Saturday, May the 27th 2023
I am not able to fully convey here how much fear, paranoia, concern, I have about falling. I use a cane inside of our Condo simply because I have first hand knowledge of, and the experience of, friends falling in their own homes, hitting their heads, and dying dead, on the spot, inside of their home. Or falling down a flight of stairs in their home and dying as a result.
I have fallen a number of times myself. I have fallen and broken both knee caps. I have fallen and broken my left hip. I have fallen and seriously injured my right shoulder.
This afternoon, around 3pm, Patti and I went for a walk to our beloved Sitka Street Park.
There was a large picnic in progress.
And then, we headed home to our Condo.
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My Side of The Story : As we two were walking on an asphalt paved walkway, a young man, age about 12 or 13 years old, was coming our way on a skateboard. Patti stepped to one side of the paved walkway onto the grass to get out of his way and I stepped to my right but not off the walkway.
How this happened I will never fully comprehend.
Suddenly his skateboard was under my left foot and in an instant, as I unwittingly stepped onto his skate board, my weight upon the skateboard caused it to shoot away from me..
I FELL !
And I mean..
I FELL !
And I mean..
DOWN I WENT !
It is amazing, it is absolutely, positively amazing, how fast a fall takes you to the ground. One second you are standing vertical and in a nano-second you are on the ground.
I did not feel my head hit the paved walkway. Patti said my head “Snapped Backward”. My left palm took part of the fall as did my right knee. I struggled to sit up. I could not get up. The skateboarder and a friend of his helped me up. The skateboarder was apologizing profusely. Patti was crying and very upset! Then we walked home. I did not feel like anything was broken and I had no headache at all. At the Condo I read to Patti to assist her to settle.
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Patti’s side of the story : I had noticed when we got to the park that there was a young man who seemed to be “trying to learn” to ride his skateboard. We dodged around him, went to rest on a bench, and Cap took off across the park to do a “speed walk”. I rested on the bench and we waved back and forth to each other as he walked. Shortly after Cap returned, we set off to walk back to the condo.
The young man was still on the same walkway, seemingly struggling with his skateboard. As we approached him, I stepped off the walkway onto the grass to avoid any encounter. Cap stepped to the side of the walkway. I was watching where my feet were going, and the next thing I knew Cap was screaming at the top of his lungs. I turned and saw him in mid-air, flailing. He went down and as he did, his head snapped back. The young man began to profusely apologize. He and another young friend reached out to help Cap up and were successful. There were many adults around the park, many in the process of enjoying the picnic. In hind sight, I wish I had called to a few of them to come and help Cap up as I was not sure the boys would be able to accomplish that. As Cap got his bearings and we began to walk away, heading for home, I started to fall apart from the scare, my heart racing. Cap comforted ME with a hug! He’s the one who had just been through the trauma!! Took a while for my heart to stop racing!
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I have always “Heard” that if one experiences a “Head Trauma” one should NEVER lay down immediately! At 4:02pm I telephoned my health provider’s Nurse Hotline and identified myself as a member and told them what had happened. I was told a medical professional would call me back. At 4:32pm a nurse called me. She did an exceptional job of questioning me as to my overall heath issues, medications I take, etc, and then we got to the fall. Because I had no headache, I was not vomiting, my eyes were O.K., I could walk “Normal for me”, I was not disoriented, she said for the time being I sounded O.K. However, concussion symptoms can arise later, much later, even a few days later. So she said the first time I lay down, after two hours, Patti is to awaken me and check me out as to how I am feeling (headache? sick? eyesight? walking? disorientation?).
It is somber to think that, at this instant, I could be dead. This instant, I could be in the E.R. or in the I.C.U. And why am I not? I have no answer for THAT question! My natural agility? My Creator? I AM very grateful that, as I sit here, I able to write and publish this Post.
Whew Huh!?
We never EVER know!
Cap and Patti
