Dad's hobbling around

Good news, Dad tells me he's hobbling around with his crutches! He's about to get around the house, shower normally, and even took the elevator down to the basement and walked/crutched the length of it on his own. :) He still has a combination of pain and weakness doing so, but the true difficulty remains in the getting up and down. Such as when he drops the soap in the shower. Upon Mom's suggestion he drilled a hole in a couple bars of soap and threaded them with string. Homemade "soap on a rope." Why is that phrase so famous anyway?