Swallow my stupid male bloody pride and ask for help

Hi, my name is Mike Donovan, I'm 56 years old and I've been told to swallow my stupid male bloody pride and ask for help..... so here goes.

Just under 4 years ago my partner Jacquie and I bought our 'grow old together' house. Perfect fit for us, enough room to have the kids and grandkids stay, great setup.

The bathroom was a bit of a mess,but, we both worked, and it was useable so we decided to put it on the 5 to 10 year plan!

8 months later ... BAM, out of the blue I was made redundant! A big kick in the guts, we were down to one income, basically a negative income, more going out than coming in. Still, I was pretty confident I could get a job, I got one 20 years before without too much problem!

As time went on though, apart from not getting a job, I started to get sick, I was losing weight and having problems breathing. I had lived with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) my whole life, having had asthma since a baby, but this, unfortunately was the incurable lung disease Emphysema. Within a year and a half I was unable to work at all.

I also developed Oedema, my circulatory system wasn't able to push fluid all around my body and water began seeping through the tissue walls into my feet, then my ankles, then calves,thighs etc.

until I ended up in hospital with heart failure because of the fluid pressure on my heart. I've been in to hospital for two stays now to get flushed out.

Just to really ice the cake, we have now discovered Jacquie has CREST syndrome and Osteoporosis. One of the things with CREST is that it can affect the extremities,with Jacquie it means she can have numb fingers and toes, it makes it hard to hold things. The Osteoporosis of course means her bones are becoming brittle and easy to break!!! Which all brings us to the crux of the matter, our Bathroom!! It's now a danger area for both of us.

We have a shower over the bath, it's a high bath (Jacquies mum cant shower when she stays either!). To get into the bath, we have to climb in from the slope back of the bath with only the towel rail for balance. For me it means planning a shower,the effort is now extreme. It has become difficult, hard and dangerous for the pair of us, and I

am petrified that Jacquie will fall and break her hip or legs, breaking bones is a lot worse with Osteoporosis. I am also not going to be around for ever to call for help if she does fall.

So this is our goal, a safe bathroom. Ditch the bath and put a walk in shower. We have some of the money, but, no way to raise the rest, we estimate we need another $5 -$7K,

but, we haven't finished talking to people yet!

Please, please help. Share this page and give a couple of dollars and save some bones!