Hello,

This is a question I never thought I'd even consider asking at my age but I am going to ask now.

I'm mobile, I work full-time, I'm happily divorced since 2000 with no kiddos.

In the last year my health has definitely declined. Within the last few months, I see it declining even more. I have been having fatigue worse than ever before in my life. I can sleep the weekends away and still be zonked on Monday.

The leg spasms and stiffness in my legs and back are worse than ever before also.

I rarely sleep all the way through the night for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the legs, sometimes a bathroom run, sometimes for no rhyme or reason.

My legs are acting up in the way that I move. I have stairs in my current apartment to get up to my bedroom. They are getting to be hazardous at times. I am perfecting the Frankenstein, cased-in-cement walking technique.

I'm 37, obviously don't own a home and I doubt that I ever will at this point. There are some senior facilities in my small city of about 20,000 that take people with mobility difficulties.

I believe rent there is subsidized, although I make more than most seniors do so I don't know how it would work for me. There are no stairs, yippee, an elevator, and washers and dryers in the building. Plus, it's right by the beautiful river that runs through the middle of my city. There is also parking.

My current building has several steps up to get from the parking lot to the inside of the building. Then there are several more steps down to get to my apartment down in the lower level. Altogether something like 18-20 steps to get inside and down to the apartment and then again in reverse to leave the apartment to go to work or run errands.

It's so hard to get the groceries in from the car and to take lots of stuff out to the car for school. Taking the trash out is another exhausting activity.

My mom had suggested a few years back about applying to live in one of these senior facilities that take people who are mobility impaired. I thought she was nuts then.

I am now changing my tune. Does anyone else here live in a place like this or know someone younger that lives in a place like this?

Is it crazy for me to even consider this? I can walk but it's just so hard at the moment. I do have a cane which will probably get used again soon.

The last time I looked to move in this area it was so hard to find a place with no stairs at all. Read, impossible. Let alone something that I could even afford. I make decent money but I owe, owe, owe and I am trying hard to pay down my debt.

Anyone have anything to share here? I'd love some advice and ideas.

Thanks,
Weebs37