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Second day of moving Ma in Law into her new flat started well, we took her down to retail park to buy a new fridge and a new telly, got back around lunchtime and had a sandwich before settling in to serious unpacking and re-arranging. She couldn't be persuaded to part with a thing, intending to put 40 years' of stuff from a three-bedroomed semi (with loft) into a small, two-bedroomed flat. This caused a lot of frustration but we were managing it.
MiL and I were standing over a couple of bags and boxes, placed on a table for easy reach. I found the second handset for the cordless phones and asked her if she wanted that in the front bedroom.
"Yes," she said.
"Righto," I said.
And then she went. She just started to fall sideways, I could see she was headed for the tv, a corner, the edge or the screen, all were horrible options. I lunged forward, pulling myself over obstacles with my left arm while I grabbed her and tried to stop her. I sort of pivoted her away from the furniture but I wasn't close enough, or strong enough, to hold her up, she just kept going down and I went after her but she fell all the way and hit her head on the door with an almighty bang that even the family outside in the garden heard. Everyone came running and prised her off me, or me off her, or something, I'm not sure about the next few seconds. I went outside in the rain and had a small meltdown. Went back in and found Baby Bro putting her in recovery position and talking to her, Spouse on the phone explaining to the 999 operator. The kids, small niece and nephew, peering round the doorway, part curious, part scared. SiL was being efficient and I felt guilty for leaving them to it. Took the kids in back room to the toys there and explained that Gran had fallen. Em pointedly asked why Daddy was crying, and I was too, so what had happened (she knows her Gran falls so she knew there was more wrong than usual). I talked to them for a bit and went back into living room. Two rapid-response paramedic cars and a big ambulance converged on the house within about 7 minutes of the call. I think that's impressive.
They plugged her into all their machines and I explained about her medical conditions and which tablets she takes, Baby Bro told them what he'd observed after the fall - apparently she had drifted into unconsciousness and one side of her face behaved strangely so we all thought 'stroke'. She had the best of care.
We followed the ambulance with MiL and Baby Bro inside to the hospital where they did all the tests they could, hooked her up to every machine that goes 'bing' (quite frequently in fact)
and xrayed her etc.
As usual, she recovered well and they couldn't find any reason for the fall, but the doctor said she was going to set the process rolling again to have her looked at, by the falls clinic I suppose. She had looked surprised when I explained that she'd been to the falls clinic, had an MRI but had never been seen again by them. I suspect an admin foul-up over the appt she should have had.
Doctor detained Spouse for a few minutes to check he was all right, the shock was showing on him and he's the oldest of MiL's children, her next of kin, and he suffered a lot. Baby Bro was in a terrible state too, but he's a lot younger and fitter and I wasn't worried about him. Spouse went for food, though, and we had a good night's sleep. Hopefully, if MiL has slept too and not obviously impaired today, he will relax.
This morning Spouse has gone up to the flat to tidy up and await the delivery man. Unfortunately, I'm paying the price for the lunging and hanging on, the pain is quite bad so I'm resting up. Every time I close my eyes or stop concentrating on something else, all I can see is her falling and falling and not being able to reach her. Hopefully, that will go away soon. I shall go up later and very sedately put some clothes in drawers or something easy like that.
On the tenth anniversary of the WTC attacks, a family problem probably seems small beer to most folk, but we're rather fond of the daft old bat and would prefer her to be around to see her great-grandson born in November.
MiL and I were standing over a couple of bags and boxes, placed on a table for easy reach. I found the second handset for the cordless phones and asked her if she wanted that in the front bedroom.
"Yes," she said.
"Righto," I said.
And then she went. She just started to fall sideways, I could see she was headed for the tv, a corner, the edge or the screen, all were horrible options. I lunged forward, pulling myself over obstacles with my left arm while I grabbed her and tried to stop her. I sort of pivoted her away from the furniture but I wasn't close enough, or strong enough, to hold her up, she just kept going down and I went after her but she fell all the way and hit her head on the door with an almighty bang that even the family outside in the garden heard. Everyone came running and prised her off me, or me off her, or something, I'm not sure about the next few seconds. I went outside in the rain and had a small meltdown. Went back in and found Baby Bro putting her in recovery position and talking to her, Spouse on the phone explaining to the 999 operator. The kids, small niece and nephew, peering round the doorway, part curious, part scared. SiL was being efficient and I felt guilty for leaving them to it. Took the kids in back room to the toys there and explained that Gran had fallen. Em pointedly asked why Daddy was crying, and I was too, so what had happened (she knows her Gran falls so she knew there was more wrong than usual). I talked to them for a bit and went back into living room. Two rapid-response paramedic cars and a big ambulance converged on the house within about 7 minutes of the call. I think that's impressive.
They plugged her into all their machines and I explained about her medical conditions and which tablets she takes, Baby Bro told them what he'd observed after the fall - apparently she had drifted into unconsciousness and one side of her face behaved strangely so we all thought 'stroke'. She had the best of care.
We followed the ambulance with MiL and Baby Bro inside to the hospital where they did all the tests they could, hooked her up to every machine that goes 'bing' (quite frequently in fact)
and xrayed her etc.
As usual, she recovered well and they couldn't find any reason for the fall, but the doctor said she was going to set the process rolling again to have her looked at, by the falls clinic I suppose. She had looked surprised when I explained that she'd been to the falls clinic, had an MRI but had never been seen again by them. I suspect an admin foul-up over the appt she should have had.
Doctor detained Spouse for a few minutes to check he was all right, the shock was showing on him and he's the oldest of MiL's children, her next of kin, and he suffered a lot. Baby Bro was in a terrible state too, but he's a lot younger and fitter and I wasn't worried about him. Spouse went for food, though, and we had a good night's sleep. Hopefully, if MiL has slept too and not obviously impaired today, he will relax.
This morning Spouse has gone up to the flat to tidy up and await the delivery man. Unfortunately, I'm paying the price for the lunging and hanging on, the pain is quite bad so I'm resting up. Every time I close my eyes or stop concentrating on something else, all I can see is her falling and falling and not being able to reach her. Hopefully, that will go away soon. I shall go up later and very sedately put some clothes in drawers or something easy like that.
On the tenth anniversary of the WTC attacks, a family problem probably seems small beer to most folk, but we're rather fond of the daft old bat and would prefer her to be around to see her great-grandson born in November.