April 2, 2014 - Safety First

Our exit from the kitchen to our back patio was very poorly designed.  The concrete steps are exactly the same width as the sliding glass door, making it a bit treacherous to walk out, possibly list a little to the left, and topple right off of the edge.  Which is exactly what happened to Mr. Granny one morning last summer, when he did a face-plant right down onto the concrete below.  

We said, at the time, we really needed to put some type of handrail there, to keep young and old safe from a fall.  Then we promptly forgot about the entire idea.

Unfortunately, my legs have become so weak these past few days that I found it difficult to maneuver those steps, both going down and stepping up.  I do like to walk out to the garden occasionally (I planted some carrots and radishes yesterday!), but I can just barely make the 4" step up the front porch, there was no way I was going to be able to pull myself up the 6" risers on the patio, with absolutely nothing to hold onto!

Daughter Amy and son-in-law "Bigfoot Bryan" to the rescue!  Amy had her work crew build the hand rail, Bryan did all the sanding.

What a beauty!  Amy and Mr. Granny painted each other the rail to match the railing surrounding the patio.

I've tested it several times today, and it's so easy to hang onto while descending, and a cinch for me to pull myself right up those two steps with ease!  Now I can get over my fear of tumbling down onto that concrete below.

Strong!

Sturdy!

And if I can't make it up that 4" front porch step, I can always walk around to the back and use my new "Granny Lifter"!

Thank you Amy, Bryan and your work crew!

Now for the bad news.

This was the first hair loss from the radiation treatments to my brain.  It began falling out about 5 days ago.  Not too bad, as I could still do my "Donald Trump combover".  I washed my hair this morning, and.......you don't want to know what happened when I combed it out.  Let it suffice to say Amy is at Target tonight, looking at hats, caps and turbans!