My husband passed away last year and I - am a 83 year old woman in pretty good health and with no problem driving - have been getting the same questions from family members and friends: Are you going to stay by yourself in your own home? My answer, for right now, is YES. My problem is that neither my children, nor other family members, live in my town. So I think I will move to their area when I need more help, physically or mentally.
BUT, I had an elderly neighbor once, and I had wished she would have moved earlier, when she was capable of making her own decisions instead of family making them for her. I knew she would have chosen differently.
So, I do have a will, I also let my kids know what my wishes are, and I pray that I will know what I need to do when the time comes. For right now, I feel safe here, have a good community, have a cleaning lady I like, and am in an already downsized townhome, with the bedroom downstairs and a walk-in shower. So far so good.
I do a lot of praying!

My husband and I bought a pretty low cost home 12 years ago and spent quite a lot of money remodeling it. The suggestions I see here are spot on— we widened doorways, replaced the flooring, installed a walk-in shower and high toilet seats, bars in the shower and at the down step into the garage. Since then, my husband has become quite disabled and must use a walker all the time. This spring, I had a totally unexpected colostomy and decided to have hip replacement surgery. I am 82 and he is almost 79. Because we did the remodeling when we did, we are able to stay in our home. But. He is really not able to care for himself and is at risk of falling, and I am not physically in a place where I can help him the way I used to. For some amazing reason, 25 years ago, the university where I was working at the time offered the opportunity to purchase long term care insurance, and I did. We paid for it for about 25 years, and then 2 years ago were able to collect on my husband’s. The application process for benefits is foreboding, but we got though it, and he has been receiving in-home care for several hours a day during the week. After my colostomy, I applied for mine, and was approved, so we are now getting a lot of care that we absolutely could not have afforded without the insurance. At the time I bought it, it was relatively inexpensive because we were so much younger and the cost went up as we aged. But I hung in with the payments and I thank God that I did. Because I am hoping and planning to stay in our home safely as long as possible, and the physical adaptations and long term care insurance have made it possible. I guess my suggestion would be to plan ahead as early as you can because you never know what is down the road. Bette