I'm lying in my hospital bed, all thoughts of pt 2 of my AVN ablation on the back burner.
I was out in the garden last Thursday pottering about and enjoying the weather. Next thing I knew I had fallen backwards off a concrete step onto the stone patio. I thought I was paralysed.
Longer story short...2 ambulances and car sent to scene. I had the full 24 hours in A&E scenario......clothes cut off , IV paracetamol, morphine then ketamine. Pain unbelievable, then put on a scoop for stretcher.
I've fractured hip and shoulder. Hip repaired next day as i was on Warfarin and had to have vit k to bring my INR down. All a bit of a blur.
Added complication is of course I only have one usable arm to help me use frame to mobilise.
Goodness knows how long I will be layed up.
Please be ever vigilante over falls avoidance .
Life can change on the toss of a coin.
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Jalia
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So sorry to read that Jalia. I know how easy it is to fall over as I have got very good at it over the years. lol 😂 I do hope you repair quickly and are soon back out in the garden again.
They do. I made a rare attempt to get to the top of the garden today but in the end sent Sam up to see if the wild garlic had bloomed under the top hedge. Need to install a chair lift I fear as I only managed to get to the second terrace with two more to go. The joys of living on a hillside!
It will be quite interesting to see what pops up! Quite honestly it's the least if my worries now. I have a regular gardener to do the lawns and bushes so that's ok
I broke my ankle and dislocated my shoulder, different falls but at the same time so I feel your pain, couldn’t use both crutches and couldn’t put weight on leg. It’s not being able to do the little, everyday things that get you. Hope you heal very soon.
You know what it's like then! To be unable to support my left side is what worries me and I have to admit to feeling very low and tearful today. I must pull myself together and not let my family see me like this.
You are feeling naturally vulnerable and there will be a bit of delayed shock. No harm in allowing others in to see that, let the mask slip a little. You can’t be strong all of the time. Slow, deep breaths Much love
Thank you CD...just started me off again! I've recovered now so brushed my hair, put a touch of makeup on so my eyes don't look like piggy eyes. 🐷 I'm concentrating on physio now
Oh my dear! What a sudden turn about! Upwards and onwards now. Hip has been done...shoulder hopefully next( I know the agony of that so hope its tackled soon)I am sending best wishes and support across to you. Get well..as soon as you can
Goodness ... oh dear! This sort of thing is always at the back of my mind but thus far it hasn't happened ............ looking at your vivid account I think I'll put up and shut up with osteoarthritic pain in my shoulders.
Here's wishing you well and a speedy recovery and sending you unlimited quantities of patience.
Thanks John. It's all been a bit of a nightmare especially dealing with husband with advanced Parkinson's. Kids came over and took it in turns to stay 24 hrs until care home arranged. This has turned out to be a luxurious care home so at least I know its not somewhere horrific. They didn't hsve time to do much looking. At £2k a month let's hope the stay is not too long😬
Oh my golly gosh ............... I do hope that you can get arrangements sorted very soon. I can imagine the nightmare associated with a caring setting ... my sister is in a similar situation to you. May the force be with you.
Oh my goodness how awful, I really feel for you and hope that you have support from family/friends and care workers. I broke my hip playing table tennis a couple of years ago and have walked with a stick ever since but the op recovery was good and I hope this will be the same for you and hopefully without the stick. Your words are wise, I can trip on a matchstick, had a fall on the 4th April and it really does shake you up so we need to take special care of ourselves and watch out for those matchsticks. Very best wishes xxx
Sorry to hear and best wishes for a full recovery.
My own GP (just retired) tripped over his garden hose a couple of years ago (when he was in his early 60s) and banged his head very badly on a concrete path and ended up in hospital for 3 months.... Good but steady recovery but did take earlier retirement than planned and is constantly monitored and on 80mg propanolol per day for life.
Oh crumbs Jalia, really hope you get better soon. You have been through it. Your right we have to think what we are doing all the time, and I know this from experience, I fell outside my front door, carrying a parcel and broke my spine. It's easy done. Get well soon. Cate
Poor you! Big virtual hug! As I developed chronic fatigue with my PAF after a virus, I’ve been very limited in my activities so I guess that in some ways I can avoid similar nasty accidents! Wishing you a speedy recovery.
That's terrible! Presumably it was the other hip you fractured? Hope you make a good recovery and can get to just using one stick soon. I try to be more careful in the garden now as I have fallen several times in the past . I have read that practising standing on one leg improves balance. Bit sceptical as I used to do lots of this when I was dancing but still fell in the garden!
