Dear LPG readers, 

There are no two ways about it, sooner or later as you get older, physical health will make sure that life as you have come to know it, will change.  For some, it will happen suddenly and for others the changes will be gradual.   For me it was gradual as both my legs became affected by bad circulation. 

Sometimes you don’t even realise just how things have changed until you look back, but recently I did just that with the help of LPG’s pages.  I do like to look at some of the posts from the past at times and doing just that led me to add a bit of time perspective to where I find myself now.  Some two and a half years ago I got them to post a message about the staircase in my home which was one of the features that helped me to decide when I first bought it (►►►).  

At the time I was having increasing problems getting up and down the stairs and things have not improved medically.  This is often the time when we are encouraged to get a stair lift or convert one of the rooms on the ground floor to serve as your bedroom.  The narrow width and spiralled section of my beloved staircase proved to make a stair lift impractical, but I then found another alternative.  It was my occupational therapist who put the idea into my head.

A lift that will carry you, and a wheelchair if necessary, up and down stairs was the answer for me.  The first not many of us will have enough savings for installing though.  They are not cheap, but if you are going to release some equity from your house, I cannot think of a better reason to do it. 

It is also possible to get some financial help from the authorities, although persistence is the name of the game here.  And you do need to either have a child or relative who is a strong negotiator in your corner if you are not a persistent orator yourself.  It took my daughter and I about a year to win them over and even though getting out of the house alone is still a challenge for me, getting around it is something I can do safely and on my own again; at least for now. 

No one knows what will happen in the future but there is something to be said for using the technology around us to deal with minimising changes forced on us by our health.  

HB, Lee 

LPG has found a little information although much of what we found comes with advertisements.  We suggest that you watch the demonstrations but make your own enquiries.

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