During our trip to Ireland last fall Nick had a seizure while Arden was bringing him down the stairs. Because someone was with him as always, he wasn’t injured, but we felt that it was a warning. We determined that we needed to make some changes to our home here. We needed to think outside the box.
We counseled with my cousin George, who had originally built the house and Ciaran at Boyce’s, the local plumbing supply firm. He is a cousin of my cousin, of course. They both had great ideas and in the picture with this blog, you see the final finished room. We tiled the area, added a deep tub, toilet and small sink in the ground floor bedroom with a purple vinyl floor and purple paint on the walls.
When we arrived here weeks ago, Nicks first reaction was, “It is beautiful. I love it.” We didn’t have to take him upstairs to clean him up anymore. It has been so much easier and less stressful for Nick and us. It has turned out to be an incredible blessing.
When we were talking about doing this, we could tell that some of our friends here really didn’t understand. They questioned its necessity. Some even expressed concern about the future resale value of the home.
We could have been dissuaded from this project because of other people’s opinions, including the cost, inconvenience and future resale issue. However Arden, Nick and I all had the terrifying experience of Nick’s seizure on the stairs. Not only that, it had been very difficult to get him up the stairs that trip to where the only bathtub in the house had been.
Until we had this idea as a solution, we were even thinking that Nick wouldn’t be able to travel over to Ireland again. That really concerned him. He kept repeating over and over, “I travel again, I come here again.”
We have learned that sometimes you have to make accommodations that are out of the ordinary, in order to experience the extraordinary life you can live. What accommodations can you create in your own life that will expand your experiences and make your life even more incredible? It is possible.
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