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supergirl

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Joined
Jun 27, 2006
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12
Reason
PALS
Country
CA
State
Alberta
City
Banff
My mum has lost nearly all muscle in both of her legs. She has fallen a few times fairly seriously....once, she fractured her ankle and she has twisted her ankles & knees a few times now. She falls trying to get onto the toilet mostly, but she also has a hard time transferring from her scooter to the van seat (so much so that she chooses to just sit in her scooter whle we drive!) and from her scooter to her bed....into the shower.....onto the couch etc. I am wondering what others have done to solve this problem? She is OK when her husband is there to help pick her up or to help transfer her, but sometimes I have been helping mum and I am just not strong enough to hoist her up. We've been using a technique to shift her from her scooter to the van seat by using the back of her pants to help move her. I also want to know how people with ALS get dressed? What is the best method?

Any ideas? I just want to be able to help her more.
 
do u have

do u have ALS chapter near u? they will come out and help show how others have done what u are asking. yea its hard. please reply if u need resorses
 
I help my husband get dressed. I do most of the work. It is very hard for him to do it. We have learned to this together. He tells me what works and what does not work. At first putting shirts over his head he thought was easier but I prefer to do up the buttons, we have adjusted and it is working for us. Working together even though it is painful is important. My husband also was rushed to hospital recently with a bad fall, we are now adjusting to a new normal. The new normal changes every few weeks. We are strong minded, yes we cry and yes we are devastated with this illness but we are fighting the fight and never giving up. We became one when we married and that is how we cope day to day.

HOPE.
 
transfers

there are some strategies for transferring that an occupational therapist could teach you. If a person can support their own weight a bit, then a good technique is to use a 'gait belt' (better than hanging on to clothing!), and a pivot disk...so you place the rotating pivot disk on floor in front of say their wheelchair, they place their feet on it, you stand them up with the gait belt aroudn their mid-section and maybe some help from them, and then pivot the disk 90 degrees (or whatever) so they have back to commode or other chair or bed and them can set them down. If hard to picture, you can at least find this simple equipment on any of the medical supply websites, we got ours from I think Allegro Medical or Ali-Med. When things get harder you will have to look at lifts for transferring, that what my husband and I are using now......do some research on right type for vehicles, bathrooms, etc.
For clothing, I know when my husband couldnt raise his arms up any more, our friend took a bunch of his t-shirts and cut them down the back and put some velcro closures so I can easily slip them around him and close, nice that he could keep his favorite shirts. Pants are harder, we use some PJ bottom-type pants for now and it is a struggle to get them on, he reclines back in his recliner and can lift the weight off his butt a bit and I slip them on.......

....just some tips from someone else who is barely finding the answers to these questions!
Good Luck, Beth
 
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