Once Scared, Twice Shy

Or perhaps that should be once terrified, because yesterday was one of those days.

My son called about 1pm in the afternoon to tell me that my mother had fallen and hurt herself.

SAY WHAT!?

He wasn't really able to talk to me, because I dropped directly into frantic mode 1st gear, and wanted to know details etc...which he couldn't give me because he was quite frantic, too. In fact, just a few days ago, my mother is telling me that she's afraid she's going to fall and break a hip, and here, two days later, self fulfilling prophecy!

So my son hands the phone to the "pre-paramedic" who says "she's fine, the ambulance is on the way...." Well, she didn't get past ambulance and I dropped into frantic mode 2nd gear, and wanted to know ALL the particulars--was her hip broken, why do you have her on a board, I'm on my way, I'll meet you at the hospital...

Okay, which hospital are you going to? I finally managed to spit out before hanging up.

And so, another half day off for the already well past overloaded at the office, and walk to the car, calling my brother in Kentucky at the same time, breathing hard, almost at a run, breath coming in short, painful gasps...

Mom
Fell

Whut? (that's my brother, the darned Yankee)

She
Fell
DOWN

Why're you so outta breath!?

On
Foot
(huff puff)
to my car...
Parked 3 blocks away...
(huff puff)

(so freaking out of shape!)

Will
Call when
I get to the hos-
pital

Will be about
45
minutes...

Okay, I'll sit by the phone. Don't you forgit to call me back and let me know whut's goin on!

Yep!

So I arrive at my car, climb in, start the engine, and head out...too much traffic to turn left, so I turn right and take the route around my thumb to get to my elbow, and gunned it down the freeway.

Nearly had an accident in Grand Ledge, when a woman pulls right out in front of me, turning left as I was coming up to the light. Expletives came out nearly as fast as my foot went to the brake!Thank heavens that Jesus didn't come right then, or I'd been a goner for sure!

I even flipped her the bird as I passed by, which made my wrist hurt. Guess I shouldn't have done that, but by this time, a half hour has passed since I called my brother, and I'm no where near the hospital!

I kept driving, and finally got to the medical center (not the hospital), which was marked with a big sign out front. I thought it was a little small for a hospital, but I'd been assured that there were hospital signs (there were none), and when I asked for directions, they told me how to get there while I silently repeated a few expletives toward the pre-paramedics for telling me a lie.

I arrived at emergency, and waited at the desk while one person waited on the person in front of me. It seemed to take forever, but what really made me mad was when 3 other nurses came into the station, picked up papers and walked right back out as a line formed behind me!

Finally, I get to the front of the line, and ask about my mother who came into emergency. Yes, she's here...through the door and to the left, ask the nurses station. I remember thinking "well, if they are half as efficient as your desk is, I bet I have to go in on a gurney before I get any help."

Finally I find my mother.

SHE'S ALIVE.

Well, okay, maybe a little too much drama?

She looks upset and wiped out, and there's this knot on her temple the size of my fist, and HOY is it purple. There's a gash on her cheekbone about 2" long, and it's been neatly sewn with about 5 stitches. There's blood in her hair and a spot of fluid (in my frantic state, I nearly flipped out thinking that she was bleeding out brain material!) that leaked from the wound--which apparently was from the breaking of her glasses when she fell. OH! The glasses broke her fall? How could I have known?

But I no sooner got there, than she was whisked off to x-ray as a precautionary measure to make sure that my son hadn't beat her up I suppose...so where's my son through all this...????????

Well, I spent the next several minutes concerned about that, imagining the worst of course, and went back out to the car to call my brother.

I'm here.

How's she doin?

She's okay, I guess, they just took her to x-ray to make sure she's not got any broken bones or anything. But she's got this huge gash on her cheek and at least 6 stitches that I could see (okay I embellished--later found out only 5), and a goose egg on her temple.

How'd all that happen?

Dunno--they whisked her off before I had the chance...but what's really got me curious is that she didn't want to talk to me or to tell me about it with somebody there--but I'll ask her when she gets back to the room.

Keep me posted.

Oh for sure, like I could do anything else!

She was in x-ray for quite a while. I paced the floors. I asked the nurse how many stitches, and she told me 5. Good guess for being in frantic mode 3rd gear, eh?

When mom came out of x-ray, they told her that everything looked good and left to get a brace for her leg...here's the final analysis:

I got ready for some grocery shopping. Janet was going to drive me. I stepped out of the sliding glass door to go to Janet's car, and my knee gave out, and down I went. I must have hit the ground, because my glasses are all broken and bent out of shape, and I just BOUGHT those glasses...and now they're ruined! Anyway, the glasses cut my face up when they broke. I should have had my cane. I could kick myself for not having my cane.

I thought "don't use your GOOD leg".

She went on, as the nurse came in...but by now I'm calming down....to hysterical.

They put a brace on her leg, and she gimped to the potty, then back to the room for a wheelchair, and I went to get the car.

On the way, she decided she wanted to continue with her day as if nothing happened.

"I want you to take me to the credit union, the dollar store and the grocery store for a few things." She says.

So I followed her around and opened doors and closed doors and unlocked her apartment so she could get in. All the time, she's gimping about with this odd pirate-stiff gaited walk which gets me to giggling. But she got her cane out when she got back to her apartment, and I'm thinking "that's your cane? That's never going to help you if you fall!"

So she gimped to the bedroom and found her aluminum one, and I took her to the above mentioned places, and we sat at the bank while they did her monetary business...and she finally combed the bloody clots out of her hair. Hew...that looks better. Then to the dollar store and the grocery store, where I lost her for a while, but figured she would be fine with a cart to hold onto.

We dropped by the gas station where my son works, but he wasn't there. She had told me that he had to go in early today, and that's why he didn't go with her to the hospital. Not that he could have driven her back...but in any case...why couldn't Janet have gone down? "Oh, she had to work," which didn't jive whatsoever, since she was going to take my mother to all these places, and go to work at the same time????????

I got her home, and one of the neighbors came and helped take in the groceries, which was a good thing since I couldn't help much with my gimpy hand--which is getting better by the way...but I was glad for the help. My son hadn't come home, so I was curious why he wasn't there, waiting for his grandmother to come home to see if she was okay...what had happened, etc....but nobody there.

There were two calls on my cellie--both from my aunt's house, and one message from my son, telling me that he was there waiting for me to call--yet, WHEN I did call, the first time, I got ring, ring, ring. The Second time a busy signal. So I called my mother back to tell her that her grandson's trying to get hold of me--but I can't seem to get hold of him...what a mess. My mother says that he's probably working now, and if he wants to talk to her, he can call her. (She was angry that he didn't stay home/come home to be there--I mean what if something had happened?)

Well I'm wondering if something DID happen, and she's just not telling me, because she seemed really angry. Of course, both my brother and my husband agree, there was no need for him to work when his granny's in the hospital and that he should have stayed home for the phone calls, especially since he apparently WASN'T working when we stopped in to his job. So where WAS he?

the saga is continued...