So sorry to read of your fall and hope your recovery isn't too long. I hope I am not jinxing myself here by saying that I joined an Otago class at my local sports centre after a hip replacement op about 11 years ago. Otago is a specially designed series of exercises, gentle but thorough , definitely not aerobic etc, which help to prevent trips, falls and stumbles. It has really helped me, particularly as I am now looking at getting the other hip done. Look for a specially qualified instructor in your area once you are mobile again. I wish you all the best for your recovery. Rosie
How awful for you, I hope you heal quickly - I have some osteopenic bones and I live in fear of falling, consequently I creep around like a snail as I have hard floors in my house, as being asthmatic I have no carpets. When we pass our eighties we cannot be too careful !
I shall certainly be snail like. Currently the house has been trip proofed for my husband with Parkinson's. He has had so many falls and I'm always telling him to take extra care in case of hip fracture ...🙄
Last fall I had I was lucky it being on a chipboard floor but limited space unbalanced (yeah stupid I put right leg up in the sink), flew across the room, banged the back of head on the structured hardiglaze wall and slipped fast down the wall onto my coccyx. Ouch!
But my bent arm at elbow disappeared down Nutro dog's bicky kidney, tall shaped hard plastic container which plastic was rounded at the top. I hit the bickies.
Sore head, sore coccyx and top arm turned jet black.
I clearly did a 'silly' move.
Yes, shoulder repair in 3 ways, done under ACC 2 years after. So no rotation so a spur grew to 1/2" very restrictive.
I can't say 'good' but at least it sounds like you knocked yourself out rather than having some kind of blackout. It's what we all worry about though isn't it - being on anticoagulants- one forgets that bones are living tissue and bleeding.
At the toss of a coin, indeed. We are fragile. You will eventually fully recover and look back with, not a smile, perhaps, but with relief that you were well looked after, you saw it through and coped well.
We just lost my brother in law from a fall. He fell on the street, hit his head and had 3 bleeds on the brain. Many of us become unsteady or start to shuffle or drag a foot as we get older. My husband's tripped 5 times last year from dragging a foot to avoid knee pain. I contacted physio who checked his gait and has given him exercises to improve it. Do take care everyone, don't hesitate to use some kind of support
Thank you. That will be the next hurdle as I'm carer fir my husband with advanced Parkinson's. He's had to go into a care home whilst I'm in hospital .....had to find something quickly which happened to be a luxurious but very expensive home.i couldn't bear the thought of putting him in a smelly cheap place. We couldn't afford the fees for many months though...2k a week!
I am so sorry to hear about your fall. I have taken four bad ones in the last couple of months most recent less than a month ago. I don’t even know what happened one minute. I was walking down the hall to my bedroom next minute, I was in a crumpled heap and had my right side of my face and head into a metal and wood wall while hitting my shoulder into a door frame I was unable to walk for several weeks, even to put pressure on my foot without agony to try to get to the bathroom. I can walk now, but not without pain.
you just showed me how blessed I was after all the x-rays, etc.. Nothing broken. I already have some serious problems from a motor vehicle accident when I was rear-ended by an 18 wheel truck at a red light I still have those problems and spinal stenosis so obviously anything on top of that is not helpful
a few weeks before that I fell off a stepstool. It wasn’t very high. I was attempting to hang a drape on a tension rod when suddenly the rod snapped back at me, throwing me off balance across the room because I just couldn’t get my balance another one outside flat on my back in the driveway with no one around. I finally crawled to my car thankfully it was unlocked and I managed to pull myself up I had hit my head pretty hard that time also oh yeah, and I fell off my bed. Not sure how that happened. Hit the corner of my bedside table with my head it’s a good thing. I have a head like a rock.
there is nothing I can say other than both of us are still here and being on anticoagulant that in itself is dangerous I know. I just met my new EP the other day. He was really concerned about my I am supposed to start physical therapy, but what they don’t understand is I was already in pain trying to do physical therapy. I just don’t know if I can. I understand they want to strengthen me I’ve had it before it takes forever and it didn’t really work that great for me. Now I have trouble getting off my bed because of the pain. I have the strength I can still actually put my leg up and face my foot to the sailing that doesn’t stop the pain.
I understand about only having one arm because my entire right side could not be used. It wasn’t broken, but it might well have been and it was useless. I actually just bought a thing for my bed to help me get up it slides under the mattress. I have a tendency to sleep on the edge of my bed. For some reason. I’m hoping this will keep me on the bed. Also, I feel like a child.
my new EP was concerned because of the anticoagulant
I was lucky this time the way I hit my face, although I did get black eyes. The inside of my right arm was bruised but next to you that’s I’m so sorry you are always so upbeat and good on here it’s time for us to try to help you get through this.
I hope you get better quick. I play a lot of sport my my biggest fear is another fall. I came cripper 5 yrs ago and have Achilles tendinitis now from that fall. Everyone knows at the sports centre if I hit my head it’s straight to A& E because of the Apixaban. Did you manage not to bang your head. You’re lucky you sound like you have a very supportive family. Get better soon x
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