Feeling Old

Good advice fumanchu.

You had to call an ambulance because you didn't know why he fell in the first place. If that ever happens to anybody else then make the person comfy with pillows and a duvet round them, if poss get them to turn on their side in the recovery position, and then call for help. But it would be scary indeed!

That sounds good Joan. It's never too late to strengthen muscles and it's the best way to help prevent falls.

DH is trying to get his strength back at last. We have a small home gym which he had been quietly ignoring for ages, but he's back in there now doing gentle walking on the treadmill and also using the exercise bike. Nothing too strenuous or too long.

I feel much better knowing that help is available at the end of a phone call, with no ifs and buts.

Many of us are in the same boat, aren't we? I'm just glad I live in a country, like the UK, with a good, free, health service.

It comes as a shock when you realise the legs that carry you around all day no longer have the strength to get you up from the floor. I worry about DH falling in the garden and I know he worries about me!

I lost count of the many times I had to call an ambulance when my mother fell. She was tiny but an absolute dead weight and although DH could easily pick her up we were afraid of hurting her. Like your paramedics they reassured us we were doing the right thing.

Try not to worry about it, Joan. It's part and parcel of getting old - bummer though it is.

I'm glad to hear that this is still encouraged by the ambulance service. FiL used them many times to lift MiL of the floor. he called us too but the ambulance always got there first and checked that it was safe to lift her. I had imagined that it would be deemed inappropriate use now.

I do hope you are both feeling better to-day its such a shock when you fall as I found out 2 weeks ago when I broke my upper arm,when I went down I just knew there was no way I could get up under my own steam,my dad had a similar fall when getting out of bed years ago and we had to ring ambulance for him and the medic's where so kind to him and my poor mum who could never have managed on her own at 3am in the morning.

Yes what a b****r getting older is.

Ann and Joan I do feel for you. It's such a shock to realise that there's nothing you can do to help, after a lifetime of doing things for your family. It's also hard to know that, for the first time, your dh (or in my case, my dad) can't get themselves up off the floor.

Joan I'm sorry you and DH have had such a fright and Yes of course its a very appropriate use of the ambulance service to help you get him up and check him over. Some of these viral infections absolutely poleaxe you at any age. When I had labyrinthitis the first time I hit the floor like a sack of spuds and Dh had a hell of a job to move me- I'm not that heavy and he's a big strong fella but lifting a person who cant really co-operate needs special help. I hope he is feeling better today.
annsixty I sympathise with grouchyhusbanditits!!

Oh dear Joan I hope you are both feeling better by now. I can relate to that as my H fell in the garden last week. Just like yours he was unable to move at all,he said his legs wouldn't work. Fortunately my S and 13 yr old GS were here and they got him first sitting up and then took a chair to him and got him onto that and then into the house. He was shocked but unhurt. I tell you this Joan because it affected me ,possibly more, as I felt unable to leave him for several days in case it happened again with no-one there. I must add he wouldn't hear of the ambulance being called and gets very cranky if he doesn't get his own way.

Feeling for you, as you say, 70/72 no age, but another reason you were right to call the ambulance was the * unknown* reason for your DH's fall. So being checked over as well as got back on his feet was very important.
Minimising risk of tripping etc is something we are reminded of so if you or he risks feeling light headed when you get out of bed, make sure there are no rugs to trip over and if practicable, maybe something to steady yourself on when you stand up. A friend whose husband had a major stroke about 10 years ago and who is mobile, but weaker down one side (and a big man while she is tiny ) told me he had recently had a course with a physio to teach him how to get himself up from the floor, not just in the event of a fall, but so that he can get down and up again to play with his grandchildren. Might be worth looking into?

What a frightening experience for you both, and these incidents always seem so much more scary in the middle of the night, don't they? You did the right thing, clearly.
I do hope your OH feels better soon - they say sleep is a good healer.

Yes, when I come to think of it, the 000 ( our 999) operator told me not to move him just in case he had injured himself, and the paramedics checked all that before lifting him. I also had to show them all his medications.

It is not always a good idea for a non-medic to lift up someone who has fallen on the floor as doing so could exacerbate an injury. My sister heaved my nearly 80-year-old mother off the floor when she fell over and deposited her in an armchair. It later emerged that my poor ma had broken her hip in the fall and was in both pain and shock.

Thanks - yes - they told me I'd done the right thing. You feel so daft though, imagining that ambulances are only for bad accidents. They're not - they're for old buggers like us when we are in difficulties as well!!

How frightening Joan. These things are always worse in the middle of the night, somehow.
You can't lift a 15 stone man though, and you just have to accept that if you try, you're likely to injure yourself and then the ambulance men are going to have two casualties to deal with!

I have done a bit of googling and it's any consolation, the consensus on this Carers' forum seems to be that calling the ambulance is the only sensible option.
www.carersuk.org/forum/support-and-advice/tips-and-practical-advice/how-do-you-lift-someone-heavy-off-the-floor-19753