Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I first encountered a bidet in Belgium when I was very young and didn't even know what it was, let alone its function. However, now that I am a widowed senior living alone,on the shady side of 70 and was diagnosed with Parkinsons five years ago, the whole toilet business has become a great deal more difficult and frustrating than it used to be. For one thing, what with the stiffening joiints, muscle wakness and all, I am not nearly as limber as I was, especially when it comes to dealing with the aftermath of what is politely known as "number two". Because of the Parkinsons, I suffer from very, very poor balance. Hence, I don't shower nearly as often as I used to and, obviously, tub baths are totlally out of the question. (My shower is a bathtub installation which is more hazardous to enter and leave than the step-in kind). With all that said, I finally concluded that a bidet might be a solution to my hygiene problem and started shopping around. The one I first considered was a complete stand-alone unit, which was the style I had encountered in Belgium and Frince. Unfortunately, quite apart from the floore space problem, the price was, to put it mildly, a totally mind-numbing glacial shock. Since none oif the local plumbers or suppliers were of any help and none of my friends or relatives possessed a bidet, what was I going to do? Faced with a dismal prospect of endless sponge baths and increasingly unsatisfactory "wet wipes", I started shopping again, this time on Amazon. Unlike the plumbers and local stores, Amazon came through almost immediately with a possible solution to my problem and to say it was an "Aha!" moment would be putting it mildly. Up until then, I didn't know that there was such a thing as an "add-on" bidet let alone an entire toilet seat installation. Wow! After viewing and reviewing the various attachments and toilet seats on offer and reading all the customer reviews on each, I settled on the Ellegantz GenieBidet Seat for several reasons. Uppermost among them were the fact that the Genie did not require electricity or a hot water pipe hookup and offered a style that would fit myelongated white toilet's seat. So I ordered it. Unlike many of the folks here and mostly because of my age and health condition, I hired a local plumber to come and install it for me. Ellegantz had very kindly advised me by email that a flexible braided hose would be required to replace my rigid water supply pipe; so I advised the plumber who said it would be no problem. The installatiion took no more than 45 minutes and I felt the service call was worth it; especially after I, with some trepidation, tried it out for the very first time. I will confess that, since the seat opening was quite a bit smaller, I had to do a bit of wiggling around to get the spray where it was supposed to go, but it works . Now that I have been using my new bidet toilet seat regularly for both my normal functions for several days, I have to say "Yes, I love this thing!" and "Why did I wait so long to get one?" Since I have a second bathroom with a round seat, I am about to order another one and fully expect that it will be every bit as satisfactory as the first. The reason I have gone into this much detail about my circumstances is that after having worked with Home Health, years ago, as a student nurse, spent fourteen years as a counselor in a state welfare office and cared for a disabled husband for the last ten years of his life, I realize that there is a serious need out there for this type of appliance. Now that the cost of a bidet is no longer as prohibitive as it once was, thanks to "add-ons" like the GenieBidet Seat, there is no reason why it should not be cost-effectively available to individual seniors with the same hygiene concerns as I, or in assisted living facilities or nursing homes. So I hereby have to say a hearty thankyou to Ellegantz Genie and their fellowr manufacturers and suppliers for finding a cost-effective solution to what has been, until now, an unrecognized but extremely serious health and hygiene need; especially for older woman like myself.