My Tumble

 

I have never used my walker except as a portable sitting place. Until this Friday, that is all I needed. When my knee became so painful that even limping along holding onto things around here did not work, I had Tommy get it out of the back of the Rogue. 

Saturday night, I slept for about two hours and then needed the walker. Remember, it has four wheels and a seat and backrest sort of thing. I don't remember what I did, maybe a drink of water, maybe I used computer, maybe I went to bathroom. But, I came back into my bedroom and wanted to get something from a clothes basket where I had folded clothes and had not put them in drawers. 

So, I pushed the walker up to the basket and bent over the seat part to retrieve the item I wanted. Well, that is where everything went sideways. I just cannot do justice to what happened next and all at once. I leaned too far as I was holding onto a rolly thing, started over, and barely touched the backrest. I screamed as I tried to get up and regain my balance. That never happened. I just kept going. I tumbled right over and rolling forward a bit. 

I landed with neck up against a chest of drawers, sort of on my side, sort of on my stomach and thoroughly tangled in the walker. It was just terrifying. I screamed on the way down. Once down, I yelled Tommy's name. He never alerts me that he has heard me no matter what. So, I panicked and kept screaming his name louder and louder and "help me." 

"What happened?" Just give me my phone. I called the police, told them I could not get up, to come help me. I could barely talk because of my position in the metal walker and head/neck against the furniture. 

I asked Tommy to help me get the walker off me. He just grabbed it and pulled, never allowing me to tell him what way to pull or allowing me to get out a leg, foot, or arm before he kept pulling. I was terrified I would get a scrape or cut that would be hard to heal. Wound care does not seem like somewhere I want to go, so I was screaming bloody murder at him. That was the most traumatic part of the whole ordeal.

He went to the front door and opened it to look out. He came back and said he could see lights at the park. The ambulance service moved into a building next to Senior Center building that is also in the park. 

I had landed on three or four clothes baskets, squashed them and undid any sorting or folding. Finally, after sort of throwing the baskets around after I pulled them from under me, I could sit up. But, I was up against a pink bin. Ugh!

Well, five guys piled into my room and asked what happened. I cannot get my feet under me enough to be pulled straight up. So, I directed them to take my boom box off the stool by my bed, put boom box on bed, and put stool beside me. Then, they pulled me up onto the stool. THEN, I could help lift myself to my feet. Once they saw me take a step or two, all five walked away. 

Tommy was talking to them as they went down the hall. Tommy told the guy he saw lights in the park and asked was that them. The guy told Tommy that they knew where the house was located because they saw him standing in the doorway. That made me laugh. How many people are standing in the doorway at 4:30 in the morning? 

By the way, Sluggy's tale of the stool traumatized me so that I will never get one of those. Mine is a homemade stool that I got at a yardsale for $1. The only thing wrong with this stool is that someone had gotten paint all over it and threw it in a trashpile by the road. I easily got the paint from the varnished stool. 

My neck tendons, both sides, hurt for several days. There were no scrapes on my legs or arms. My knee suffered no further injuries. Unlike my usual falling events, I did not hit my knees as the walker kept me off the floor. On Monday I noticed a lump on my midriff that was very painful. It got worse on Monday night, and I was concerned as to why I had developed a hard, painful lump. Today, I decided it must be from the handle of the walker.

Every day since, I have made a move to pick up things by bending over the walker. I never get to the bending part, just stop and think about what I am about to do. So far, I check myself and move the walker to one side. It only takes me once to realize I will hurt myself. Today, I am not using my walker at all. 

So, that is my tumble. I would not classify it as a fall, just like the time I fell off the bed, an incident brought on by the mattress sliding off the bed. And, I don't need advice on how to use a walker, thank you, or to be careful. I think it is dangerous to use as is my cane! 

I love the color. Someone at Tommy's church offered it up and I asked. So, it is mine.

Has one of the walkers with wheels and a seat ever seemed treacherous to use?