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Chase_Corin

Distinguished member
Joined
Nov 24, 2010
Messages
135
Reason
Loved one DX
Diagnosis
11/2010
Country
CA
State
On
City
Perth, Ontario
I have never been more scared in my life.

I had just come in from getting groceries when I hear mom yelling for me. Dad had fallen just seconds before.

I ran downstairs and we got dad sitting upright.

He had just simply reached to push the control for the fireplace that is on the wall. The break on his walker wasn't on like he thought and when it rolled a bit dad's leg went out on him.

Dad landed on his walker which flipped onto its side and drove his glasses into his face and up his forehead.

We got dad sitting upright and his legs straight and propped up against a chair. Then the problem is getting him the rest of the way up.

Both mom and I have bad backs. I have 3 bulged disks in my lower back and mom has had a few surgeries over the years. So we were trying to figure things out for a few minutes and finally decided with dad's permission to call the neighbours. (because we didn't want to embarass him he is a proud man)

When the neighbours got here dad actually joked about the situation a bit. So we got him up and sitting in his chair and the neighbours stayed to visit for a while.

Dad seems to be fine, I am sure he might be sore tomorow and I insisted that he take some tylenol to hopefully aleviate some of the inflamation. The cut on his head and near his eye is fine mom did some first aid (she had been an RN when she was working). We would have taken him to the hospital if there had been anything other than a scrape.

Mom and I have since set up the baby monitor that we got a while ago. She is a little amped up due to the situation. Mom will also be talking to the ALS society about aid devices that might help us get dad up if this might happen again.

We are still on a steep learning curve with all of this I just hope that we will be able to keep our eyes on dad and keep him safe. I just feel so overwhelmed.
 
I'm so sorry. How scary for you and your mom. But it sounds as though you and your mom have things under control.

Feelings of being overwhelmed come and go. Today was a bad day. There will be better days. Be strong.

VL
 
It is very scary, especially when there's no apparent reason. Legs just give out and they're down. Bob first fell on the beach in Zanzibar, from a trip on a tiny rock sticking out of the sand. He couldn't put his hands out to stop the fall and fell flat on his face. He was wearing a cap and sun glasses and they cut his nose. After that, he fell a a few times at home, and couldn't get up. Luckily no major injuries - just grazes and scabs. That's when we realized we needed help with a wheel chair and also a lift, which helped greatly. It's progression and it's a terrible, terrible thing to have to go through. I'm glad you're in touch with the ALS Society. They were more than helpful here having equipment installed in the house not a minute too soon but always just in time. I'm sorry you're going through this. You'll all learn how to get through each stage, as difficult as it is. Try to focus on everything good in your lives, including the fact that your dad is here and has the courage to laugh about incidents such as this. Yasmin
 
So scarey, but glad he is pretty much ok. Probably be sore tomarrow, thank goodness for nice neighbors also. {{HUG}}
 
My husband has been falling a lot as well.I have been in contact with the als society but my husband refuses any equiptment.it is scary because when he falls he cannot get up himself.he is a big man and i am trying to keep him safe and prevent any injuries..learning the proper techniques for liftling can help save your back.
 
it can be overwhelming, and as noted above, some days are worse than others. i've discovered that it doesn't take much to lose your balance and fall. (2 times for me from reaching too far.) now i am very cautious and aware of my surroundings and what i am trying to do. luckily my beautiful wife was able to help me up but it took some effort. afterwards all we could do was laugh.
 
We have had a few falls, and sometimes the hardest part is, once we decide that shes not injured, we both start laughing so hard, neither one of us has the strength to get her on her feet again. I could live without that kind of humor, but guess we'll take it where we can get it.
 
My laughter always started when my CALS started to help me up. I guess it's just a relief that there were no injuries. We have a Hoyer on hand now and I'm hoping to avoid it's use.
 
Glad your dad is ok. This disease is definitely overwhelming My mom is sort of stubborn and having this disease it took her some time to know that she needs something to walk w. One of the times she fell was a the hospital and her knee at that time I think she was using a cane and then she knew she needed a walker or some sort and she still doesn't use it at times and she fell about a month ago and she was home alone, luckily she carries the phone w her and she had to call my dad at work to come and pick her up because she couldn't.
 
I keep trying to get Patty to keep her phone close just in case, but I'm afraid some things might just take a hard lesson before we learn. And you're right, the laughter comes with the assisting, I think for us its more about the absurdity of the whole thing.
 
The problem is that if we had not been here dad dosn't have enough strength in his arms to lift the phone to his ear. This is why one of us Always stays in the house with dad.
 
Please consider getting one of those alert buttons. Some have a special chip that can detect falls and automatically make the call.
 
My husband also had his share of falls. It was especially scary since we have little kids. But they got used to it and they would all try to help get him up. We would also laugh a lot which helped alleviate some of the fear. My husband unfortunately progressed so rapidly that we now miss the times when he was still independent enough to fall occassionally. Thank God there were never any serious injuries.
 
My husband fell repeatedly. The last fall on the six steps in our old house gave him a concussion and was the last night that he slept in our other home. We have since moved into our ranch home.

I have to tell you a funny story in hind sight. He was sitting in the lift chair in the living room while my son and I were out getting a pizza. I called on the way to tell him to call in the pizza and that we would be home shortly. He had fallen to the floor while he was trying to use the transfer board by himself and was lying on the floor pinned to the chair by the power chair. He didn't tell me he was on the floor because he didn't want me to "fly" home. When I came in and found him on the floor I was hysterical because he was too heavy to lift and he had hurt his leg. So my son and I brought out the hoyer lift and we figured out how to lift him from the floor for the first time. Meanwhile, the visiting nurse was at the door and I told him he could finish helping my husband into his chair. That was probably the last time he sat in the lift chair.
 
One of the things I have done is programmed the non-emergency number for the fire department into my phone. I alone couldn't lift my hubby and if I am not home, the kids know what to do. I don't know if that is an option in Canada, but I was encouraged to do this by our hospice group.
Good luck!
 
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