Planning for the future

[ptlike]

Hi well after suffering from cellulitus I realised I couldn't get off the floor easierly.

I fell in my house with all doors locked and it hit home after trying for an hour to get up it dawned onme if I couldn't get up who could help. I live alone and my son with spare key was over 100 miles away.

I need to sort this before I can't get up. Has your disability changed the way you live?

Best wishes

Peter

[Stumbler]

Peter,

 

You really need to consider something like this :-

 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/social-care-and-support/telecare-alarms/

 

I was asked to consider it, but I don't live alone.

 

[Nick]

A really good point Peter. My elderly father used an alarm system and key safe while he was still able to live alone.

I'm in the same situation as John,that is I have my wife. My situation has not yet got that bad but already it is something that I do think a lot about. I have been given guidance already from my physio on the best method of getting up off the floor. I know just how different we all are but I do still attend a weekly exercise group where we try and maintain limb strength, but I as time goes by I am still losing strength on my right side. It's not very nice thinking about these things but I feel its important to engage with all the professional help you can get.

 

Nick

[Scully]

Peter,

My Dad lives alone and also has one of these alarm things that he wears round his neck. The keysafe is a coded box that contains the key, that the paramedics or social carer's can access

If he falls, or is unwell, he simply pushes the thing.

The alarm system is connected to an intercom and once pressed either from the button round his neck or on the unit itself,

The operator will talk to you and ascertain what’s wrong, dispatch help, and they also call the Next of kin and advise the same.

It’s really simple and is literally a lifeline.

Scully

 

[Marina]

When I was first DX'd and was starting to get a bit unsteady, the OT arranged for me to have one of those alert systems, as I said I have osteoporosis in my hip, so there was concern in case I fell. I also had a keysafe installed too.

 

I (mostly) live alone too. In 10 years, I thankfully never had cause to use it once. I'll be honest and say I found it an annoying thing to "wear". If I had it round my neck, it would inevitably knock or "fall" into all sorts. I wasn't going to wear it on my wrist either, I'm too vain for that and I have very small wrists, so the unit was too big and covered the width of my wrist. I ended up putting it into pockets, which meant I could only wear something that had pockets.

 

The intercom was in a room downstairs, and I used to wonder how I'd hear them or how they'd hear me trying to talk to them if I was the other side of the house, or upstairs or in the bathroom or garden. They claimed it would be possible, but I couldn't see how.

 

The company later changed hands and they sent me a new unit and alert alarms. The button on the alert was so sensitive, it kept going off every time I (or anything) so much as very briefly brushed against it. In the end, I gave up and sent it all back to them as I felt I didn't really need it. Should I ever get much worse than I am, then I might reconsider it and get one again. Technology might have improved them too, from when I had one.

 

I'm not in any way saying not to get one, and it's not my intention to sound negative, these alarms can be a life-saver to many people. It might just be an idea to research it first to see if it's suitable for you, which, in the situation you found yourself in, sounds like it might well be something to think of getting

[ptlike]

Hi

Thankyou to everyone for the replies. Lots to think about.

Enjoy the sun if you have any

Peter