@Doydie Ours cost $2495.00. (no tax on medical equipment here) It's just a straight run down the stairs. No turns. I think one with turns would cost a bit more. Our stairlift is made by Bruno. Glad that we live in a ranch with one set of steps. Our old house was a tri-level and had at least 5 separate sets of stairs all over the house.

This is the new one we got today http://www.bruno.com/stairlift-electra-ride-elite.html

Our old one looked like this http://www.bruno.com/stairlift-electra-ride-ii.html and it's no where near as nice as our new one. The picture in the ad, where they show how the arm swings out for people in wheelchairs to do transfers, that's the arm that was broken and exactly what it would look like with it swung out, but it wouldnt swing back and stay in place. (I had to hold it in place) The thing that locked it into place was broken. Several months ago, I went to get on the chair, and the arm swung out and I nearly fell off. So, I'd been having to be really careful when riding it. (I'd called the repair people, and the lady on the phone was really nasty to me, wouldnt transfer me to the repair dept. Made me mad, and I didnt want to call back and get the nasty operator again)

So, I'd just been really careful when using the stairlift. It had just started to scare me a lot the past couple of weeks, and so I convinced my dad that since I was having to use it the most to get to my bedroom in the basement, we'd better upgrade the stairlift and make sure it was safe. He agreed with me when I showed him how badly things had been with it the other day. So, we're putting off getting him his new flat screen tv for his tv room. (poor dad, he's never gonna get that tv the way we're going)


@Clarkstar AFO = Ankle Foot Orthotic. It's basically a brace that's been built into my shoe. It's two pieces of aluminum on either side of my leg, kind of like a splint, that have been glued into the bottom of my shoe. (or screwed in...I havent lifted up the inside of my shoe yet to look and see if I can see anything from inside the shoe) Then there's a strap at the top of the brace that holds it onto my leg.

When I walk, I have to step down on my heel first. When I do that, that makes the strap at the top of the brace push my knee forward a little bit. The whole thing is to keep my foot straight since I have foot drop in the foot. (means I cant lift my foot up from the ankle...which actually has improved since it got diagnosed, but it's still...floppy) It also keeps my knee from bending backwards in a direction it's not supposed to bend. I was having a problem with that the last few months.

So far, I'm happy with it. It seems to be working great, altho the area around my calf where the strap is at, is feeling a little sore tonight. Probably because I'm not used to it yet. Supposed to wear it as soon as I get up in the morning until I go to bed at night. Only other time to take it off would be in the shower.

Right now, I still have the AFO on, but since I'm sitting down, I loosened the strap. Took my left shoe off too so my left foot could breathe (left foot has been getting numb the past few weeks. Kind of scared I'll have to get an AFO for it too). If I get up for any reason, I'm going to put my left shoe back on, and tighten the AFO strap so that I can walk around.

I'm really enjoying being able to walk around, upright like a human should walk, and not all hunched over, kind of curled around a rollator/walker. Still using the rollator some, since I'm not quite used to the AFO yet. But the guy at the orthotics place said I should figure out my balance with it pretty soon and should be able to just use a cane, or even walk without a cane with it eventually.

Being able to wear shoes and socks again is really nice too. I've been walking around barefoot because foot drop and socks on tile floor doesnt work really well. I also couldnt wear shoes at all for awhile when the flare was really flaring. I'd only put on my Crocs for shoes only if I had to leave the house for any reason. (that was REALLY uncomfortable!!) Which means I havent been out much for the last two months. Anything touching my right foot actually caused me pain. Excruciating pain. It was weird. Felt like my ankle was in a bear trap when the foot drop first started.