comfort from a distance

May 4, 2012 2:25 PM

My mom is having foot surgery and she won't be able to touch her foot to ground for 6 weeks. She lives alone and I live across the country. What can I mail to her or order for her that would make her life during recovery easy and comfy?

ps- she does not like to cook

posted by Jason and Laszlo to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

Some sort of meal service. Or cleaning service. It is impossible to do much with a foot unable to have any weight on it. I had foot surgery a few years back and the hardest thing was being unable to even clean up after myself.
posted by SuzySmith at 2:39 PM on May 4, 2012

A knee scooter. She can ask her doctor when it's safe to use one, but they've worked very well for other folks with foot injuries. Very stable.

Can you afford a care worker to come help with bathing and light housekeeping, even for 1-2 hours a day?

Also: a grab bar near the toilet, and a grab bar in the shower. They make temporary grab bars for situations like this.
posted by barnone at 3:14 PM on May 4, 2012

I really liked Home Bistro when I was a first year medical student. Disclaimer: I have a fairly low bar for what counts as "adequate" food. I liked the food, though.
posted by Osrinith at 3:16 PM on May 4, 2012

When I broke my foot a few years ago and had to do no floor contact for a month, I desperately wanted one of those knee scooters, so that would be my suggestion as well. It's virtually impossible to do things like make and transport a sandwich on crutches. If I'd lived alone, I don't know what I would have done.
posted by mostlymartha at 3:22 PM on May 4, 2012

I'm on crutches right now and haven't been able to touch the ground for the last 8 weeks. With that said, I wish I could afford the knee scooter that everyone else recommends. It's really tiring walking across parking lots, or hell, even from one room to another. I've had to figure out tricky (and not so safe!) ways of transporting my bowl of cereal from the kitchen counter to that comfy couch, with two crutches.

A close second would be the bathroom grab bar. But the knee scooter is much more versatile.
posted by mild deer at 5:13 PM on May 4, 2012

Make sitting around less horribly boring. If she loves movies - a netflix subscription. If she has an ipad and is into it, maybe a gift card that allows her to buy new apps / games / whatever she's into. Novels, crossword or sudoku books, sketchpads, or needlepoint kits might be nice - depending on her interests.
posted by bunderful at 5:20 PM on May 4, 2012

The single most useful thing I had to cope with living alone while being on crutches due to a horribly broken leg:

A rolling plastic garden bin/cart with a hinged lid from Home Depot. I'd crutch to the kitchen, make a sandwich, and put the plate in the cart, and use the heavy string I tied to it as a pull handle to take my sandwich and bottled drink to a table or to my bed.

If I hadn't had that cart, I'd have had to eat everything while standing up in the kitchen right after I made it. I also used the cart to transport other stuff, like getting toiletries to the bathroom after my groceries were delivered.

Seriously--no one ever tells you how hard it is to carry stuff when you're non weight bearing on crutches. Even if she uses a knee scooter (depends on the surgery location) this might be helpful.

Oh! Also, a shower seat. If she can't put her foot down, then she can't use it for balance in the shower or to help lower herself into the tub for a bath.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 2:43 AM on May 5, 2012

Do any of the grocery stores in her area deliver? (And don't forget, they could deliver more than just food: toiletries, toilet paper, dish soap etc). House cleaning, yard work or laundry services would be nice.

ImproviseOrDie has a great idea with that cart and shower seat, too.
posted by easily confused at 3:33 AM on May 5, 2012