I'm noticing that my mother is getting more and more unsteady. I always have to hold her hand whenever we walk anywhere. Yesterday as we were coming out of the elevator, she just stood against the back railing and was waiting for me to grab her hand. She usually starts to move towards me since I go out first then reach for her hand. Well, as a result, the elevator door started to close and hit her on the arm. She looked at me like it was my fault. Same thing when I'm in her apartment, she acts like she can't walk alone from the living room to the kitchen, which is about 8 feet, yet she must do it on her own when I'm not there. I feel she acts more like a child when I'm around, but at the same time, I try to explain to her that if she fell, she might not be able to live alone anymore. She has a few issues going on; pain in her knee, mild Parkinson's Disease, and swollen ankles. We are gong to the cardiologist tomorrow, so maybe that can be remedied, but I had to fight her tooth and nail to get her to go. Ugh!
Ask him to order PT so she can be evaluated. PT can strengthen her muscles, address her knee and recommend a walker or cane if needed. The therapy might help the ankles as well. My aunt uses a cane very effectively. My mother used a walker. Therapy helped them be more aware of the proper usage and how the aid of a walker or cane could help. She can get the therapy in her home or at a therapy location. Either will improve her balance and walking.
My aunts daughter takes her for boxing therapy to help her Parkinson's.
We got mom into Independent Living, where she saw a geriatric psychiatrist on a regular basis to manage her anxiety. Psychiatrist insisted that mom have neurocognitive testing (mom was "sharp as a tack" as far as family could see).
Mom was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment. The MCI (and the attendant anxiety) was the result of a stroke, seen on brain imaging, but never diagnosed in the past. Big wake up call for all of us.
ability was only temporary. And that (as she tells everyone) it's "all in my head!" She prefers to walk hanging onto someone's arm when she's out. Didn't want to listen that it was unsafe. No good deed goes unpunished, of course. She says that she can't possibly "impose upon" other people to put her walker in their car, so I'm the one who has to drive her to church most weeks.
The PT was the one who told her she must always have the walker when she leaves her condo. My mother never would have listened to me.
(Oh, and the elevator...does anyone else have the ridiculous scenario I have when my mother encounters an elevator? I must leap into the elevator ahead of her to keep pushing the Door Open button. She panics that the door will shut on her. I also have to hear her admonition to not look down the shaft at the crack (there is nothing to see; it's dark!). Yep...just another of many anxieties and "rules" I must obey...yet her doctor "doesn't like to put older patients on anti-anxiety meds." All she needs is "social support.")
In her condo, she likes to stagger down her hallway with no cane or walker. "See! I'm just fine and don't need anything!"
Someday she will fall, and that will the end of her "independent" life.
I don't think our parents EVERY start to think of us as "real" adults who might know what's best for them. Whenever there has been something that my mom has needed to be told, we've always been more successful if one of her healthcare providers tells her or if we can arrange for her to think it was her idea.