Mother Has a Fall

2011 - March 1 – Mother Has a Fall

Mother had a fall yesterday afternoon. I thought we were both taking a nap; she thought I was gone to the post office and she would go outside onto the deck until I got back. I still hadn't cleaned the deck up from the tornado on Monday so it had debris (including overturned flower pots with spilled potting soil) and was still wet from the additional rain Tuesday morning. She said she was coming back in when she stepped from the deck onto the hardwood floor in the utility room. The bottoms of her house shoes were wet and the tracks were filled with the potting soil, so as soon as her feet touched the hardwood floor they went out from under her.

The sound of her hitting the floor is what woke me up. I couldn't get her up by myself and went running out the front door looking for help. The girl that lives next door heard me yelling and ran to get her mom's boyfriend, Shorty. Shorty stands 6 feet 7 inches and is very muscular. He put his arms under both of mother's arms from the back and lifted her like she was a baby.

All I've found so far are a large bruise on her left knee and a small bruise on her right shoulder. She said what saved her from being hurt worse than that was the laundry basket full of clothes that was in the utility room waiting to be folded. I am so glad I hadn't gotten that job done. It could have been so much worse.