In the first few years Cal had many ideas for making life easier for both of us before his Parkinson’s advanced. Cal was a person that anticipated his future needs and basically had a to-do list in his head that he would share with us. His goal was for us to do what we could to maintain his independence as long as possible. So just letting you know that the things we did were done over a period of 12 years as needed, not just after his diagnosis
Showers
Master Bath Shower – Ours has three tiled walls so 3 - 24”grab bars worked for us in the shower –
(2 horizontal and 1 vertical by the door)
Shower – Our shower has a 7” lip to step over to get in the shower. Not a perfect situation, Cal was able to carefully
negotiate our shower with the help of grab bars that Ray installed. If your bathroom has the
floorspace and you can financially afford it, the ideal setup would be to have a no-step entry
into the shower with a build-in seat (or use an portable shower seats). This style of shower would accommodate a wheelchair
Toilets
Portable Elevated Toilet Seat Riser - There are multiple brands and styles of a seats that can installed easily
under your existing toilet seat and raise it about 4 ½” to make your existing toilet easier for your
loved one to use. This was one of the first things we did and it worked for us.
Comfort Height Toilets – They are 17” – 19” high vs a standard toilet is less than 17”
Suggestions
1. Elongated Seat
2. Bidet (Ray & Rachel got it for me when I had my second shoulder replacement surgery
on my primary arm). A good investments for helping your loved one stay clean.
3. Toilet Lid – Slow/gentle closing lid for the safety of fingers
Swing Up Grab Bars – they are installed on both sides of the toilet. They fold up against the wall if and
when it is not in use. I had never heard of this style of grab bar, but Ray found them and installed them,
they are still in place, I just folded them in the upright position and use one to hang my nightgown on it not what it was designed for but works pretty well.
Additional Bath Room ideas
Toilet Paper Roll holders/Grab Bar - Early on, Cal and I went shopping and we replaced out existing toilet paper holders with
toilet paper holders that are also grab bars. There a LOT of different styles and easily available.
These works for a long time to help him
Bathroom Safety Rail – This is portable and can be used initially in the master bathroom and can be moved to other bathrooms
if needed. It looks a lot like a small walker that doesn’t fold. It is portable and does not need to be installed
Shower bench – with or without back. Easy to put together
Towel Bar - Towel bars can be replaced with grab bars the same length or longer. I stopped worrying about matching
existing towel bars styles. Safety was my priority, not towel bar style and the new bars works great for towels.
Shower Mat – Even though we have nonslip tiles on the floor of our shower we used a large shower mat to be extra safe.
-Peg