| from the editor |
My mom is 77 years old . On March 18 she fell .
She ’ s had trouble getting around for more than a year because of arthritis in her hip , but she insists on living alone . Like so many people of her age , she gets cold easily . She spends chunks of her day in her chair with a blanket across her lap , reading or watching TV .
On that day , the yard man was cutting the grass , and Mom got up from her chair to write him a check . She pushed the blanket to the side , but it draped down from the seat . When she tried to take a step , it tangled around her feet and down she went .
Of course the yard man didn ’ t know anything about it . He was riding the lawn mower . But when he came to get his check , all the doors were locked . He looked through the French doors and could see Mom lying in the floor . She responded to him so he knew she was conscious , but she couldn ’ t get up and he couldn ’ t get in to her . He went to the neighbor ’ s house , and they tried to get in but couldn ’ t .
Failing that , they called 911 and the firefighters and neighbors damaged a window to get in .
Mom said she wasn ’ t hurt . She didn ’ t want to go to the hospital , so the EMTs set her in her chair , took some notes for their report and everyone was gone .
You won ’ t remember this , but March 18 was the day the weather service predicted bad storms across the area , but they didn ’ t actually come through Colquitt County . Mom lives in Albany , and the weather radar showed she might have gotten some of the bad weather , so that evening I called to check on her . I couldn ’ t get through , so I was a little worried that her landline phone had been knocked out . I didn ’ t know anything about her fall .
About an hour and a half later she called . She has a cordless phone and the battery was dead in the handset . She had to let it charge up enough to call me back . No big deal .
“ Oh , by the way , I fell today .” That ’ s not a direct quote , but it conveys the nonchalance she was trying to show about the whole thing . She glossed over a lot of the details , but she said she ’ d landed flat on her back and her back hurt .
That was a Friday night . You know where I was on Saturday morning .
Mom was … “ Fine ” would be too strong of a word . Her back still hurt . Her hip always hurt ; it was the arthritis . Sometime after the fall her knee had popped — she didn ’ t think it had anything to do with the fall itself — and now it hurt too . She had a tough time getting around even using her walker , but she was sure nothing was broken .
Before I left , the yard man came . Because of her fall Mom hadn ’ t been able to write his check , so he came back to see how she was doing and to get paid for the previous day ’ s work . I stepped out with him and he told me a little bit more about her fall .
By his estimate Mom was on the floor an hour , counting the time he didn ’ t know it had happened and the time it took him and the neighbors and the firefighters to get in to her . He said he wasn ’ t going to leave until he knew she was OK , and that was a blessing .
If it hadn ’ t been for him , Mom could have been lying there until the next day — because I ’ d have come to check on her Saturday if I couldn ’ t reach her by phone . An awful lot could have happened in those 18 to 24 hours before I got there , though . May 8 is Mother ’ s Day . I ’ m not much on telling folks what to do , but if your mother is where you can go visit with her that day , you need to .
Because there will come a day when you can ’ t .
Kevin C . Hall Managing editor The Moultrie Observer and Moultrie Scene
6 MoultrieScene MAY 2022