At about 11:30 this morning, I called to give her my best wishes but I only got her voice mail. I assumed that the assisted living facility maybe was having some kind of event or activity at the time I called her. I left my message and wished her a wonderful day. Apparently, my husband did the same thing from his office about 10 minutes later and he too got her voice mail.
Well, it seems that my mother-in-law had just gotten out of the shower and walked into her bedroom and promptly fell - at about 11:00 AM and remained on the floor until 5:00 PM when my sister-in-law came to take her out to dinner. Right now, she's in the hospital being x-rayed (her right shoulder is painful) and my sweet mother-in-law spent her birthday laying on the floor because she couldn't reach the call bell strings (one in living room and one in bathroom) and she couldn't reach the telephone to call anyone and unlike Saturday, we were not there to catch her. Something needs to be done about the placement of emergency call buttons in the bedrooms of the residents...
Here are a few pictures of my husband's mom through the years. I love this woman and I hope that nothing was broken today.
One day of babysitting under my belt and one to go. He is a sweetie. I'll have to post pictures tomorrow. Until then, I will wait to hear about Gmom Reets....
UPDATE: Severely dislocated shoulder. They were unable to pop it into place due to swelling and pain. They gave her general anesthesia and were able to re-locate it, although doctor stated that he's seen about 100 of these this year and hers was the most difficult. She spent the night in ICU only because they had a bed readily available.
7 comments:
That is so terrible Dot! It makes me sad just thinking about it. I can't believe that no one checked on her that entire time...should they have been checking on her or is she self-sufficient enough that they don't need to?
I feel so bad for her. I'll be remembering her in prayer tonight.
Angie in OH
Angie, she is in the independent living section, however I'm not sure what will happen now. The shoulder was not broken but was severely dislocated and since she laid on the floor so long, there was tremendous swelling. They decided to knock her out to relocate it as they couldn't get it into place easily. The doc told my sister-in-law that he does 100 of these a year and this was the toughest one he's ever seen.
On the good side, she was alert and talkative afterwards and the pain had decreased substantially. She just will not be able to get around at all as she can't walk without her walker and she can't use her walker now because of her shoulder.
Thanks for the prayers.
Oh dear! How awful for your poor mother-in-law. Like Angie, I was wondering why she went so many hours without someone coming to her room. I see you answered, though, that she's in the "independent" part of the facility. I'll bet you're wondering if it's time to move her to the "assisted" part of the assisted-living facility!
I hope and pray she recovers quickly.
I am so sorry Dot. This hits very close to home. My hubby's grandma is 92 and we adore her. I can only imagine. I will be praying for a full recovery and manageable pain.
Janet and Pam,
Thanks so much for your prayers. They do help.
On the more humorous side, and Miz Booshay would appreciate this, mom wanted to watch DWTS while awaiting to have her shoulder fixed, and all of the nurses kept coming in and out of her room asking what the latest was. Mom was more than happy to let them know what was going on with what dancer.
Thanks again for stopping by and for your prayers.
Sorry to here about your mother in law. Having just had shoulder surgery 5 weeks ago I know her pain, and what you ca'nt do without your arm.Was it her right or left and which is her dominant? Mine was right, and I am right handed, most difficult. My 78 yr old neighbor fell this summer and broke her left shoulder. they didn't do anything except drugs for pain. good thing it wasn't her right shoulder, she is doing better now, with therapy and all, but she is still limited in her over head reach and behind her back, which probably wasn't all that great before. they worried more about a frozen shoulder, that is one with very limited movement. Send my bes to you MIL and I hope she has a speedy recovery!
Chickengal, sorry to hear you had shoulder surgery. That's no fun and recup is tough. My MIL is 93 and can just about walk even with her walker. It is her right shoulder and she is right handed. They ended up keeping her as an inpatient as she needs to learn how to use her walker with one hand (I doubt this will happen) before they can discharge her. I too brought up the possibility of frozen shoulder with my husband. My gut tells me that she will not be returning to using her walker and that we could possibly be looking at her being in a wheelchair but we'll just have to wait and see.
Thanks for stopping by and sending your wishes. You take care of yourself too, okay. I hope your's is a speedier recovery
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