Vineet needs a new mattress. But it can't be the 'normal' one.

For years now, Vineet has been using the normal mattress that we all mostly use - the coir one with thin foam lining. Maybe there are springs inside as well, I don't know. In India its the number one brand by the name- 'Kurl-on''. We have known this brand since our childhood and we know no other.

Vineet has a very severe type of scoliosis associated with his condition and I am told that it might be called ''LORDOSIS". I don't know whether surgery will be beneficial for him, and frankly, I dread it. Coz the Orthopaedic doctor at 'Christian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore' had told us that he could put in rods, but rehab would take around 6 months or so. Now Vin and me can't stick around at any hospital for a period of more than 7 days, 6 months??!!! NO NO NO!! is what we both said :P So we left it at that. Vineet has been very gracious enough to allow me to put up the fotos of his back at an earlier age in this blog. He said its okay since its supposed to help parents of other similar kids :) Isn't he an Angel :)

Top viewof his SB site
 at age 5

Side view at age 5

   

Now at 15 years of age , Vin suddenly lost all his baby fat and with all the changes of the body at 15 years old, suddenly I find his bone deformity at the SB site has risen up like a mountain! Its uncomfortable to the eyes and though Vin does not have much probs with it considering he uses his back as a support, I know what it means. It means all his organs inside are crushed including the lungs - which is Dangerous as his Uncle Dr. Nitesh says. Any kind of surgery or therapy correction, etc can now happen only after his Class 10 Board Exams next year in February-March. So as of now, I try not to make him sit at his wheelchair for long hours at a stretch at home. Can't help much at school though....but there's a rest cushion for his back. Its always been there....

So now Vin complains of a backache at times and we do a massage. But he's also tired of sleeping on his sides all the time and now wants to sleep on his back. So started our search on the internet for the most suitable mattress for his condition. First I asked in my various spina bifida groups on Facebook. I received a variety of answers but the most prominent of them was the usage of air mattresses by most respondants.Some were also using water-beds and normal foam mattresses. But I had seen 2 friends and family using air-mattresses and thought they worked fine. So I just walked into a pharmacy and got one - it was cheap so to say, Rupees Two Thousand for the brand Karma. I chose Karma because they had a free replacement policy-no questions asked.

Although Vinsy found the bed very comfortable, it didn't serve our purpose. Even after pumping air to its full volume, it was not high enough to fit-in his bony deformity. Now I had to search online. I searched a lot but couldn't get a satisfactory answer. All I could make out was that you didn't need to have a stiff mattress for backaches anymore. It was completely a wrong notion. Neither are you supposed to use a very soft one. Below are a few sites I stumbled upon searching for the right kind of mattress -
http://myergobed.com/best-mattress-for-scoliosis.php

https://www.novosbed.com/mattrepedia/how-to-find-the-best-mattress-for-scoliosis/

http://www.ebay.com/gds/Which-Mattress-Is-Best-for-Back-Pain-/10000000177628320/g.html

http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/sleep/selecting-best-mattress

https://www.resurgensspine.com/education/resources/frequently-asked-questions-faqs/78

http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/sleep/mattresses-back-conditions

So I deduced and gathered after all the searches of various kinds that there is this mattress called "My Ergo Bed' which they claim is very good for scoliosis. Then there's this 'Memory Foam Mattress' which is the best type that has been developed by NASA scientists. I think this post will be way too long to say more about it, so I am posting a link about it.
http://www.bedinabox.com/history-of-memory-foam-mattresses.php


Now just like you, I too was getting confused between the My Ergo Bed and the Memory Foam Mattress.But blogs and forums like these helped me make a decision -

http://scoliosisnutty.blogspot.in/2007/12/scoliosis-and-memory-foam-mattresses.html
http://scoliosisscoliosisscoliosis.blogspot.in/2010/10/best-mattress-for-those-with-scoliosis.html
http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showthread.php?1027-Get-a-new-bed

(This is why I blog- we help each other :)

Secondly, I doubt if 'My Ergo Bed' was delivering to India coz it had to be custom made.
Third was the price factor. I found that it was exorbitantly priced.

And then as usual, my dear God helped me :) One day as I was returning home from work, there was a billboard near Vin's school saying - The number One International mattress company was here! In Asansol! A small town in West bengal India! - ECLIPSE. I googled at home and sure enough, they had the Visco Memory foam Mattress! Below is the link to their official website -
http://www.eclipsemattress.in/mattressingredients.html

When we went to visit the store, we had no idea that the memory foam mattresses were so expensive! There were so many varieties, for a moment we got puzzled. Then we tried on a few samples and decided on this one- The 'Ortho Visco' memory foam mattress. We were told it would cost us around Rupees Thirtyfour Thousand for the size of Vin's bed! okay.....hmmm....okay.....so we'll take it. Maybe we 'll  have less pizzas ;) .Papa can sleep next to Vin on it as he's got a slight back prob as well ...
I wished they had a trial period as well....

So the order has been given and we should receive it within a few days. Do please check in the Comments section for my reviews on the mattress when it will have arrived, as also after using it for a month or so.
Wow, this post got lengthier than I thought! Thankyou All for going through and sharing our journey with Vineet - our very special child :)


(P. S.  Please leave your valued comments and suggestions in the comments section, I love going through them  :)

Standing Power Wheelchair

In seated Position

In standing Position

A standing wheelchair is the dream of most paraplegics I could say. And ever since I showed it to Vineet on youtube he had been eager to experience it. For him , as he said, it would be the first time he would stand on his own.

In my post about his power wheelchair I had mentioned that our Surgico-pharma shop had conveyed that the standing power wheelchair would be available for demo soon. So on 11th July 2015 , we visited the shop and indeed, there it was! We were as excited as Vineet to try it. Maybe a little apprehensive too, thinking what if the knee support wasn't strong enough to hold him? Or what if the knee support was too tight on him and he wouldn't know if the pressure was crushing him? Nevertheless, Vineet sat on the wheelchair and slowly he began to rise up from his seating position. And then it struck us all - The huge bony deformity of his 'Lordosis" wouldn't let him rest on his back on the back seat. So as much as my brave Vin tried, he kept falling in front. Daddy was very worried about the knees too....And our demo personnel decided that the model being an adult size did not help much either. So after taking a foto of Vin in it (which he wanted to put up on his FB page :) , we switched it back to the sitting position.

 Our dealer has assured us that he will be on the lookout for a 'Paediatric ' model for Vin. So we came back home a little  disheartened, but our motto in life being - "NEVER SAY DIE", we will still be looking into it. ...... Maybe we'll get ourselves a neat Paediatric model into which I shall get a cutout for the back part and get an elastic cover with a cushion. ..... Or maybe they'll make a model where you can rest forward and not backwards........ The options are endless and our hopes and dreams will lead us to them..... :)

Here is the link to the official video of the product from Ottobock - Its beautiful!
https://youtu.be/uGwHwPx3qsI



THANKS TO ALL WHO ARE GOING THROUGH OUR JOURNEY WITH VINEET !
God bless you!