Hello on Wed. Evening

Dear Friends,



Here is the update on my father. Dad went off to the bathroom on the second floor, where his bedroom is located, around 2 AM. On the way back to bed he lost his balance at the top of the stairs and fell 13 stairs to laundry room which is directly across from the stairs. When I say stairs, I am talking about a narrow set of stairs with a lift mounted off to the side going from the bottom of the stairs to the top of the stairs. He had a “Link to Life” wrist band which got knocked off during the fall. When he landed on the linoleum floor he must have blacked out. When he did wake up, and found the Link to Life device, he pushed the button, and said that he had fallen, and couldn’t get up. The Link to Life people tried to communicate with dad, but they couldn’t understand what he was saying. The Link to Life people called my sister around 5:00 AM. She dashed off to Lee, and saw dad on the floor, and called 911. My sister rode with dad in the ambulance from Lee to Pittsfield (about 12 miles). My sister called me at 6:30 AM, and told me that she was in the emergency room with dad.

I got dressed and headed off to the emergency. Marie went home around 8 AM, and I stayed with dad through cat scans, and x-rays. The doctors could find no broken bones or damage to his spine, etc. He was all banged up. His left eye was black and blue like he was in a fight. He has bruises on legs and other parts of his lower extremities. After the emergency room doctor called my father’s PCP, they decided to admit him. Once he got situated in his room, I left the hospital around noon, and went home and picked up Linda. The both of us went back to the hospital to visit with him.

While I was with Dad, Marie headed off to Lee to get dad some clothes and toilet when she visits him, she will drop off them off to dad. The personnel in the emergency room used scissors and cut off his bathrobe.

If you saw dad after he ate lunch, like Linda and I did, and could visualize him without the facial bruise over his left eye, you would think he was perfectly normal. He didn’t even need pain medication during the whole ordeal. I am guessing that if he can walk by tomorrow morning with a cane, he will be discharged.

Dad is one lucky guy. He could have broken every bone in his body, but he didn’t. This is the second time that he has fallen down a flight of stairs. Several years ago, he fell at his brother’s home, but he wasn’t so lucky.

Maybe in another life, Dad can come back as a stuntman.

I am guessing that some of the fall was caused by a lack of eating and lack of drinking water. Being dehydrated is a curse especially for the elderly especially since it has been so hot and humid in the Berkshires.

One of my baby boomer friends had fainted, a couple of years ago, on the deck of the country club. Of course, they treated him like he was having a heart attack after they rushed him to the hospital. Not! His electrolytes were out of balance because he wasn’t drinking enough water while he was on the golf course during one of those hot days.

So there you have it. It is one of those “bumps in road” that we all seem to have.



Have a great evening.

I will be at the hospital on Thursday morning to see what is happening with dad.

My sister and I are now starting worry about leaving dad alone in his house 24 / 7. We are going to chat with elder services to see if they can get him some help to manage daily.

The saga continues! The Curley Lad