What kind of cane to get when Gramee gets older

              Gramee is getting older.  She has always been on the go.  From morning till night she never stopped.   From the time her feet hit the floor in the mornings til she climbed into bed at night it was go go go.   I don’t ever remember her even taking much time to sit down for a meal at the table unless my mother forced her to.  She would always be up going from the dining table to the kitchen making sure everything was on the table and everyone was being taken care of.    She would come over to our house to help my mom with whatever needed to be done.    So when I noticed Gramee having a hard time walking I couldn’t really believe my eyes.  I had been away at college so the differences I was seeing was very noticeable to me.   Now you have to realize that Gramee was a very proud woman and this thing was extremely hard on her.  

Gramee tried to hide the fact that she was having trouble walking by either always being at the kitchen sink doing dishes or at the stove cooking.  I think she was in those places so that she didn’t have to move very much and so.  We as a family didn’t catch on at first what was going on.    I sat down with my mother to find out exactly what was happening and what was being done to help Gramee.  She like me had always seen Gramee at the sink doing dishes or at the stove cooking.  Then she began seeing Gramee move from chair to chair, or object to object and she realized that she needed to  find out exactly what was going on.

              Gramee it turns out had fallen a couple of times but didn’t want to burden anyone in the family so she never told anyone.  I guess that is what comes when you have been a widow for 50 years and very independent.   So my mother took her to a doctor to find out what was causing Gramee to fall and not be able to walk steadily.   Well it turns out that it was just a matter of Gramee getting older and things that go on in the brain of an older person.   Thank goodness it wasn’t anything serious and there were certain things that Gramee could do to make things easier and a little more secure for walking.  

              One thing Gramee could do was to get a cane to help steady her when walking.    Now Gramee had a hard time with this at first until my mother got online and showed her a folding cane that she could use when walking.  It then would fold up and fit into her purse when she got to the place she needed to go.  No one walking by her would even know she needed a cane.   She liked this idea and so my mother had Gramee ok the choice of a folding cane from http://www.walkingstickpro.com/ and she has been very happy ever since.    I am glad to know that Gramee isn’t going to fall now.

Dad and his "Walking Stick"

               I don’t know which is worse seeing your kids growing up so fast or seeing your parents grow old too soon.   I guess I really didn’t notice my children getting bigger each day and maybe that was because I was with them 24/7 and they just kind of “grew” on me.  But with parents it is different as I do not get to see them very much.  Having them in a separate place than the one I live makes seeing changes all that more noticeable.    So when the last time we were all together as a family I couldn’t help but notice that my dad was having trouble walking.   This can be quite a shock to a person who has always looked up to their “daddy” as someone who is strong and invincible.  Someone I looked up to in more ways than one.  My father was the tallest person I knew when I was little.  When did the time arrive that I started looking

down at him?   To watch my father grab on to the back of chairs and moving from object to object while going around the house brought me to the realization that I needed to find a solution.  

                As my father has always been a very proud man.  Not proud in a prideful way but proud that he could accomplish just about anything he set his mind to do.   To me is seemed that my dad never slept as I would see him up  and doing things from the first moment I would wake up in the morning and he was always doing or finishing something each night I went to bed.   

             So I started my search for something to help him.  I knew that a wheel chair would not be anything that he would agree too, at least not at this particular time in his life.   When I got online I found a great place that offered walking canes for men.  When you have someone who was always very independent you will find that there are certain things they insist on having.   So the time had come when I had to sit my father down and explained just how worried I  was about him falling.   To help make the point I had to do something that will work on almost all parents. This is when you put a “guilt” trip on them about how bad it would be if they did become injured and you would be forced to put

your life on hold just to be able to take care of them.  That worked.  So dad and I sat down at the computer and went to the site I had found at  http://www.walkingstickpro.com/walking-canes-for-men

Wouldn’t you know that when looking at all the canes this site had my father found just the one he liked.   Now my brothers and sister and I do not have to worry.  Well we don’t have to worry about that part in my dad’s life.  He loves the cane and has even commented on how “debonair” he is when taking his walks around the block.  I am so glad there  are helps for aging parents.