she needs to understand safety over privacy:

Seems like she just might be struggling to come to terms with her decline in health, possibly? OP - Maybe speak to your doctor and they can arrange for an assessment to figure out why your gran doesn't want to use her walker and try to find a way round it so that your gran is happy and safe?

Oh god, she's okay though, right?

OP here~ Yes, she's okay, no injuries, and for those of you saying, "Get life alert" - She already HAS life alert but refuses to wear it...Her stubbornness has no limits. She would rather have her family worry and put her life in jeopardy than lose her pride and "independence". We're gonna see about in-home care so that we don't have to worry all the time. Thanks for all the support~ :) I can only hope that one day my grandmother comes to her senses, what little she has left.

My grandma is the same way, won't wear her life alert. Last month she fainted and smashed her head on the floor but no injuries past bruising. She had to crawl to the neighbours apartment to call us.

Well, imagine if you're in her shoes. Your ability to HAVE independence would be slowly diminishing, and you would be desperate for any independence you could get. Any. To constantly worry your family, but when you say you're alright, even if you are, have them look at you like you've gone insane. My grandma is dying at the moment and I tried to give her that time little bit of independence before she got so bad. Why? Because they were wrong. She needed her little bit of independence. It meant she had hope.

That's not me saying that you're wrong to be concerned. However, understand that she might just want that tiny fragment of pride to be able to say no.

Maybe get her a cool dragon* cane, a pinky ring and a pimp hat. If she feels she's a cool fashionable granny, she might embrace the new look!

@37 I agree to an extent. Yes, she needs to have independence, however, by not using the walker it can put her at a huge risk. I have recently lost my grandma due to stubbornness. She had refused to see her doctor a few days before she died and then the day she passed, she didn't have her oxygen tank with her. Turns out she had phnemoia and if she would have gone to her doctor she wouldn't have died. While giving independence is good, if it endangers them in any way, then they need to seriously listen to their family and use what they need to use no matter how much it diminishes their independence.

My grandpa was exactly like that. Needed a hearing aid for years and refused to wear it, he would rather have the whole family literally SCREAM at him to tell him something than give up his pride! He was like this under many other aspects, and until the end we tried to respect his wishes and leave him his "independence"...He died last week, I miss him so much! I'm glad your grandma's fine :)

My grandma is the same way. Last night she fell getting out of a chair and broke her wrist. She has a life alert refuses to wear it and has a problem with reaching. Over Halloween she fell 3 times in one week because of reaching.

My grandma is the same way. She took a trip with family and never told anyone about the intense pain she was in until it was to the point of needing surgery. She had to be pit on heavy drugs and flown back home.

I live with my grandma and great grandma, so I have two stubborn elderly people to convince. My grandma doesn't think my great grandma needs a life alert yet everybody else knows she needs one. My great grandma is dizzy all the time, nearly blind, and nearly deaf. The only person she listens to about anything is my grandma though. I'm glad your grandma is okay though, I know how much I worry about both of mine. Good luck with her.

We had this issue with my great grandma this past summer. She fell and had to go to the hospital. She hit her head, doctors feared brain damage and asked her to give up her license and get life alert. Didn't go so well. Two weeks later she fell and broke her hip. Doctors told her she needed a came when she healed and she needed to give up her license because she couldn't use her right foot properly anymore. To this day she refuses. We forced life alert but she never wears it. Grandmas will be stubborn. Sorry op. Hope your grandma is in good humor though!

I understand what y'all are saying. My grandma can't have her little bit of independence anymore. She can't walk to the bathroom and back and she thinks people are in her house. When someone is that way they need someone with them the entire time.

My mom had to use a cane and hated it too. So we went and got coloured duct tape (pink) and made her cane pretty. Then she was okay using it because people complimented her on it.

We also went to Disneyland shortly after and when she realized the cane got us cuts in line she no longer worried about how she looked. If all else fails, take her to Disneyland! It solves all life's problems?

Your grandma sounds almost exactly like my grandma. Except when she falls or passes out she denies it. She clearly needs a walker but also refuses to use one.

Once you can't pick yourself up after you fall you shouldn't be living along anymore...

That should say "alone" not along. The one time I don't spellcheck wow...

You need to remember that not all older folks are willing to use a cell phone or life alert at all. My stubborn grandmother now has a broken shoulder because she refuses both a cell phone and life alert and it took her almost 4 hours to finally get to a phone. so yeah, maybe if they're are willing to use one of those two things it isn't an immediate cause to not live alone, but you have to look at both sides.

I can't pick myself up after I fall sometimes because of the way I've landed and I'm only 18...

Maybe, being old, she's just trying to keep as much independence as she can, and is not trying to make everybody's life difficult.

I hope she's okay! Maybe try and get a doctor or health professional to explain why she needs a cane.

But by being so stubborn she is in fact making everyone's life more difficult, including her own.

I'm as subborn as your grandma already and I'm still young. Lol. I'm sure you'll be okay, OP. Hope your grandma is doing okay, as well!

Maybe she doesn't want it because she doesn't want people making her feel like she's old. o.O

I will never be an old man. To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am.

Great idea, just keep moving the goal posts! =)

My grandparents have that book in their house! It's actually kind of funny

I thought that too, until I became diabetic at 38, lost much of my hair, and woke up after sleeping "wrong". I still maintain a muscular healthy frame, exercise, eat well, etc. but am living proof that lifestyle is helpless against time.

*Plays "Let The Bodies Hit The Floor"*

Too soon?

That'd be like playing "take my breath away" for people with asthma or emphysema.

Just wrong, no matter the timing.

You got there and she is OK that's the good thing just try to explain to the the bad things, that can happen without using her walker.

Maybe she doesn't want to be dependant on her cane. Once my grandma became frail, we rode her around in a wheelchair, because it was hard for her to walk. Her leg muscles obviously did not get stronger, and she spent the rest of her life in that chair.
Props to your grandma for trying to do it on her own. Although a cane is probably a good idea.