Thursday, January 27, 2011

What Goes UP...

Bittersweet memories. What is this you ask? An invention of my husband or just label it "how to get my mother in law up the stairs."

And now the rest of the story....My parents were building their new home so they moved in our empty upstairs rooms until it was finished. It worked out wonderfully and we have some sweet memories of the times we shared.

But the first morning they were here, Mom fell on our stairs and broke her ankle. She had to have pins put in and it bothered her the rest of her life. But didn't slow her down much. She could still work circles around me.

So we needed to offer her the downstairs master bedroom. And we did for about one night. Then my inventor husband came up with a plan (we tease--most of his inventions involve duct tape, or velcro). How can I get her safely up and down? The answer is above. He built a ramp, make a box seat and used a wrench motor to bring the seat up and down. Did it work? Like a charm. Dad said you will never get her on it but she was a trooper. She would ride it up and down till the cast came off. Never a complaint.

2 comments:

  1. How clever!!! Looks like fun actually... Sorry her ankle is still bothering her though. Jim broke his leg a year ago and still bothers him too unfortunately.

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  2. This is amazing. My mother in law (85) broke her leg this fall and my mom (84) is gearing up for a double knee replacement. We could certainly use one here too! I suggested setting up bunk beds in our dining room until they are able to navigate the stairs to the bathrooms with the showers upstairs! Acxtually, my knees aren't as good as they used to be either!

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