Jan, about all I can tell you is do as much as you can sitting down; like taking the clothes out of the dryer. Can you fold them right there? Then you can carry small loads to where they need to be. There are gizmos at the stores that will hold hangers with clothes on them... this is so you don't have to raise your arms too high. Taking things our of your cabinets will be easier, too. For the high cupboards, you might try getting yourself a "grabber." It's a handle with a long extention and "pinchers" at the other end. They're not too good for heavy stuff, though. You might want to keep flour, coffee, etc on top of your counter.

For the walls of the tub and shower there's a spray that you can use to keep gunk from sticking to the sides. For the floor of the tub, I'd say just run more water to rinse the soap skum down the drain. Maybe you could even spray the floor of the tub so it doesn't hold on to the soap scum but make sure it doesn't make it slippery!

Use a smaller trash can for your kitchen.

I'm not crazy about my Swiffer mop. The pads go dry really quick, so what I did was buy white shop towels at Home Depot and I hook those to the dry Swiffer handle. I spray my floors with floor cleaner and mop that way. I can then either use a clean towel to rinse or rinse the towel I used to mop with to rinse. I do this from a SITTING position, but it's still not easy on your torso. You can vacuum from a sitting position, too, so that you aren't bending. Take much smaller swipes at your rug. Roll or pull the vacuum, don't lift it!

If you can, you might invest in a desk chair with casters. That's what I used before I got my power chair. That might make moving around in the kitchen and doing your laundry a lot easier. No bending and straightening up!

What's under your rugs? You suppose you could get the landlord to remove them? It would be much, much easier to just push a Swiffer around once a day or so than to vacuum!

How long are you going to have to wear the brace?

I hope this helps.


Aren't you on Disability?? I don't remember. Your Medicaid Card can pay for some of the things you will need.