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As I sat there in a daze my first thought was, why did I decide not to bring my phone? It was around 5 p.m. on a warm Saturday. I had intended to trim the irises back all week but just hadn’t found the time to do so. I pushed my chair away from the table and put on my work gloves, grabbed the shears and looked at my phone. I decided not to tuck it in my apron pocket because I was only going to be in the garden for about 10 minutes.
Things went well. Having finished the task at hand I bent down to pick up some object that caught my eye, stood back up and turned around. That’s when it happened.
I lost my balance and found myself falling face-down toward one of the large boulders that outline my flower garden. Thud! I hit my forehead square on the rough edge.
I initially thought I had hit that boulder really hard, and I put my gloved hand up to my forehead. To say the blood was flowing freely down my face is putting it mildly. I began to scream for someone to come help me, but no one except me was out in their yard gardening, playing or relaxing. So, I said to myself, “Self, you are going to have to find a way to become vertical or you are going to bleed to death.” Not a good scenario.
I don’t know how I managed to do it, but I somehow braced myself on one of those boulders and pulled myself to an upright position and paused to assess the situation. I discovered my shirt was covered with blood that was flowing from a gash in my forehead. I turned and slowly walked toward the steps that lead to my deck. I managed to navigate up those eight steps and walk across the deck to the door that leads to the kitchen. Once inside I made a beeline for the kitchen sink and hung my bleeding head over it while I called 911.
The end result was a trip to the ER, where I was diagnosed with an open fracture nasal bone, aka broken nose; forehead laceration; lip laceration; head injury. I had six places where they stitched my face back together. They did three imaging tests: CT brain (found nothing); CT cervical spine; CT face. Plus I was given amoxicillin clavulanate, morphine and Zofran. I became a druggie in one fell swoop!
When the paramedics arrived and began asking questions I stopped them in their tracks and said, “You are asking questions to the wrong person. You should be asking the other woman what she looks like. I won!”
One of my friends told me she just had one question: “Did you have on clean undies?” My reply was: “They were clean when I fell, but not so sure they were when I got up.”
My biggest regret through all of this is that I chose to leave my phone on the kitchen counter thinking I would only be in my garden for about 10 minutes. Our phones today are much more than walkie-talkies. They are our lifeline. The technology that’s available allows not only the elderly to be more mobile but everyone in general.
Some say it’s too uncomfortable to wear a lanyard with a fall button around their neck, but it’s better than taking the chance of falling and not being able to alert anyone.
Lesson learned: Keep your phone on your person at all times. Even if you think you will only be gone for 10 minutes you won’t have to ask, “Where is my phone?”
Email Betty Heath at begeheath690@aol.com.
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