My father-in-law is starting to struggle a bit with moving around in the bathroom. He's still able to walk but I think sitting and standing is hard. We are going to have a bar installed that should help but I'm wondering what other upgrades we should be considering going forward. He'd like to stay home as long as possible and we would like to help him. Thanks for any advice.

---

Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

A higher seat for the toilet that has arms on both sides. We found that just a grab rail on one side wasn't enough for my dad.

Grab bars in the bath tub/shower. We had a dedicated shower that had bars all over and a fold down seat. Putting bars in a bath tub shower is fine but the climbing in and out may be a problem. A portable shower seat might help.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2024 01:55PM by Lizabeth.

what Lizabeth says is what we did for MiL and mum. Helped a lot.
Also, since they are grab bars, a certain amount of home PT in keeping arms and hands at strength as best one can. wall push up and grip balls

---

!#$@@$#!

Nolite manducare flavo.

There are low threshold showers that you could look into. That was what my dad had in his assisted living apartment. The low threshold combined with a seat and bars should help a lot with showering. Definitely look into a higher seat for the toilet.

Not for the bathroom: my dad also had a powerlift recliner/armchair that was comfortable and helped him stand up. A friend of mine who has MS also has one of those.

---

My life goes smoothly and in regular intervals

In addition to the bathroom, this helps the elderly to get out of bed. Much better than the poles that have to be installed.
[www.amazon.com]

Quote
ka jowct
There are low threshold showers that you could look into.

This is what we did for my mom. The places that advertise about fast bath remodels are very expensive, in my experience. We actually hired a guy who was doing showers for a builder. He did my mom's in the evenings and it was a couple of thousand dollars. The first thing he said was to put solid blocking all around the studs behind the shower so that grab bars can go anywhere. She had vertical ones on both sides to get in and out and then horizontal ones around the whole thing.

I put a bar in my shower. It's currently stocked with some good bourbon, whiskey and scotch.

Yank the tub for a walk-in shower. Don't get talked into a walk-in tub unless you want to replace the water heater, otherwise, it will run out before the tub is filled. It also takes a long time to fill and drain.

put a fold-down seat in the shower.

Raised toilet.

Hot water limiters to avoid scalding.

A panic alarm next to the toilet and in the shower (or tub) down low.

---

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

One fall could end it all. Don't take chances with this. It's a tough conversation, but you must have it. And no 'backing up' when walking! Having a few Amazon "Echos" distributed around the house can help, programmed to dial you if he says your name.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/16/2024 05:59PM by bfd.

Ombligo is correct. bfd is also correct; my mistake with my mom was giving her something to monitor falls that she could ultimately “game” to not report falls! All because falling would lead to the nursing home in her mind. If you put another kind of monitor, the one with a pull chain, make it long enough to grab if needed. Grab bars in multiple places. Watch for slippery floors when wet; no rugs or tripping hazards.

Full handicapped accessible. Years ago I replaced the towel bars in our bathroom with grab bars. Most recently I added some grab bars just for my wife to hold on to.

Ultimately a proper handicapped accessible renovation is appropriate.

Nothing to add but just to commiserate... I can't even talk my mother about moving from the second floor to the first floor.... Oy.

---

High on a threshold yearning to sing
Down with the dancers having one last fling

I installed grab bars in my mom's shower, a longer shower-arm to bring the shower-head lower, and swapped the shower head for a handheld so that she could sit on a bench and use it.

---

Thank you for all the great suggestions and tips. I’ve arranged for a contractor for Monday and we will see where all of this goes.

---

Ukulele music I couldn't find anywhere else.
[colquhoun.info]

Quote
cbelt3
Years ago I replaced the towel bars in our bathroom with grab bars.

^Excellent!

Mount lots of handles for the tub, inside and outside, as well as at least one for the toilet.

My father, at 94 and living with my sister, could no longer stand up from the toilet even using a grab handle. He also was unable to clean himself. I live in Minnesota and she lives in Florida so I could not help her. Instead, I gave my sister a present:

Toilet seat LIFT:

[www.amazon.com]

Install video:

[www.amazon.com]

And also this bidet:

[www.amazon.com]

This allowed him to use the toilet by himself. The installation (by me) was fairly easy; mounting the bidet attachment under the LIFT. He griped about the bidet spray being too cold (Florida, give me a break…) but he immediately took to it.

I thought I might have to notch the plastic shield on the LIFT for the bidet nozzles to clear but it wasn’t necessary. I did decide to slightly shim the bidet, both bottom and top of the bolt holes so the LIFT remained level, to get the nozzles aimed upward at the right angle due to the slight extra height of the LIFT. The shims probably weren’t necessary as he could slide forward as needed. I also had to buy longer nylon bolts so they would go through both devices. Install was easy with the help of a drill mounted screw bit for the two nylon bolts as well as with the assistance of my son who steadied things as I tightened the bolts. I bought everything I needed at the local Hardware Hank.

I used this particular bidet because it had a slotted handle. The LIFT was wide enough that it blocked access to the handle on the bidet. I bought a 12” metal ruler, cut it in half, then using screws and fender washers, attached half of the ruler to the bidet handle at an angle so it would extend away from the toilet bowl. With this extension he could turn on the bidet spray by lifting up on the extension.

Not counting driving to the hardware store, the light fabrication and complete install took about three hours. Not using shims would have saved an hour.

He used it several months until his new aide (provided through the VA) thought the LIFT needed to be pushed down after use rather than motored down and she snapped the nylon bolts. But by then he was pretty weak and was having difficulty making it to the bathroom even with help so my sister didn’t buy new bolts and reattach it, instead they used a bedpan for a couple of months until he died at 95 after a fall.

---

Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

The big one is a 36" door - if someone needs a wheelchair, the wider door really is needed to accomodate it. When my mother had a stroke and was wheelchair bound, this was a huge problem.

When we built this house, I insisted on 36" doors throughout.

Please don’t get a walk in tub.

Quote
vicrock
When we built this house, I insisted on 36" doors throughout.

We built our house when we were in our 30's, 35 years ago. We also have 36" doors throughout. We have a drive-in basement and there's an extra thick concrete pad area in the basement directly under closets on the first and second floors in case we ever need an elevator. I also came over on a weekend and put in blocking at handrail height every place we might one day need a handrail throughout the house. Our contractor was pretty new at the game and hadn't considered any such things but the cost of the wider doors was literally $10 or so each and the extra thick 5'x5' concrete area was very minimal, as well. The blocking just cost some of my time because I used cut-off pieces of 2x6s for the blocking. I told our contractor I had no idea whether we'd be here long enough to use any of those things but it made sense to put them in while building the house. He told me he was going to do that with every house he built going forward.