I KNEW I SHOULDN'T DO IT, BUT....uh...I DID IT ANYWAY!
One of the things I need to learn, being over seventy-five and living alone, is that I can't take the silly risks like I used to take! I need to face reality before I do something really stupid to hurt myself - maybe fatally! Just because I don't like the idea of getting older does not mean that it is not happening!
A few years ago, over the Christmas holidays, I decided to lift a heavy concrete pot over my head by myself and place in on top of a tall cabinet. I should have waited for help, but I didn't. As I almost reached the top of the cabinet, I was barely able to hold on as I continued to lift. I felt a strange pop in my left shoulder muscles. After several months of pain, especially at night, I went to get it checked out. I found out that I had torn my rotator cuff, the tear had become abscessed and it would require surgery to fix. I am still angry at myself for taking such a risk!
Two days before Thanksgiving this year, I decided to replace a canister on my track lighting in the living room. It was too much trouble, I thought, to get the step ladder out of the garage. I stood on a square coffee table with several sheets of loose paper. As I finished twisting the canister, I stepped on one of the sheets of paper that caused me to slide. I fell backwards, on my back, onto the floor.
Realizing what had happened, I could hardly move. When I was finally able to get up, I knew that I had bruised my back on one side, but otherwise I was not hurt. My back is still very sore and painful. I can hardly turn over in bed and it hurts when I cough or laugh.
Over the next several days, I realized that this could have been a very bad situation. I could have broken some bones, hit my head on the bookcase, knocking myself out, and I could have lain there on the floor for God-knows-how-long! Living alone, no one would have known that I was hurt or would have even come by to check on me for a very long time. I have always joked with my oldest sister that I would probably fall down the steps and kill myself and my whole family would assume that I was on one of my trips until the buzzards started circling my condo!
I am still angry at myself for taking such a risk! It was a wake-up call! It has prompted me to assess all the safety features of my condo situation: grab bars, stair railings, floor rugs and even my communications system with the outside world.
All you old people, my age an older, listen up! Better safe than sorry! I was lucky this time, but I learned a lesson: one lazy mistake can cause a whole lot of hurt!
the scene of the accident
Over the next several days, I realized that this could have been a very bad situation. I could have broken some bones, hit my head on the bookcase, knocking myself out, and I could have lain there on the floor for God-knows-how-long! Living alone, no one would have known that I was hurt or would have even come by to check on me for a very long time. I have always joked with my oldest sister that I would probably fall down the steps and kill myself and my whole family would assume that I was on one of my trips until the buzzards started circling my condo!
I am still angry at myself for taking such a risk! It was a wake-up call! It has prompted me to assess all the safety features of my condo situation: grab bars, stair railings, floor rugs and even my communications system with the outside world.
All you old people, my age an older, listen up! Better safe than sorry! I was lucky this time, but I learned a lesson: one lazy mistake can cause a whole lot of hurt!
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