1-11-2022 - Update (Lucky, lucky Linda)

 (Tricia)

I noted at the end of my last post that NHC had called to let me know that Linda had fallen again. According to the nurse, Linda had walked to the hall (without a walker, of course) and sat in one of the nurse's chairs near her doorway; then, she decided she needed to walk around, and that's when she took her tumble near the nursing station, apparently right in front of the facility doctor.

When Ed and I visited her tonight, she was crying and saying she was in a lot of pain. Her right hip, she said, hurt a great deal every time she moved. We were almost certain that this time she really had broken a bone as a result of a fall. Although Linda was crying, she asked us, "Aren't you glad you came to visit tonight, so you could be here to hear all of this?"  She might have been in pain, but at least she kept some of her sense of humor. :-) 

The mobile X-ray technician didn't come until around a quarter until 9:00, and initially the X-ray was inconclusive. But about 30 minutes later, the nurse came in and said, "Linda, I don't know how, but somehow you keep dodging bullets." No fractures, thank goodness, but she is likely to have one heck of a bruise by tomorrow.  Of course, she's likely not going to be as mobile as she has been until the soreness subsides. But maybe--just maybe--the next time she wants to get up and walk without her walker, she'll realize that it's simply not worth the risk. She told the nurse that she had learned her lesson, and she promised she "wouldn't go skating by herself again" (her aphasia still results in some interesting phrasing). 

We'll see how long this lesson sticks!