Although he can barely walk without falling backwards (and he's taken some pretty bad falls, but as yet without broken bones), my brother was willing to go with my sister and me on a houseboat for 3 nights and 2 1/2 days.
My brother dug out his fishing equipment, cold weather clothing, sleeping bag, and was all ready to go hours before we could leave town. The marina location was 1 1/2 hours away. He was confused about some of the details, like how we could just boat away for days with someone else's boat. But he managed to deal with the depressing moments when he wasn't sure what was going on, times of incontinence, and failure to catch any fish when others around us were involved in a fishing derby. He has problems sleeping even with prescribed sleeping medication, and then has a hard time becoming alert in the morning.
In spite of problems, we had moments of side-splitting laughter, peace and closeness. We had to plan carefully to help my brother be as comfortable as possible - we brought extra clothing, and allowed him plenty of opportunities for privacy. We had spoken with marina staff in advance, and they had people on hand to help us load/unload supplies. My sister understood that my brother uses television to help put him to sleep. No TV on board, so she brought a portable DVD player and some old westerns. He fell asleep each night listening to John Wayne and Glen Ford. We had some tense moments, but this was a trip of joy for each of us. I'm not sure what our next adventure will be because we have to revise popular activities to accommodate our changing conditions (my sister and I are now in our 60s - smile). We continue to love and cherish each other.
