Spoke to Shannon this morning, and she reported that there was water on the floor in Mom's basement, and that the washer wasn't working properly. She also reported that Mom seemed to have a bad cold with lots of congestion, and Shannon was worried about pneumonia setting in if we didn't do anything. Mother said "I'm not making any appointment with any doctor." She thinks it will go away soon. I called Max's and they said that a service man would call soon to come and examine the washer.
Dick and I had our day so organized, you would have been proud. We had a list of things to accomplish in town before our 4 p.m. meeting with M'Lynn at Cuppa Joe at the old State Hospital. We had everything all set to go, and then the phone rang.
Remember the commercial - "I've fallen and I can't get up!" ? Everybody made jokes about it - Leno and Letterman did it in their monologues. Even school children imitated the old lady and laughed. It's not funny. I got that phone call today around 1:30 p.m. Mother had fallen under the dining room table and couldn't get up.
We rushed in as we were - Dick had to hop off his tractor to join me. When we got there, it was a really pitiful sight. Mom was on the floor - the phone was still off the hook - she had knocked over the lamp and the radio, and her pill bottles had spilled. She had multiple bruises on her face - but nothing was broken. She's sore on the left side, and her neck hurts on the right side. We don't know what happened, and neither does she. Dick and I think that she probably passed out or blacked out or whatever you want to call it. We lifted her up and she walked leaning on Dick very gingerly back to her chair in the living room. We made sure that she had water to drink - and I made her a cup of tea to have with her donut hole left over from lunch. We sat with her for quite a while. The man from Max's called and came right over - so it was a good coincidence that we were there. There's no way that Mother should be attempting the basement stairs. She seemed shaken, which is certainly understandable. She also seemed weak and feeble, but still very mentally sharp. After the repairman left we sat with her for a while longer. I tried to talk her into coming home with us, but she wasn't having any. She's fiercely independent still, and insists on staying in her home no matter what.
We left around 3:30, promising to bring back dinner for her so she wouldn't have to do any kitchen preparation. We met M'Lynn at Cuppa Joe and it was a very interesting introduction to a very unique individual. She knows everyone, and has been everywhere and done everything. Totally amazing. The time went fast, and at 5:30 we went to South City Limits to pick up Mom's supper. She was thrilled with it (whitefish and mashed potatoes, salad and rolls). I tried to assure myself that she really would be all right at home by herself after this bad experience, but I'm still very nervous about leaving her there alone.
On the way home we picked up Chinese take-away at Ming's. After dinner I called Jim to give him the update, so he's aware of what's been going on. I asked him if he could do me a favor and come to Mom's the weekend of Feb. 26 so we could go to a geocaching event in Alma for a couple of nights. Ordinarily, we would just go and call Mother every day. But after this fall, I'm leery of being out of touch for that long. But he and Emilie will be in Florida that weekend, and the reservations have been made for a year. He feels badly that he can't help us out, but I told him not to give it a second thought. I take the responsibility for Mom because I just happen to be here. If he were here, he would do the same. You play the cards you're dealt.
Now I'm typing this all up as a kind of therapy. It's making me feel better. It's "Blog as Stress-Reducer".
It's been an eventful day, and we're both a little uptight, and I'm very sure that Mother will be sore in the morning. Stacy is scheduled to be at Mom's at 10 a.m. and I'm planning to call and talk to her to explain what happened and what to do if it happens again. And on the bright side, we have our errands that we had planned to do today all organized and listed and set out for tomorrow.
