A few weeks ago, my mum complained of knee pain. She had difficulty standing up from her toilet seat. She has chronic arthritis and osteoporosis. She aches all over. Her pain is constant. Accentuated by phases of more pain. I was concerned. About the pain. About sitting and walking in her condo. About the possibility of a fall. Particularly if her legs are unsteady due to the pain. A frightening thought.

Not knowing what medicine, exercise and/or equipment would help my mum, I searched on the Net. First, I looked for a booster toilet seat of sorts. Only because my mum mentioned that her seat seemed rather low. Hence, something that would add height, and make it easier to stand up from her current Johnson Suisse (JS) toilet. I didn’t finish typing in my request, when all the words I was thinking of appeared in the search box. Obviously, there were others on a similar quest.

There was so much information to decipher and digest. I learnt that there are toilet seats and various support equipment for the elderly, the pregnant, people with physical challenges and those recovering from injuries. I focused on raised toilet seats. With or without arm support, and/or with padding. Fixed or not. Different height elevations – 3 to 6 inches. Seats that fitted either elongated or round toilets. I hadn’t noticed the shape or height of toilets before. Made notes and a few brand choices. Searched some more. And, found several types of toilet hand rails – fixed and foldable, standalone safety rails and remote-controlled. Many brands. Medical approved and not.

In parallel, I bought Atroxene gel, recommended by my local pharmacist, to apply on my mum’s knees and other bony bits. The pharmacist also produced a brochure that showed off an impressive super-duper 6-in-one hand frame that could be used as a lifting aid, walker, shower chair, commode chair, toilet seat raiser and toilet safety frame. Hmm…

After some uncertainty and some understanding of the information available, my husband and I veered towards the raised toilet seat. We got my mum to sit on her toilet seat. We both sat on either side of her. We asked her to use our thighs as support to raise herself off the toilet seat. Cheekily she asked if we would both be present whenever she needed to use the toilet. No… We thought we solved the problem. Not quite. After taking the necessary measurements and checking the JS toilet, it became apparent that a raised toilet seat could not be permanently screwed onto the JS toilet because of how it was made. Purchase plan aborted.

We discussed a walking frame that could give my mum the lift/support she needed. As well as help her walk in the condo. Not quite. A walking frame could be cumbersome and quite heavy. She has skinny and weak arms. She would have to lift and place the walker in front of her. Then take a step at a time towards it. Lift, place, stop, and walk. Repeat. Too hesitant.  It would disrupt her current walking style. Which, albeit is slow, but steady. Purchase plan aborted.

We also considered the 6-in-one hand frame. It purported to do most everything. But…   I couldn’t see my mum using the frame in the toilet and then in her bedroom, where her altar is and/or in the living room. My own experience with multifunctional gadgets and devices has not been encouraging.  I have enough things, somewhere in the condo, to acknowledge that fit for a particular purpose is usually a better bet.  Purchase plan aborted.

We decided to concentrate on what might most likely work for my mum. Reviewed the available products again. Eventually, chose a standalone toilet frame with a handrail that fitted any toilet size. The toilet frame met medical standards. Was made of corrosion-resistant aluminium while the handrail was padded with soft rubber. The textured rubber handles, I thought, should give my mum a safe and secure grip when sitting and standing. Preventing accidental slips or falls. The legs of the toilet frame were capped with non-skid, no-slip-tip for safety and security.  Plus, tool free and easy to assemble. Ordered it on 22 December. Arrived from the US on 7 January. After giving it a clean, toilet frame is in place. Verdict is good. Customer is happy.

What was telling about this exercise was the huge amount of time spent searching, collating and comparing information.  It was far from straightforward. Not knowing what to look for, not using the right search words, discovering other seemingly more relevant information along the way, and changing purchase plans made the whole process longer. Still, it was time well spent.

For sure, whatever the information, it’s out there on the Net.