A Room with a View

Someone walked into my friend’s house the other day and said “Oh, you must have a child with medical issues.” The child was not in the same room, but there was no doubt that person was correct. While the outside of a house in which a child with significant medical issues lives may look like every other house on the block, the inside is usually completely different.

The living room and family room will often contain special seating, standers, or sometimes even a hospital bed. Syringes and tubing used for tube feedings and medicine administration can be found on the kitchen counter along with cans of Pediasure or other nutritional supplement. The bathroom may have special bath chairs, raised toilet seats, grab bars, or maybe even a lift system. The child’s bedroom will usually house the bulk of the medical equipment – special beds, nebulizers and other life-sustaining electrical appliances, wound dressings, spare G-tubes and trach supplies, and personal care supplies such as incontinence aids.

In addition to all the medical supplies, there are usually special toys and educational devices. Parents go to great lengths to provide and adapt toys that may interest their children and take their minds off all the medical procedures. In short, very little on the inside of the house looks like a typical house. But I don’t think things have to be like that.

I believe that with some creative, out-of-the-box thinking, rooms and houses could be designed to contain all the necessary medical equipment and supplies without those things taking over the inside of the house. I’m sure storage systems could be designed and built that would help parents organize the medical items, leaving children’s bedrooms looking more like a typical child’s bedroom. Just imagine how depressing it would be for you as an adult to have to look at lots and lots of medical supplies all the time when you were in your home.

So, if anyone knows of a creative thinking designer, or better yet, a design student whose opinions and ideas are still fluid and new, please let me know. I have just the house, just the child, for them to showcase their talents. No, it’s not my house. It’s for a child who could use a little more ‘child’ and a lot less ‘medical’ in her life.

Sanctuary

I believe we all need an oasis, a place that is ours and ours alone, a place to escape, to rest, to recharge, and to consider the day’s challenges and accomplishments. That place for me is my bedroom.

My day starts early, 4:30 a.m. to be exact, and it is filled with punctuation marks. There are many !!!!!, and some ????? My kids bring me lots of xoxoxo’s, and my school district fills me with X*$*%*^&. By the time the evening rolls around, I need some ----- and some ~~~~~~~. I find those calming, even moments in my bedroom where I am surrounded by so many of the things that have deep meaning to me.

On my wall hang pictures of my mother when she was a young woman, a beauty with her blonde wavy hair, her dimpled chin, and her serene look. Next to that hangs two pictures of my oldest son, one at 3 months of age – the first really good picture taken of him – and one at 6 years old, his grandmother’s dimpled chin passed to him. And, there is a picture of my sweet Ashley, just two years old, on her knees with her hands folded in prayer.

My two dressers are the dressers my parents bought used for me when I was 16 years old. They are solid and imposing, real furniture in a time of pressboard and MDF. I have whitewashed them and replaced the drawer pulls with ceramic knobs hand-painted with multicolored wild flowers. The periwinkle blue on the knob is a perfect match for the periwinkle paint on the walls of my bedroom. The woodwork in the room is snowy white, and the large picture window is draped in white and pale yellow scarves. I love that window. From my bed I can see the huge maple climbing tree in the front yard or the stars dotting the sky on a clear night.

In front of the window is a small drop leaf table, again a treasure from my mother. Flanking the table are two old dining chairs she owned, their backs featuring an elaborately carved rose. I have whitewashed them also and replaced the seat covers with a cheery blue and yellow plaid, the same fabric I used on the bulletin board that my oldest son helped me make. Next to my bed is a small table whose back resembles a picket fence, and whose front supports are bird houses. That small table holds my stack of library books, my favorite magazines, my IPod and alarm clock, and my scent diffuser – a glass bottle filled with a scent called “Ocean” to remind me of my favorite place in the entire world.

Then there is my bed – one of the only real splurges for myself. About two years ago, I replaced the mattress that I had owned for 20 years with a super soft, pillow top, high-end mattress. I figured that even though I didn’t ever get to sleep enough, I would at least enjoy the times that I did sleep! Combine that wonderful mattress with silky 600 thread count sheets, a lovely Pine Cone Hill quilt that my son won for me in an essay contest last year (he wrote about me ‘living beautifully’!), and a light down comforter that my brother gave me for Christmas one year, and I am in heaven.

Yes, my bedroom is my sanctuary. It’s where ideas for this blog are born, where strategy for school battles and insurance battles is planned, where my mind takes flight to the future and reminisces about the past. It’s sometimes the place where a sick or scared child will snuggle in bed with me, and it’s a place where my dreams can seem achievable.

It’s my special place in my very special life. Where is your special place?