanks in advance x x x
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Wow that is amazing that he has been offered to buy a house that suits his needs! When I was discharged it was a struggle to even get any benefits so was a financial nightmare and I feared I would be plunged into debt. The care package that was put in place for help with meals was cancelled by the care manager in less than a week. I had no help with anything else yet could barely walk with a zimmer frame. My son (then age 5 yrs) had to go into foster care for the first 3 weeks and when he came back home I was on my own with not only managing myself, but my son and our daily lives e.g had to get other parents to take him to school, neighbour to get some food shopping for me etc etc. Had to surrender my driving licence for a year because of concern about sub clinical fits and was so weak I couldn't leave my house to get anywhere by walking or public transport for months and months. As to what kind of property to ask for it very much depends on your boyfriends recovery so far and how long he is into recovery as to whether further rehabilitation could be significant or limited.
Thanks... Yeah we are lucky thanks to his parents, no idea what care package he will get once discharged as apparently we are not in a great area for rehab teams so trying to get a plan for ourselves to support him. X
So it's his parents that are buying the house?! I had wrongly assumed it was to do with his needs and the Local Authority giving some help!!! I had thought, amazing, because I have never heard of that happening before and maybe pre bi I would have been able to realize it wasn't! Oops!!
Yeah nothing to do with councils I'm afraid just his parents providing an ability to circumvent our future troubles getting on the ladder as it might be a while before he comes back to work. Still an amazing thing in my book though so sentiment was not too far out! X x
I am very good at getting 'the wrong end of the stick' .... a talent of my brain injury! 🤔 How long since he suffered his brain injury and how's his mobility?
Hi amazing, personally i would love to have no stairs. Its not that i cant negotiate them its hust i avoid them whenever i can. I minimise trips up and down them where i can some days i come down them in a morning and dont go back up til bedtime.
When i get up in the night and first thing in the morning i find my balance at its worst so the upstairs bathroom is opposite the top of the stairs and ive nearly toppled down tgem a few times😬
Tapped the wrong thing there, so yes a downstairs bathroom or cloakroom at the very least would be good, luckily we already had one which meant i could do home visits sooner.
And nice and open plan i hate being in the kitchen unable to sit or rest whilst cookibg and there have been times ive put things on to cook and forgotten about them only remembering when its all burnt and another pan ruined!.
Im hopefully getting the house remodelled when my husband retires, courtesy of pension pot, only waited 6 years! But hopefully in the nexr year. I say hopefully because i know when he sees the money in his bank account he’ll not want to spend it!
In normal circumstances I wouldn't leave my Victorian terraced for anything but, owing to my balance issues since the BI, the high ceilings are proving a challenge for decorating.
Stairs don't trouble me so long as there's a handrail to keep me balanced (struggle going up or down with hands full). But when I broke my foot they were an absolute nightmare so, if your partner has mobility problems, I'd opt for no stairs.
If I could have had my dream place to meet my post BI needs there would Def be no stairs. My other primary consideration would be acoustics...noises are a big issue for me and while open plan living is practical on some levels it does not allow for peaceful escape.
Initially the only escape I had was the bedroom and it would be all too easy to retreat to bed and sleep life away....having an area where I could be and function without noise and distraction was (and still is) important to me.
Hi although my bi was through a stroke and my mobility returned fairly quickly one of the things I had great problem with was stairs. I had to relearn how to get up and down them. We live in a bungalow and I was very grateful for that especially in the early months as I found when I needed the loo I had to go straightaway. There is also the safety element as I know I would've struggled with carrying anything whilst trying to negotiate the stairs.
Although it took me a while I am now fully capable of walking up/down them. I have been for almost 18 months and my bi was nearly 3 years ago.
Good luck with whatever you choose wishing you both all the best x
Hi, look for somewhere that is as quiet as possible . This sort of injury often leaves people very noise sensitive. I need alot of silence to re-energise. Good luck
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