My Mom is 86 and has severe osteoarthritis in her knees (as well as osteoperosis) She is also very unsteady & not a candidate for knee replacement. Mom uses a walker and is in assisted living (thank god). Here is the issue: Mom can barely get out of a chair, off a toilet and so forth. This becomes a major issue when I take her out. I'm a petite gal (with pre-osteopena) and while I manage to help her up, I'm becoming increasingly concerned and stressed that one day I won't be able to, or even if I'm holding her she is going to lose her balance (or her legs will collapse) taking us both down. (Mom weighs about 140) Mom also gets extremely panicky~ she's starts flipping out, screaming that I'm not holding her etc. This obviously adds stress to the whole situation. It's getting to the point where I dread taking her out cause I'm afraid. I feel bad, but I really fear something is going to happen (she's fallen in her room several times, and it always takes two people to help her) I should also mention that Mom is incontinent so going to the bathroom is a given while we are out. She uses the bathroom's handicap stall if available but sometimes the seat is too low for her to get up from. Also, once she's up she'll also start crying cause she is in so much pain (initially anyway) I just don't want to take her out anymore~ I feel horrible for feeling this way. Her assisted living facility is very nice and she does have opportunities to get out~ so it's not like she'd be a prisoner....thoughts/suggestions???
The strap is called a gait belt and it's very helpful in getting better leverage on others. But you'd need some instruction on using it with your mom. I used one on my dad (who was over 200 pounds) after he had a stroke to help him get up.
But Clarise if you can't get a third party to help take your mom out, it sounds like the fear you both have about it take away any pleasure that might be derived.
Anyway, I just found out last night that her ALF provides additional help for appointments and so forth so I will have assistance moving forward. HUGE relief!!!