Mom's Journey (The Fall)

On Wednesday April 17th, I had just returned home from helping mom with her shower, and was sitting down to lunch with Bruce when the call came from Elder Homestead that Mom had fallen in the dining room. The ambulance was already there to take her to the hospital and they were pretty certain that she'd broken her hip. 😧 

I thought she'd most likely go to Methodist Hospital, but a decision had been made for her to go Fairview Southdale, so we got ourselves together and hurried to meet her in the ER. She'd already received pain medication, and seemed comfortable, which was good. And then when the ER doc walked into the room, we were surprised to see that it was our neighbor, Max! He explained that the break was particularly nasty, and that surgery would be done in the morning. A room opened up for Mom, and after answering all the admission questions, we attempted to calm her down, and then headed home, the plan being to go back early the next day before the procedure began.

grateful for pain meds

Her orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Busse, thought the surgery went well, but time would tell how well she'd be able to walk in the future.

found a little free library!

my rock

pretty momma

family lounge

Every day, we'd go early morning, and stay until evening with Mom. Hospitals are hard on a 90 year old person with memory issues. While she was there, Mom drank a lot of Ensure, and received a blood transfusion, then an iron infusion. Family and friends showed up to give her love. We watched hours of soothing wildlife shows on the TV. Physical therapy was able to get Mom to stand briefly at the bedside a couple of times, and I worked with the social worker, trying to find a good TCU for her to go to for rehab after her hospital stay. I really wanted her to be able to go to Chapel View. Chapel View is where Dad lived for two years before he passed away, and we trusted them. And then, a bed opened up at Chapel View, just in time...

Off to Chapel View