I could not get to him fast enough, I saw him go down. His head hitting the wheels on his kitchen chair and in an instant there was blood everywhere. November 11, 2011, my Dad fell and everything changed. He could no longer be left alone.

This will not be my only post about falls. It will take more then one post to though all the different steps we took to try and prevent my Dad from falling and types of falls, yet he did have falls. He would sometimes let go of his cane to use his right hand and I would tell him not to do it, he could fall, his response was always “I’m not going to fall”, or “I done it before and haven’t fallen”. I can’t tell you how many times I told him it would only take one fall, one broken bone to end his mobility, plus he was on blood thinners, every fall risked internal bleeding.

Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall. According to the National Council on Aging, one in four Americans over the age of 65 falls each year. In 2014, older Americans experienced 29 million falls, resulting in 7 million injuries. Every 19 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall. 80% of falls happen in the bathroom. 

When do you need all the things to minimize falls, before a fall. When do we normally make all the changes needed, after a fall or two or three. Unless someone is with your loved one 24/7 or they are bedridden, they should have some kind of fall alert. Most these days no longer requires a button to be push, it detects falls. Many people dealing with Dementia forgot to push the button, thank you technology. Make sure it is water proof, or else it is going to be left by the sink or in the bedroom when they fall in the shower. But that alert is for after a fall, it does not stop a fall from happening. 

If you are caring for a loved one, or you have someone in your life over 65, put grab bars in their bathrooms, put grab bars all over the house, but start with the bathroom. Make sure their bathmats are all nonskid. In the elderly most falls happen on the way to or from using the toilet. Getting up to fast can cause them to become dizzy and lose their balance. A nice head rush is fun when you are younger but after a certain age not so good. A grab bar to hold on to until the dizziness passes can make a huge difference. Have a conversation about grab bars, there are a variety on the market, there are even sturdy suction cup type, but if you go that route make sure they have indicator lights that let you know if they are secure, they lose suction and need to be reapplied from time to time. Have crazy angles and can’t find anything on the market that fits your bathroom, make your own out of pipe from the hardware store. People don’t want them in their homes, they don’t look nice or they don’t want visitors to see them, or admit they need them, you need to get them past that way of thinking. 

One fall can change everything. Even if you do everything possible, falls still happen. We can’t wrap them in bubble wrap, we can’t watch them 24/7. The last seven years of his life my Dad did not walk unless someone spotted him, caught him when he stumbled because one more fall and his doc was taking him off blood thinner. So do what you can in the house to minimize falls. Check out this article https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/02/world/europe/netherlands-falling-elderly.html the Dutch are doing a much better job taking care of their elderly then we are, you can’t prevent all falls but you can teach them how to fall to minimize injuries. 

If they begin to fall and you are right there and can get them into a chair, great, if not don’t try and hold them up if they can’t hold themselves up, gently lower them to the ground. There is a difference between losing your balance and falling and BP bottoming out and falling because you are passing out. See I told you I’d have more then one post on falling. 

AFTER - Good Sign!

Today was one of those days that started out very productive. I was getting a lot of my work done (I will do a post soon about the business I started, but I think the “Year In-between” post needs to happen first and I am working on that one) and then around 3:00 I lost steam. Just had an energy drain and today I choose to give into it and stopped, yesterday I did not, yesterday I pushed through. 

I am looking at this as a good sign. When I was taking care of my Dad, there was no stopping because I was tired or had a headache, there was no stopping when I accidentally sliced off the tips of two of my fingers, they eventually grew back with just little scars. Then after he died, for that “Year In-between” I was all about giving in, giving up. 

Yesterday I had a headache all day, but I still got done what had to be done and built a workbench in the basement. I was still working on yesterday’s blog post and doing all the social media stuff associated with it, way past my bedtime. Today I stopped around 3 and watched Endgame for the, I have no idea how many times I’ve watched it, time.

I’m getting that knowledge of myself back, when to push me when to cut me some slack. That feels good. 

Tomorrow I am going to a funeral, I don’t know if I will want to do a blog post tomorrow or not, but I do think that I will be able to tell if I need to push myself or watch Endgame.