Saturday, July 27, 2019

FALLS: You? Me? Why some fatal?



A wonderful showhouse, a nice, warm evening reception.  Wine, music, the whole thing.  I had been invited at the last minute to ride along.  Grabbed my purse, keys, all but one thing: a drink of water.

We mingled, admired rooms, picked a favorite, had some wine, of course.  Then, returning to  the ca,; I knew I was going to fold gently down onto the sidewalk.  The fire dept was summoned, the fireman gave me a bottle of water, told me not to get up until I drank the whole thing. Emergency over.  

Was that a fall?  Is sliding down onto the bathroom floor after a third of a muscle relaxant pill a fall? 

Falls, I always thought, are big, sudden things I do not want.  Still have a bit of gravel in one knee from learning to ride a bike in a gravel driveway.Those were falls.  In adulthood, decided not to learn to ski. 

Still afraid I might fall.  Is this curb too high for these shoes?

 On line, I see everybody is hellbent to be the Best  Experts on falls for OlderAdults. (Could the big $ profit  on "helper gadgets" have something to do with this?)   

Sometimes it really can be as simple as a drink of water, which, as whole countries check in with over-100 temps, many people may not get in time.

I decided to find out why older persons are racking up all those falls with accompanying broken bones or even death.  Along the way, readers please give me your experiences.  

Meanwhile, get Mom or Dad or yourself a dependable thermos or a water bottle.

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