As much as my mom detested our suggestions that she might benefit from the occasional use of a wheelchair or a walker, my kids loved having the medical equipment around. The contest for months was who could balance the longest on the back wheels of the wheel chair. My youngest child thought that taking a ride on the walker should be his right. But my mom treated the equipment as a concession to her declining health. We compromised for awhile by taking walks with an empty wheelchair. When her legs got tired, she gladly took respite in the chair.
After one particularly bad seizure, the one that put her in the hospital and then temporarily in a care center, she used the wheelchair often, even around the house. I had her use the wheelchair each week at church simply because her balance was precarious and her energy level unpredictable. After the third week, I was helping her out of the car with the chair waiting for her, and she said, "I am not using that." I put the wheelchair back in the trunk, and she walked into church. Taking medicine and using medical equipment were my mom's sticking points; she hated to be dependent on anything or anyone.
Some of the equipment we found most useful early on were handrails in the bathroom and a raised toilet seat. The walker was never great for us. First my mom refused to use it and then she just lost the mental ability to know how to manipulate it. ie. hold on and move it forward. Shower seat has been great.
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