Caregivers, I have 3 suggestions that will make it a little easier to help your stroke survivor (SS) get around and maybe help you sit down for more than 2 minutes at a time!
When your SS starts using a walker, it can actually lighten your load a little if you set it up correctly.
1. Get some skis. They make these little plastic things that look like a set of skis for a mouse. When you put these on the walker, it helps the walker glide more smoothly over the floor, rugs, carpeting, etc.
We have a thin rug in our living room over the hardwood floor. It’s thin, but it’s a big rug. Before we got the skis, my husband would frequently get his walker’s leg stuck under the rug and I would have to stop whatever I was doing and fix it for him. After we got the skis, his walker’s leg stopped getting stuck under the rug, which meant I didn’t have to fix it anymore!
2. Does your spouse have a paralyzed arm? Read our post about the Walker Platform Attachment. This device was a real help while my husband was using a walker.
My husband with his paralyzed arm in the walker attachment:
3. This one is one of my favorites. People that are not caregivers do not understand the amount of “fetching” that we do – or how many times in a day or even an hour – we have to do it.
I rarely got to drink a hot cup of coffee for several months because I couldn’t sit down long enough to drink it. Get me this, bring me that, do this…you guys understand, right?
The walker basket will help some with this. Your SS can get some things for himself and put them in the basket!!!!
My husband would put his glasses in the basket to take to another room. Or get a pack of peanut butter crackers or a bottle of water from the fridge. He kept paper and pen in the basket so that when he went to therapy if one of the therapists needed to tell me something, they could write it down on the paper so that I would see it when I picked him up from therapy.
NOTE: Your SS is probably so used to asking you to do everything for him at this point that he may not think about getting things for himself and using the basket. You may need to make suggestions. Try “hey, let’s test out the basket. Can you go to the kitchen and try getting a bottle of water from the fridge and putting it in your basket to bring back to the living room?”
Then when he asks you to get him something that you think he should be able to get with his walker and basket, you could say something like “now that you have the basket can we see if you can do that? If it doesn’t work, I’ll get it for you, but let’s try that first”.
If you get in the habit of saying things like that, he’ll soon start to remember on his own to try getting things for himself. It’s about being consistent and helping him create that habit.
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