Hi Maxine,
Two things help me: 1) I keep my bed raised up on boards that add 10-12 inches height to the bed. I guess that doesn't really fall into the "how do you get moving" category, but without the extra height, it wouldn't matter how well I was moving--I would just plain be stuck. When I swing my legs off the bed and to the floor, it put's me in darn near a standing position, which is great. I know the AS kickers who are nurses will back me up on this one--whenever I'm in the hospital, any nurse who is helping me get out of bed for the first time automtically lowers the electric bed as far down as it will go. This is how they are trained, I'm sure (that's what I need back-up on--that is true isn't it?) because they don't want patients to fall out of a bed that is raised up. I always stop them and ask them to do the opposite. All of them are skeptical, and some even refuse to do it at first, but when they see how I let the power of the bed do the hard part of standing up for me, they are all surprised and say "wow, I wonder why I never thought of that" or some variation thereof.
2) I don't know if you take pain medication on a daily basis, Maxine, but I do, and I keep it bedside. A half-hour to an hour before I need to get up, I take my pain medication and let it kick in, which always makes me feel better and thus makes it easier to get up. Because I am often half-asleep when I take it, I had to start turning the bottle over on it's lid, bottom side up, to serve as my reminder that I had indeed taken it. There are many mornings I wake up that second time and think "Did I remember to take my medicine or not?" and if it weren't for the bottle being upside down, I would never be sure (the boost I get from the pain med sometimes clues me in, but other times it's too fine of a line to be absolutely sure.)
Good luck,
Brad
