I kind of expected that this would happen. I had told my mother to use a walker for months, but she insisted on just using her cane, Unfortunately, yesterday she slipped as she tried to get into a chair and broke her femur. Now she is in pain, depressed, and looking at weeks of therapy.
She had colon cancer at the time which she eventually died from but she made a full recovery with the leg. I can't remember which bone. She was amazing with a great attitude.
After your mom is all better and back at home try to get her to keep up her exercises and at least once a year ask her dr to order her home pt to keep her strong. Usually you just have to say she needs a little help with her balance which is always true. My aunt gets it once a quarter and I know it helps her.
Now she will be focused on regaining her strength. Hopefully her attitude will pick up when she sees that she can and will make progress if she stays focused on her goals.
Encourage her to take full advantage of rehab.
I hope she feels better soon.
Getting into or out of a chair (or toilet or bed) seems to be a risk action, whether with cane, walker, or no device. I hope the PT will teach good techniques with whatever device mother will use.
RayLinStevens - I laughed when I read your note about the height of the walker. After my mother fell we pulled my fathers old walker out of the closet and put a tray on it so that she could carry items with her when she used it. The first thing the PT did was to lower the walker as much as possible and to take the tray off so that her arms weren't hunched up right below her shoulder while she was walking behind the tray! My DH and I just looked at each other and exchanged a look that said "How could we have been so stupid not to have seen that???". That was our wakeup call that we couldn't rely on our intuition and knowledge - we needed to educate ourselves on the whole subject.
RE: the original question: Here in Mississippi, we have sort of "half-way" houses for the elderly to recuperate. I can't think what they're called, but it's sort of a short-term nursing home.
I have been blessed that both my Dad and now my DH have not fought the idea of a walker. I remember having to tell my Dad that his independence depended on him being mobile - not falling - this meant graduating to a walker.
For my DH, I also increased the height of the walker as he is not "stooped" and I wanted to keep it that way. Too many walkers are kept too low and the person using them winds up in a bent-over position all the time. I had the blessings of the Physical Therapist and he admitted that too often they are kept 'shorter' than necessary.
Oh--and we WERE educated. Mother does what she wants. Period.
#2 With morphine
#3 Then rehab unit of SNH
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