My mother is recovering from her hip Girdlestoning. She’s in a rehab clinic getting retrained on how to maneuver from bed to wheelchair to toilet/bath. My sister is getting ramps put in. And mom should recover. Her quality of living will improve as her hip mends in place. It’s likely that my mother will never stand again.
Meanwhile, Alma, Thea’s mother, has fallen again. She fell a couple of weeks ago. The caregiver that she has with her most of the day now had failed to mention it. And Alma had failed to mention it. Thea calls her mother every night. “How ya’ feeling?” “Anything new?” Alma fell on a Wednesday and it was Saturday before a caregiver asked Thea to come help get her mother off the couch. That’s when Thea noticed that Alma’s ankle was swollen. She was taken to a minor care clinic where it was pronounced ‘sprained’. Thea went ahead and ordered an I’ve-fallen-and-can’t-get-up service. We went over the next weekend and installed, tested, and explained the operation of it to her mother. We even garnered a promise to wear the watch or necklace at all times.
Two and a half weeks after the first fall, with a still swollen ankle, without her walker (which she hasn’t used in five years), Alma went out in the morning to get the paper off the driveway. And the wind blew her over. So she sat on the driveway and waited. She couldn’t get up. That’s where her caregiver found her. Button around her neck unpushed.
She was again taken to the clinic. Now her hip and her ankle are sore. She can’t get up by herself. And she’s too frail to be left alone. The doctor ordered 24 hr bed rest and bedpan service.
Ah, life.
Sorry to hear about your mothers. As you say, it’s part of life, just incredibly uncomfortable to think about.