Crisis or Illness

by Elizabeth

Life goes on smoothly for most of us, most of the time. It is when anything goes wrong that you realise that you are getting older and not invincible. As the years go on, one becomes more liable to sudden illness of accident resulting in the breaking of fragile bones.

I was going about my business when I came out between two cars and ended up by being knocked over by one. The inevitable happened, I was bundled into an ambulance and taken down to the hospital where after an x ray was taken, it was found I had a fractured hip. I had an operation that night to fix the break, then after about three days was transferred to a rehabilitation ward.

I live on my own but had the good fortune to have good friends who stepped in and looked after me and saw that my cat went to the Haven where she was cared for. They saw that my house was safe, watered my garden and saw to my computer which at that time was playing up. I do not know what I would have done as another helper due to ill health had to back off and could not assist me in any way at all.

It was an interesting time in hospital, all was done to get me up and moving around, getting me dressed during the day. Some of it was very hard getting going. A lot had changed in nursing, nurses were known by their Christian names etc. there was a lot of technology that we did not have when I nursed. However the basics still remained and I know that I received very good care.

I am now at home but feel rather frustrated as there is a lot that I am not allowed to do, and I have to have help with having a shower because I cannot wash or wipe my feet. I cannot bend down until my hip has completely healed.

I cannot drive my car and must depend on lifts to town and the friends who have taken me have done their best to make it easy for me. Luckily I found that I could use the crutches I was given, I had trouble with them in hospital. I did not have to use the wheelchair I had hired.

At the moment I am having meals on wheels, although I cooked a meal on Sunday. I go back to the fracture clinic in a weeks time and sincerely hope that once I get mobile again, I will be able to manage to go back to driving my car again.

I used to be able to go out and go to where I chose, it makes you think ways to getting what you want done, such as asking friends to collect my magazines for me when they are passing the shop or asking visitors to water my garden. I have a lot of pots with plants in them, and they dry out quickly.

My garden is a mess but happily I will be finally able to get out and do some clearing up, although I may have to get the lawns mowed permanently.

I have some gadgets from the hospital to make life a bit easier and a lady comes in does a bit of basic housework for me.

In future I will make sure someone knows where to find anything I am going to need and that I have an updated telephone list.

One item in hospital I found useful was my mobile phone as I was later able to ring people and tell them where I was. I did not have to go through the hospital switchboard. I did feel bored but the nursing care was excellent and although the food was plain, it was good.

One lesson, make sure that whoever you have to help in such a situation are able to do it, and take them through the house to find whatever you could need in an emergency. I did have a packed bag but found a lot of the things I had in it, would have been more useful had I had to leave my home for some reason, apart from hospital

You also need to be able to ring up and find out how much money you may have in your bank account as well if you are unable to get access to an ATM. I have had to resort to writing out cheques. You may also need to ask someone to draw out money for you which can be difficult for them and for you.