OT: waiting on a call... hoping for the best...

[Paul56]

My mom lives 500 miles north of me, is 81 and lives alone.

When I called her this afternoon there was no answer. I figured no big deal... she is either out in the yard or went out to the store.

An hour later my phone rings, it is mom and she says she has bad news... in going to answer my earlier call she fell face first on the floor, was unable to get up and felt pain in her hip.

Before calling me she called a friend who was going to call 911 for an ambulance then come over to assist. The doors were all locked but I'm sure they found a way in.

On the phone she did not sound like she was in severe pain and was very alert. She even said "its not like I'm dying or anything". She also said that perhaps it was just a strain or pulled muscle. I asked her how severe the pain was but before she could answer she told me she could hear them outside and needed to go. I have no idea how severe the pain is from a hip fracture

She has had diabetes for years and it has affected her kidney function to the point she was told to get ready for dialysis. But apparent her kidney function has stabilized and the specialist said everything looked good. She has high blood pressure but that is controlled with medication. She is not overweight and has been active... has her own house so she has to be. She has also had a sore back for years... too much walking aggravates it. The Doc has told her she has osteoporosis.

I fear the worst... that it is a hip fracture. I hope for the best... given it seems the pain was not too severe. I won't really know until I hear something back... hopefully this evening. The waiting on a phone call is the worst. Depending on what I hear I may drive up there tomorrow.

It has been my habit to call her 3 - 4 times/day... just to chat. Right now I am just sick over this... because if I had not called she would be fine right now.

[Mikosiko]

Hoping the best for you mom.... prayers in her way...

Miko

[twokatmew]

Hang in there, Paul. I know a few people who have broken hips, and each has told me the pain is so bad they either cried or vomited, or both. Also, I've been told that hips don't usually break as a result of a fall. The hip breaks, and that's what causes the fall. My mother had very, very bad osteoporosis and fell several times in the last couple years of her life. Not once did she break anything!

Please don't beat yourself up. Fingers crossed that your mom didn't break any bones, and that the phone call comes soon.

Take good care!

[JayC]

The call (your call) did not cause the fall. Could have happened whenever. Sounds like conditions were present in her body for this to happen at any time.

Sending prayers and healing thoughts to and for both you and your mum.

Because you keep in contact, she was not left on the floor, alone......

You are a good and caring son; be gentle.....

Warm regards,
J

[BlackSpinner]

My thoughts are with you. My parents live further away.
Dad is in the hospital. I am lucky my sister lives with them.
Mom fell last year too and it was the pelvis which broke - It mends fast.
There are elder alert systems for independent elders. They wear a bracelet which has a call button which allows then to send an emergency call to a dispatcher. Sort of like a burglar alarm.
You might want to investigate that for her.

[rosiefrosie]

I work with the elderly and most of the time the hip fractures first and then the person falls. If she has osteoporosis this makes a person susceptible to fractures. Everyone is different when it come to pain. You can not blame yourself for this. What a great son you are to call her that many times everyday. I bet she is so proud of you. I hope evrything turns out alright for her and will offer up some prayers.

Rosie

[birdshell]

I am also thinking of you and your mom. Sending all the positive thoughts your way that I can, and may I observe that your mother seems to be one tough lady? She isn't going to ACCEPT anything less than the best possible outcome with an attitude like, "It's not like I'm dying or anything!"

That said, you are probably in the worst position in this scenario because your job is to wait patiently and calmly with (yeah, right) no worrying. Hang in there and I hope you have news soon! You will certainly feel better just knowing something, I think. If it helps, I'll gladly do some of the worrying for you...maybe we can have a schedule?

Best wishes,

Karen

[Eureka]

Sorry to hear about your mother's fall. She -- and you -- are in our prayers. If you are in a situation where you can, drop a line to the forum to let us know what is happening and that will give us guidance on prayer needs.

[junie]

Sending thoughts and prayers, sending you hugs

[Hawthorne]

Paul - I am certainly thinking about you and hoping for the best for your mom!

I have Osteoporosis and am really afraid of falling. I do take medication for it. Does your mother? A statistic I found was that a person who is taking medication for their Osteoporosis is 50% less likely to break a bone if they fall. That doesn't mean that she did not break anything of course but gives some better odds.

You say she is very active an in good shape. This is all in her favour too!

She may (hopefully) just have a bad bruise. I would certainly look into the medical call sytem for her. It is very easy to get set up and she would need to wear a "watch" or a necklace with a call button. She should wear it 24 hours a day because she can call for help immediately herself.

It most certainly was not your fault that she fell!! You are a good son to call her regularly! She would not want you to stop just because she happened to fall at that time.

[BlackSpinner]

I mentioned a warning system and the following is a quote from another board I am on:

I’m a geriatric social worker, and our programs provide these for our clients. Commonly known as ERS (emergency response system), there are various companies out there. We use Link to Life, but some folks get Life Alert and others. There is typically a fee for equipment installation (around $50) and then a monthly fee (about $20-$40 per month) for the service. Each client has an emergency card on file, which contains phone numbers for neighbors, relatives, apartment managers, etc. If a person falls or has an emergency and presses the ERS via either pendant or wristband, a live person comes on speakerphone via the main ERS unit hooked up to the phone line. They will be asked if they are okay; if a person can respond and ask for help, they take it from there depending on the situation. However, if it is pressed and no one responds to say that it was set off by accident (common occurence) or if they had a minor incident, emergency personnel will sometimes be sent to their address.

[BleepingBeauty]

Sorry to hear about this, and I hope the phone call comes soon, telling you your mom is okay. She sounds like quite a character.

Best wishes coming your way.

[Kiralynx]

Keeping fingers crossed for you AND your Mom.

[Muse-Inc]

...she fell face first on the floor, was unable to get up and felt pain in her hip...

I am so sorry Paul! So scary when it's a parent. My mom is active, still working, and used to fall & walk into everything; she was always black & blue somewhere in spite of lots of vitamin C. I kept fussing at her to start taking small amts of vitamin D when mine tested extremely low. She started taking it a few months ago and no longer falls or walks into things (she tested at the low end of normal)...something to investigate.

...had diabetes for years and it has affected her kidney function...

Check out benfotiamine; it's the alliothiamine form of thiamin (B1). Diabetes makes one pee away B1; to bypass this pathway, diabetics need to take benfotiamine. This supplement avoids one of the biochemical pathways that create the pathobiology of diabetes. Read the following for details (you did take college chem right ) (If I remember correctly Brownlee is diabetic himself):

http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/co ... type=HWCIT

Every molecule of sugar is surrounded by 4 molecules of water increasing the blood volume thus increasing BP.

...had a sore back for years...

Might be a side effect of her prescriptions? Sleeping posture? If she's a back sleeper, she might try a pillow (or 2, under her knees to preserve the curve in the small of her back (learned this when I was in PT for a fractured vertebra). If she's on a diuretic, she needs minerals like magnesium (not the oxide form) to help her muscles relax. Hopefully she's not on a statin as they destroy muscle tissue to one extent or another.

...I hope for the best...

Will add her and you to my prayers for the ideal outcome.

...waiting on a phone call is the worst...

Yup, excruciating. By now, I hope you've gotten good news.

[Wulfman]

Hi Paul.

Hope everything turns out OK with your mother.
Please keep us informed.


Den